My band "The Society of Free Thinkers" is on winmx fileshairing with
ripping original music.
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Welcome to SOFT --- the Society of Free
Thinkers. Our goal is to unite cool and creative people. This is the first
issue of SOFT Magazine. You are welcome to submit anything under the sun for
the next issue.
The following are two articles about SOFT
which appeared in the San Diego Reader.
A Sub-Society of Greatness
By Justin Wolff
'Build it and they will come," the
proverb tells us. Today, however, disciples of the precept have little use for
its noble motivational message; they prefer instead its promise of material
reward. Build a mall, a towering apartment complex, another exhibition of
Impressionist paintings, and the crowds will oblige you. Even the Arcadian
Vermont commune I lived near as a child proved to be little more than a
playground for one man's sinful covetousness -- a bitter pill to swallow for me
and half a dozen other happy kids. But another dictum tells us that cynicism is
the easy way out. Tom Wilson, of Pacific Beach, preaches such a gospel.
"We can form a sub-society where greatness is the norm," he
announces. "The first trick is to concentrate like-minded people. In time
a network of friends will form with the size and cohesion necessary to relocate
in unison, like the Mormons did." According to Tom, communal urges and
desires for congeniality are perfectly natural. "Many social movements
join people intellectually or bring them together temporally," Tom says, "but
creating a 'commune' geographically is the next important step. Many people
feel compelled to live in a homogeneous neighborhood: ethnicities, gays, the
rich, young families. Hippies also like to live among themselves. They are the
victims of tremendous persecution. There is more than enough discontent with
the system to fuel a nationwide chain of SOFT [Society of Free
Thinkers]-friendly apartment buildings."
Tom is smart, and he likes, above all, to
share his ideas. And though he has no job, Tom works as hard as anyone in San
Diego: he's an artist, a musician, an inventor, and possibly a prophet. Tom has
a plan to save the world: he is recruiting members for an alternative community
called SOFT. "The closest thing to an epicenter of cool people in San
Diego is a few blocks of apartment buildings around Windamear Street in north
Mission Beach. I plan to declare this area the first Mecca of SOFT." Tom
hopes that eventually SOFT will secede from the United States and populate a
new country, possibly on land somewhere, but ideally on some sort of
"floating structure" off the coast of San Diego. "I have plans
for amphibious motorcycles and bikes and extremely cheap floating
buildings," Tom explains. "If I try to live off the coast I will call
my floating structure an oceanographic research vessel. I believe that will
keep the Coast Guard and the coastal commission off my back. Unfortunately, San
Diego has big waves, but it also has the best weather and lots of people with
the pioneer spirit. Many people on the West Coast would have kept going west if
they could have."
One could hardly make a more optimistic
gesture than to invoke the spirit of those mythical pioneers who endured mother
lodes of hardship on their trek to a better place. That that history has been
revised to tell a different tale -- one of such imperial crimes as thievery and
murder -- does not deter Tom's faith in a new colony: "The system of
operation and the laws for the utopian nation that I am imagining will be as
simple and libertarian as possible. Voting would be used to decide who is
eligible for membership and to set the tax on different types of pollution.
Banishment from the community would take the place of jails. Policing would be
left to the citizens, at least at first, but there would need to be a court
system."
Tom attended UCSB for a year and did well in
science before transferring to UCSD. "I dropped out after a year there,
deciding I could succeed as an inventor, which I still believe. I have hundreds
of ideas and prototypes." Tom says that his best invention is a unique
roller skate that only rolls forward and that allows your heel freedom of
movement, like cross-country ski bindings. This skate permits a normal walking
motion, which exercises more muscles than the current lateral push used in
skating. Tom explains that he is also "working on a body board prototype
that uses a small propeller, which is powered via a loop of cord connected to
foot straps, allowing, again, a more natural running-like motion." Among
many other clever inventions, Tom has designed a "super-easy home-brewing
kit" and various safety devices for bikes and cars.
