April 01, 2014
Trevor Blake
“Yes You Can Say No!” says what the most advanced thinkers already discuss in hushed tones: Natural rights are a fiction, possibly useful, probably not. “My Crowded Fist Theater Shouting Fire…” focuses on free speech, the (un)natural right closest to Blake’s heart. “Trajectory Through Anarchism” charts Blake’s acceptance and rejection of his own pet pretty lies. “Multiple Name Identities” is a young radical’s primer on the powers of anonymity, a topic more relevant than ever in our post-Snowden age. “Lan Asaslem!” is an attack on what is arguably his archenemy, Islam. “It’s a Sin” attempts a no-nonsense exploration of where we got the idea that certain foods and sexual practices were sinful.
The simply named essay “Really” explores the concept, prevalent on both the left and the right, that, no matter what you”re doing, there’s some sort of “explanation” for it. It’s not your true self. You”ve been hoodwinked into thinking that you like/believe whatever it is that you like/believe. So say the people who”d rather that you didn”t. It’s a necessary meditation for egoists in the age of identity politics.
Don”t be shocked to see a sacred cow or three of your own slain here. Blake’s assessment of the recent trend of Evangelicals trying to horn in on the victimhood industry (“When a theist squeaks “you are oppressing me!” you can be pretty sure that means “you asked a question I don”t want to answer””) is likely to rustle some Taki’s readers” jimmies”although as Blake points out, one difference between the left and the right is that the left can make a joke, but the right can take one.
The yokelry will catch up in a year or three. At that point, Trevor Blake will be, at long last, laughing all the way to the bank. Your humble reviewer recommends that you adopt early so you can say you were a Blakean egoist before it was cool. Whether you want to revisit egoism or take your first trip into the glorious sewer, Confessions of a Failed Egoist and Other Essays is essential reading for the man who realizes that he is “not like most.”
Catch Trevor Blake reading from Confessions of a Failed Egoist and Other Essays on May 1, 2014 at Mother Foucault’s, 523 SE Morrison, Portland, OR 97214.
