The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell – we lost a king
“The revolution in this country has already started”
“The young fighters in Chicago and the Stagnant system, represented by arthritic old men making laws they do not understand, and making wars they have no feeling for”
“It is a battle between the poor blacks and the rich employers”
“It is a battle between the artists and the censorship”
“It is a battle between the Black Panthers and the police”
It is a battle the welfare mother and the bureaucracy of the city
“It encompasses the yearly battle between the taxpayer and the Internal Revenue Service”
“Have you noticed that the people Who actually make the laws, the people in power, never make laws for themselves?”
Screaming, crying, throwing up, every single person who starred and had a part in this movie needs to go to JAIL cuz y’all my heart actually could not take this.
You saw it from the start as the boys were pretending to shoot guns. I was thinking that the kid, Bruno, would either die or fast forward to being a solider and killing someone else. I mean neither are good.
I loved the paralles we saw in deisgn. Bruno often being on his own side and his family or others being apart from him, not fullly understanding and integrating him into their lives and new world.
When they first get to the house, we see him on the staircase with bars blocking most of him, easily a sign of his inner feelings of being trapped. The colors, wallpapers, all of it did something more to add to the depth of the characters and highlight the oddity of Bruno’s feelings.
The Mother’s character was also a fruitful thing to see. In the start, full of life and colors, put together with classic 30s and 40s makeup, well centered in her belief. But as the movie goes on, we can see her appearance slowly losing life, becoming disheveled, showing her inner distress around what is happening to the Jewish.
The set was also just wonderfully built. Very much centered around the color blue, creating a calm and slow atmosphere associated with the color, but also carrying a very heavy undertone.
The setting around the father grows more cold and absent, showing his distance from the family and moving further into the Nazi mindset of duty above all other.
The movie moves slowly but I had to pause every 25-30 minutes because of the intensity behind the scenes. We know. The audience knows what everything is about and what’s going on. And instead of just thinking it’s a movie, it sort hits that in some ways, it was very real and very true
I was actually unable to finish the full movie. After a very unsettling dinner scene and the danger that the young Jewish boy finds himself in, I pressed paused and did not finish the movie.
Regardless, with what I did watch, and what I looked up ending wise, I can certainly see the parallels and subtle foreshowing of the ending.
I think that the movie design, style, and storytelling is very good, actually one of the best movies I have ever seen, though I’m not really a movie fanatic. While I wish I could provide further analysis of the ending and contents, most of my notes resign in the unsettling feelings I had and movie design, in which I have already discussed. I do absolutely encourage people to watch the movie, especially to gain a deeper understanding and sympathy towards those involved and victimized in the Holocaust.
The Anarchist Cookbook is an guide text explaining how to make many different illegal substances, how to use most kinds of weapons, and how to sabotage government surveillance devices. As interesting as this text was to flip through, I do wonder how it ever got published in the first place.
The text was published in January of 1971, during the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. The timing of the publishing means that The Anarchist Cookbook would have been fairly popular, as it encouraged anti-government thought and action. In the introduction of the text, Powell writes “It is my firm belief that the only laws an individual can truly respect and obey are those he instills in himself” (pg29). It is these sorts of statements that characterize what anarchists seem to believe; that the government should not govern individuals and that man should create laws to govern himself intrinsically. That is the purpose of the text as well, to give the general public access to what the government has said they should not have and give them the ability to decide for themselves what to use with that knowledge.
Many of the recipes in the Cookbook were surprising to see, since they are not public knowledge and generally illegal. How to grow weed, how to make LSD, and how to use these substances (including in cooking) I thought that people making weed brownies was as far as these recipes could go, so imagine my surprise reading how to make a weed meatball. Beyond the drugs, the Cookbook also explains how to make gas, nitroglycerine, how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, and gun usage. While it can be reasonable to be stunned and giggle at the contents of the text, it is also glaringly apparent how dangerous this information is to have in general circulation. The information in the book is generally illegal or questionable, and while Powell states in the introduction that the text is “not for children or morons” (pg30) there is no guarantee that it wouldn’t fall into the hands of these people. Powell makes a point to explain how dangerous the contents of each section is and the importance of being intentional and not doing things, for lack of a better term, for “shits and giggles”.
Overall, I found this text to be incredibly informative. While I presently do not plan on using anything in this text, you never know when the need for a marijuana meatball will arise.
In the last section of the Anarchist Cookbook, Powell details what to do when being arrested, going into detail about the process and repeating things I myself have heard many times before. Respect the cop, answer their questions if absolutely necessary, do not show fear, and finally, most importantly, shut up. This contrasts with the rest of his book, which blatantly drags the government, the military, and the police, basically calling them useless by suggesting a man should only respect the laws he gives himself. Ignoring the misogyny there for a second, this is interesting to me, as Powell clearly had an intense dislike for those who manage or have authority over society. However, the situation must be different when one is actually in the hands of the law. As Powell states repeatedly, a cop always has weapons that they know how to use and have used before, that gives them an immediate advantage; with this power they can do anything they want and it is best to comply. It just really strikes me that this is completely opposite everything Powell was advocating for in the rest of his book. For such a controversial text, the Anarchist Cookbook has several instances of valid advice, and I think this is one of them.