"My family likes my projects," Tom
says, "and they think I'm really smart, but they are very busy themselves,
so they don't get involved much." Tom's father is a judge, his brother is
a lawyer, and his mother works at UCSD. "I live rent free and make $160 a
month gardening for my parents," Tom explains, "but if I needed to I
would much sooner camp out or live in a van than work full-time, because I love
to think about my own ideas."
Tom's vision for SOFT is not as half-baked as
some might think. When I balked at his explanation of a grid system, Tom
patiently spelled it out for me: "If SOFT acquired land, the grids would
be similar to the road systems in normal cities, except developers would lease
the right to develop it from the community. To prevent abuses, two independent
land grids would be set aside. This way, people would have a choice for
transportation and the free-market system would force developers to provide
value if they want to stay in business." As this leasing system
demonstrates, what distinguishes SOFT from other "alternative"
enterprises is that it embraces capitalism and all the trappings that come with
it, especially money. SOFT is not for people who succumb to squeamishness in
the face of cutthroat economics.
"I totally embrace capitalism," Tom
declares. "Capitalism is the only way resources can be allocated without
the use of force. Stealing from the rich by taxing them inordinately causes the
flight of talent, lessens motivation, and puts money into the hands of
incompetent people. Improvements to the standard of living originate in the top
strata. Like any immoral system, using force to take the money of one group for
the benefit of another...is a mistake in the long run." When trying to
describe what he wants SOFT to become, Tom conjures such diverse groups and
movements as the early Christians, the Mormons, the Amish, the Grateful Dead,
the Merry Pranksters, and youth hostels. Tom means it, however, when he says,
"I do not like socialism or communism." He continues, "One
benefit of starting a new society results from the fact that land derives its
value from its proximity to people and their money. If enough cool people move
in unison, they can turn cheap land in the boonies into a tastefully developed
and interesting place, with property values to match." As wise as Tom is
to the fiscal needs of government, making money is a small part of his
motivation for forming SOFT or for his inventions. "I do not anticipate
ever having money problems, partly because I truly do not like fancy things.
Impressing people with my creations is my goal." Tom trades in concepts,
and ultimately, if Tom has his way, SOFT's currency will be deeds.
When pressured to define what form of
government will supervise his micro-nation, Tom hedges. Democracy, he
maintains, is merely an orderly form of mobocracy and "does not protect
those who are not in the majority.... Only a widespread belief that individuals
have inherent rights can protect minorities and minority beliefs." And how
to realize that belief? "Rather than fight for freedom, the Society of
Free Thinkers is taking the soft, Zen-like approach of simply removing
ourselves from what is not right, thereby creating an alternative." That
alternative is libertarianism, which Tom defines as a system of government
whose sole responsibility is to keep people from harming each other: "I am
writing a constitution that is ironclad and specific in its description of
freedoms, its laws, and its system of operation. It will be as simple and
libertarian as possible."
What Tom won't admit -- except by the
occasional inconsistency in his prescriptions for SOFT -- is that his society
is more authoritarian than libertarian. After all, Tom is the one writing
SOFT's constitution. In addition, though he frequently says that membership --
or citizenship, as the case may be -- will be decided by voting, in several
instances he declares, "I will restrict membership to liberal, cool,
non-evil people whose skills, or money, our society would need." So, in
the end, SOFT will be exclusive. But should that be a mark against it? Not
necessarily. As he says again and again, Tom has no desire to start a commune
or a cooperative where members can retreat to. His ambition is to settle a
small nation, a place where people must govern, police, and tax themselves,
which is not something to be passive about. To Tom, SOFT is a movement in the
truest sense of the word: it has no use for potential energy, only the kinetic
kind. Whether or not an industrious nation called SOFT ever bobs off the coast
of La Jolla is a question for time. For now, Tom's aphoristic decrees are dares
put to "non-evil" San Diegans: "Truthful people too often ruin their
integrity with silence ... The truth may hurt once, but deception hurts forever
... Dangerous activities are for people who can't handle dangerous thought ...
I would never look right at anyone until someone looked right at me."
