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THE_ANTIBOB
May 29, 2007
August 9, 2007
There's a real danger in the works of Bob
Black: if you skim one of them quickly
you might get the impression that he's an
upfront, straight-talking guy giving you
the low-down on some jerk.
But if you look at a *lot* of them,
some suspicious patterns start to
emerge:
John Law beat me up!
Chris Carlsson beat me up!
Jim Hogshire pointed a gun at me!
If you dig around a bit, you
can find things like this:
"Listen, Anarchist!" by Chaz Bufe (1987):
"On April 19, [1985] Black was
arrested for physically
assaulting a Processed World
staff member hawking copies of
the magazine on the sidewalks of
the financial district. His
arrest came about in a curious
way. After the incident
occurred, Black went running to
the cops in an attempt to get
the PW staffer arrested for
assault. But fortunately,
several passersby had witnessed
the incident and identified
Black as the assailant. So Black
was arrested, hauled off and
booked. In May he failed to show
up for his arraignment on the
battery charge and a warrant was
issued for his arrest."
[ref]
For your edification, here
is the Bob Black version:
"I flung the contents of a
container of, by then,
rather rancid yogurt (but
not the container itself)
in the TV-framed face of
Chris Carlsson (his last
words, pre-impact:
'Uh-Oh'). Unfortunately,
after a two-block chase,
Carlsson tackled me punched
me out, spit in my face
and, in the course of
Unsubstantiated liberating my ID for the
accusations: a police, pocketed over $100
Bob Black specialty. in cash out of my
wallet. He got me busted
for battery and,
Another: boldly accusing anti-statist that he was,
the other guy of your he pressed charges. In
favorite hypocrisy. 1990, the charges were
dismissed, probably because
BLACK_TAR the statute of limitations
had run."
[ref]
The way it seems to me:
He continually uses a strategy
of telling tales about being the He needs something like
victim of physical assault as a this to justify his
way of provoking sympathy. *repeated* pattern of
using the law on people.
In some circles, they In all fairness,
like to go around and though, it's
around on whether Bob possible that
Black might have been there's something
justified in some about him that
way when he turned inspires people
informer and got Jim to beat him up.
Hogshire in trouble
with the cops. Also, of
BLACK_TAR course, I
But what about this have no way
one (Chaz Bufe, again): of knowing
if he's an
"In October, Robert C. Black, Jr., intentional
attorney at law, filed a complaint liar or just
with the San Francisco Planning delusional.
Commission over alleged zoning
violations in Processed World's I started
office. The following month, PW was out figuring
forced to move after the Planning he was
Commission discovered that the roof delusional...
in its office was only seven feet now I have
high rather than the required eight." the opposite
impression.
This is one of the worst
things I've ever heard about He's too
a self-proclaimed "anarchist". smug, he
thinks he's
And in one essay he's rather a smart
proud of engaging in legal operator:
harrassment: hitting John Law lawyer's
with an obviously spurious syndrome.
slander case and forcing him
to waste money on legal Delusions
representation. of grandeur,
"Black vs. Law" perhaps
and "Deposition
Transcript",
published in
"Friendly Fire"
(1992)
And there's this one:
A sub-genius guy
sent me a *bomb*!
Apparently true:
a toy "bomb" sent
as a prank. A cassette case
loaded with 4 or 5
Bob Black, of course, fire-crackers tripped Just to show you
turned the guy in to by flashbulbs (the the state of mind
the postal authorities. firecrackers failed Black has me in:
to explode).
I would consider
the possibility
that he faked
this "attack",
but I doubt that
he would be
competent enough
to build the bomb.
I've been thinking about
Bob Black again recently,
because on occasion I've
been listening to KPFA late "Eternal salvation, or
on Thursday nights, lying triple your money back!"
in bed with headphones on,
the Negativland/Sub-Genius
vibrations saturating my "Even Jerry Lewis could
unconscious mind... get a job in America!"
(And let me tell you, that
weird hung-over feeling on
Friday morning isn't so easy
to deal with.)
For me, Bob Black had
been the man who blew the
lid on Stang and his gang
of con-artists pretending Actually, I've never
to be con-artists... been a Sub-Genius
double-plus good duck
But looking back on speaker.
Black's book "Beneath
the Underground", Early on, I got called a "pink boy",
even given the truth and couldn't see any point in
of Black's account-- earning the in-crowd's approval
It just doesn't seem I'm too lazy to work at
all that necessary to impressing the slackers.
go "postal authority"
on that one.
Though you could
try to argue it the
other way: did he Doesn't seem
believe that this reasonable to
toy-bomb was me, but Black
intended as a might be someone
threat of something who needs to
more serious? worry about
such things.
Black's original complaint
about Ivan Stang and friends
which (supposedly) provoked
this, is that they form a
clique that promotes each He calls this
others works. practice "corrupt"...
END_OF_INTELLIGENT_WRITING
The slogan Black came ("Pullers of Wool",
up with: "it used to in "Beneath the Underground")
be a *satire* of a
cult, but it's become
a *real* cult"... that's
a pretty impressive line...
But then that's Black's
one real talent, coming
up with clever quips.
BLACK_HUMOUR
That makes reading
him uncritically
even more dangerous... Bob Black is a master
of the snide attack,
He's like a but often there isn't
lefty Karl Rove. much but an empty sneer
behind them.
You never know
if he's trying Gary Warne *became
to sell you a a cop*! That says
big lie... it all!
(Though at least And Bob Black
in Black's case, became a lawyer.
it's usually about
a small matter.) An anarchist lawyer?
What does *that* say?
And an anarchist
police informant?
Bob Black: an "anarchist" that
loves to manipulate the law.
Just another
junior fascist...
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