A quote from the postscript that I found funny, âIf you smoke, carry an extra pack of cigarettes with you, as it is a real bitch getting cigarettes in jailâ (155). To me, this shows the American dependence on stimulants to calm down during the workday, something that then allows them to keep working. For someone so against capitalism, I would think Powell would oppose cigarettes, especially as he lists out all the other drugs one can create, access, or/and use in a prior section.
Finally, I just wanted to mention how outdated the pricing within this book was, I mean less than a hundred dollars for a gun that is now priced to over five hundred dollars. Powell mentions how every man should have at least a gun, but also a rifle if possible, something that seems outrageous to me in the day of mass-shootings.
First published in 1971, William Powellâs The Anarchist Cookbook details the ârecipesâ for manufacturing homemade illicit drugs, explosives, weapons, surveillance devices, and methods of general sabotage, while even offering legal advice for when one finds themself arrested at a demonstration. Powell wrote this book at the height of the counterculture era during the U.S.âs involvement in the Vietnam War, a time when many Americans became severely disillusioned with the federal government. During a period in which people felt left in the dark regarding politics and government, Powell wanted to âstir some stagnant brain cells into actionâ (p. 27) among what he called the âsilent majorityâ by providing them with what he saw as a comprehensive anarchist toolkit for fighting against systems of governmental oppression.
I think Powell meant well but was incredibly naĂŻve when he wrote The Anarchist Cookbook. He was so young and angry about being drafted into the Vietnam War, and frustrated with the political climate in the late 1960s. At that moment, he likely believed the book was a clever act of resistance. Because he stated so clearly that his intention was only to educate the âsilent majorityâ and not to provide a toolkit for fringe groups or reckless individuals (p. 111), he seems to have genuinely assumed that the recipes would be used only to resist governmental oppression, and not to harm innocent people. However, he could not have been more wrong. In reality, several high-profile bombers and mass shooters have been linked to The Anarchist Cookbook. They possessed copies, read it before committing attacks, and in some cases used its information directly. The Oklahoma City bomber and the Columbine shooters are two of the most infamous examples. These acts of violence, which caused immense harm and trauma, are exactly the kinds of outcomes Powell insisted he did not intend. They also represent a fundamental difference between Powellâs stated goals through his book and the way in which it was actually used.
On page 111, Powell also writes, âI see âthe revolutionâ as a humanistic change, which may or may not incorporate violence. It must be a revitalization of the American system to take us back to the real moral and political principles adopted in 1776.â By this logic, someone like the Oklahoma City bomber could claim justification because he believed he was retaliating against federal overreach. But even if government oppression should be challenged and held accountable, that does not mean that the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of innocent people are expendable.
Based on the 2016 Netflix documentary American Anarchist, which centers on interviews with Powell, he no longer stood by what he had written in The Anarchist Cookbook. In the film, he expresses remorse and even embarrassment, calling the book âabsolute rubbish.â He also acknowledges that he could understand how anarchists or extremists might read portions of the text such as âfreedom is based on respect, and respect must be earned by the spilling of bloodâ (p. 157), and use it to justify really destructive or straight up evil acts, which has unfortunately been the case. Powellâs later reflections serve as a reminder of the negative impact that texts can have even when they are written with good intentions. Overall, I can certainly see why The Anarchist Cookbook is still to this day extremely controversial, and I can only hope that people do not continue to use it for the wrong reasons.
SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas: Very interesting read.
NOTE: Feminism is NOT the absence, hatred, or riddance of men. That’s sexism, Misandry and potentially genocide (as this story put it). Feminism is the equality and equity in social, political, and economic atmosphere regardless of gender, race, class, ethnicity, religion, etc. It is a civil rights movement that publicly has a focus on females but is essentially for everyone.
Someone who hates men and only wants women to rule or vis versa, is not a feminist, or “radical” feminists, they are sexists. Or for better vocab: Misandrist.
Because feminism benefits the general public more than the elite, it tends to get a harsher rep. The principle of feminism would fundamentally destroy capitalism and social classes that unfortunately hold our world together….well the men’s world. Most importantly, it would eliminate parts of the elite. And as our completely sane, intelligent, and calm author Valerie Salonons said, men would become irrelevant.
The SCUM Manifesto was published in 1967 by Valerie Salonons, a “radical feminist” (she literally just didn’t like men – which is so real honestly) and got some opposing views on it.
The work is often compared to 1729 A Modest Proposal by Jonoathon Swift. I would compare it more so to 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis De Sade after reviewing some background context. Extreme, hatred, critical, shocking, maybe satire – maybe true thought, crazy author…kind of goes more together than Swift’s just shock faster.
Now, in regards to the content, her ideology about what to do with men and to create a peaceful world is ethically, morally, and overall wrong and violent. Her interpretation and understanding men, while controversial, is not entirely incorrect. I won’t say right, but it isn’t wrong.