Though Tom originally planned a series of
parties to bring SOFT-minded people together, he concluded that "large
parties are not conducive to conversation." He has also ceased posting
bills because he believes they "steal people's concentration." To
find out more about SOFT, e-mail Tom at mwilson5@san.rr.com.
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Logic is His Enemy by Justin Wolff / San
Diego Reader, 1999
"Psychedelic artist, radical writer,
libertarian, atheist, hippie 31, from San Diego." This perfunctory resume
is the most direct statement that Tom, who lives in Pacific Beach, makes about
the facts of his life. Tom, however, is not a private man. Though you will
learn little more about the circumstances of his life here, at his website
(home.san.rr.com/artist/) you will marvel at his obsessive compulsion to share
confidences and to muse on issues like motive and morality. Tom may never
divulge his surname his site, but that’s because doing so would interfere with
his larger project, which is to promote intimacy by giving you access to the
mechanisms of his mind – to his politics, his desires, and his knowledge, Two
other characteristics distinguish Tom’s site: first, save for a single
photograph of him with some of his paintings, there are no graphics here – just
pages and pages of text. Second, Tom is a nut. That is, if you can call someone
who is honest, brilliant, incongruous, and tiresome all at the same time a nut.
Here’s the little more that Tom tells us
about himself: "My day is equally composed of the following: sitting and
thinking, walking and thinking, reading (non-fiction), playing guitar etc.,
projects and tasks. I rarely work because nothing I do costs much and because I
live at my parents. I drink chocolate twice each morning instead of breakfast
(1/2-cup cocoa, 16-oz cold water, <1/4-cup sugar)." If this seems
cursory to you, then check out one of Tom’s more enterprising pages, such as
"originality will set you free", or "language and
consciousness," or, better yet, "the meaning of life". His final
thoughts on this latter question? "Humans are about as much smaller than
the universe as they are bigger than the smallest things." This adage is
typical of Tom, who tends to explain things using a kind of pseudoscience. His
writings are riddled with whimsical figures and percentages, such as "our
lineage includes at least 50 million years spent in status-organized
societies" and "without ornamentation (meaning fashion), US
consummation (consumption?) might drop 60%".
The accuracy of his theories matters less,
though, than his motive for sharing them. Like the rest of us, Tom meditates on
the big questions; only when we drop them to go to a movie (Tom doesn’t watch
movies or television), he catalogs his thoughts in writing. Though he does not
always succeed, you can feel the struggle for clarity in his syntax.
"Living in an advanced society is like walking on a sidewalk instead of on
a trail. It seems easier, but if you still walk until you can’t walk anymore,
your feet will be even sorer. Our artificial creations are not as well tailored
to our soles as to the outside world. We are empowered but it is impossible not
to take for granted what is granted". This is a great example of Tom’s
ability to turn what is wrong side up upside down.
One of Tom’s most ambitious – and awkward –
proposals is to charter a new, hyperefficient country: "I wold like"
he explains, "to write a constitution for a nation that is iron clad and
specific in its description of freedoms and its system of operation. The
ultimate goal would be to buy sovereign land from an existing nation or create
a floating barge off LA or somewhere. When founded, each contributor would get
a section of land proportionate to their contribution. If on the sea, people
could dock up. I would restrict membership to liberal cool non-evil people who
have skills our society would need, or money. Another restriction would be on
the various types of pollution. This most important function is often neglected
by our otherwise busybody government, and is the fairest thing to tax. Taxing
things other than pollution would not be necessary in a streamlined system.
Land would be cut into lots with shapes which would allow multiple and
overlapping systems of transpiration, so that even roads and utilities would
not have to be socialized."
Logic, you’ll learn, is Tom’s enemy, so it’s
not surprising that his page of what he calls "half-baked ideas"
includes his most provocative reflections: "Status is like a car; you need
something to drive it on"; "As people tend their gardens, weeds grow
in their minds"; "If you have done all your tricks and they still are
not impressed, at least one of you is not great"; and this, finally, for
anyone who doubts the wisdom of his site, "If you want someone with all
their ducks in a row, you will have to settle for fewer ducks."
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Just as people’s desire for freedom helped to
found the US, sub-societies form which insulate people from aspects of society
which impose on them. Tax havens are utopian nations for the rich, Vegas is a
utopia for gamblers, the Netherlands draws people from around the world with
its liberal environment. Salt Lake City is a successful sub-society founded for
the freedom of old-fashion men. Groove people in the 60s started their own schools,
co-ops, communes, community’s etc. The grateful dead culture had much cohesion,
and should have founded a stationary community. Ocean Beach is a concentration
of freedom loving people, but not concentrated enough.
We hope to copy what helps all successful
groups do their own thing and bring together kindred spirits. Examples have
been set by the Mormons, Amish, the Deadheads, Green Tortoise tour company, the
Merry Pranksters, youth hostels, etc. Schools can be thought of as communes
dedicated to learning. SOFT is like a school already, and could become a
"real" school in the future.
I believe it is easy to spot unique people in
crowds, even though they are so rare. I have hand made little flyers, which I
give to the people who seem the best. Finding comrades one at a time might seem
slow, but revolutionists know that dynamic individuals DO matter. With all my
cool friends and a few more visionaries, we can help everyone by setting a
beautiful example.
A particular area such as North Mission Beach
around Windamear Street will be set as the first Mecca of SOFT. If members move
there if and when they can, in time a close knit community will form. If you
know of an apartment building anywhere with a super cool manager, let everyone
know. Normal condos are not usually good, but if one had a requirement for
coolness, it would be like a non-profit jointly held community.
If SOFT chapters form in other cities we will
set up a system similar to student exchange programs, so members can trade
dwellings when they vacation. It is a great way to promote unity.
One benefit of starting a new society results
from the fact that most land derives its value from its proximity to people and
their money. If enough cool people move in unison, they can turn cheap land in
the boonies into a tastefully developed and interesting place, with property
values to match.
In fact, though, we do not need to go to the
boonies or onto the ocean or even to the same neighborhood. We will build a
bridge that all worthy people may cross.
SOFT OFF SHORE
SOFT could exist off the coast on barges west
of the La Jolla boat launch or Mission Bay. Our ultimate goal is to buy
sovereign land from an existing nation. When founded, contributors will get a
section of land proportionate to their contribution. I would restrict
membership to liberal cool non-evil people who have skills our society would
need, or money. Another restriction would be on the various types of pollution.
This most important function is often neglected by our otherwise busybody government,
and is the fairest thing to tax. Taxing things other than pollution would not
be necessary in a streamlined system. Land would be cut into lots with shapes
which would allow multiple and overlapping systems of transportation, so that
even roads and utilities would not have to be socialized. I am writing a
constitution that is iron clad and specific in its description of freedoms, its
laws and its system of operation. It will be as simple and libertarian as
possible. Socialism/communism is a terrible system, so we do not want to start
what is commonly thought of as a commune.
People think of the US as the embodiment of
freedom. Reading the declaration of independence and the bill of rights
promises freedom. However, many rights have been trampled. Democracy is merely
an orderly form of mob rules and does not protect those who are not in the
majority. However, democracy is the only way to decide things besides using
force. Only a wide spread belief that individuals have inherent rights can
protect minorities and minority beliefs. The only quick way of concentrating
such a rare belief is to exclude those without it from your system.
Voting would be used to decide who is
eligible for membership and to set the tax on different types of pollution. Tax
would take the place of law, sense only pollution would be restricted. Anyone
could create a petition describing a new tax. Those petitions with the most
signers would be voted on as they are worded. 2) Weather each tax is increased
or decreased would be voted on a #of times a year. This system would rid us of
the troublesome legislative and executive branches of government.
Countries could not be so large and uniform
if they could not forcefully deny local areas total self-government. Examples
of what happens when free thinkers fail to keep this process in check can be
seen in the tragic modern histories of Russia, China and others. Rather than
fight for freedom, SOFT is taking the soft, Zen-like approach of simply
removing ourselves from what is not right, thereby creating an alternative.
It’s not so dull around here because of oppression nearly so much as because of
all the dull people who are slowing us down and making us think being normal is
normAL.