I don’t really now too well what went on back then, but I know what’s going on right now. Genocide directed by men, Cornell rapists scandal (which is NOT an isolated case, just a popular one), The Lincy Clancy case – another non isolated case-, domestic abuse, trafficking, ICE kidnapping and murder, Epstein files, etc. All of it, or at least most of it, directed by men.
And that’s just top of mind. When I first read the SCUM I thought, “well this is generalizing.” But that made me stop. Men being violent or part of the social issue IS the majority of men. That isn’t a rare or unusual case. The rare case is when a man is not violent and is actually quite healthy and kind. And even that is to an extent.
So I don’t agree with the let’s genocide men and erase anyone with different views then us. But I do agree that she makes a good point at revealing motivation and ideology behind men behavior and statement on social idolization of the patriarchy. Especially for her time.
Final note: If men disappeared today, the world would not collapse
The Anarchist Cookbook begins with a prefatory note. This provides a frame which gives some context to the text. The prefatory basically links the text to being a result of the Vietnam-era.
The Foreword then goes into describing who Powell was writing for and why.
âIf the real people of America, the silent majority, are going to survive, they must educate themselves, that is the purpose of this bookâ (Pg. 27).
âThe Anarchist Cookbook is not a revolutionary work in itself, just as a gun cannot shoot, but I have a sincere hope that it may stir some stagnant brain cells into actionâ (Pg. 27).
âIf I could come out in this book and advocate complete revolution and the violent overthrow of the United States of America, without being thrown in jail, I would not have written The Anarchist Cookbook, and there would be no need for itâ (Pg. 27).
These quotations stood out to me because they completely describe Powellâs intentions with this piece of text. Powell wanted to educate and force the public to act. He knew that if he was to take physical action himself, he would be silenced. From my understanding, by publishing this âcookbook,â Powell could spread ideas without being in danger himself.
Before the actual âcookbookâ part of this text begins, Powell has an introduction. This introduction describes his definition and perspective on anarchy and anarchist theory. From my interpretation, Powell defined anarchy as a mass uprising by the public and that anarchy was human nature. He then ends his introduction by providing a warning about the contents of the text. Something that took out to me was when he wrote,
âThis book is not for children or moronsâ (Pg. 30).
This makes me wonder what kind of people Powell considered âmoronsâ and why he defines them as such.
Going into the meat of the piece, Powell goes on to provide in-depth detail on how to create, use, grow (when applicable), and set up (when applicable) various drugs, electronics, weapons, explosives, and booby traps. As I scanned these ârecipes,â I belief this text accomplishes what any Google, YouTube, or Wikipedia search could. The only difference is that Powell combines all these instructions into one location.
When talking about the context of the text, it is important to note that this was written in the height of counterculture era (1971) with the intention to protest against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. It is said that Powell was inspired by Vietnam veterans and this influenced The Anarchist Cookbook. Five years later, Powell converted to Anglicanism and regretted publishing The Anarchist Cookbook. He later attempted to remove the book from circulation, but it didnât work very well because the publisher owned the rights. What led to this regret was when Powell started to write about pedagogy and conflict resolution as a school faculty member.
Additionally, different countries had different reactions to this text. In Australia, it was banned in 1985 and then reclassified in 2016. In 2002, Canda started to allow The Anarchist Cookbook to be imported for the U.S. In the UK, by only possessing this text, a person will be prosecuted for terrorism. In 2025, a U.S. Senator tried to remove access to The Anarchist Cookbook; however, this attempted failed.
Possessions and acts of violence over the years have been tracked in various locations. For example, in 2010, the London public-transport bombers were linked to Powellâs work. In 2012 Colorado, the text was found to be in passion of James Holmes who was responsible for the Aurora theater shooting. These are just two examples and while there seems to be a correlation, this doesnât mean The Anarchist Cookbook caused these attacks.
When reading the anarchist cookbook, I was initially put off by the somewhat dry opening, where he details the history and politics of anarchism. This was an important read, and served to give context for the rest of the book, but it was a lot duller than I expected going in. After this, though, the book picks up a lot. I managed the read the entire 157 page work (minus a few of the longer technical sections) in a few hours. Aside from the obvious political and social controversies surrounding the book, I found it to be well-written and even funny at times, which impressed me considering the author was the same age I am now while he was writing it.
The first major section, focusing on drugs, is surprisingly responsible in how it advocates for drug use. Powell deliberately warns against things like administering drugs through injection, or using heroin at all. Additionally, he even provides instructions for assisting someone who is undergoing a heroin overdoes, which isn’t at all similar to the “dangerous, militant anarchist” reputation that the book has. Powell includes instructions on how to grow or otherwise produce drugs, and where to obtain them, continuing to advocate for responsible use “Treat drugs with respect, moderation, and common sense” (59). This section does include some longer technical sections, mostly focusing on the laboratory production of certain drugs, but Powell provides layman-friendly instructions when he can.
The next section, which focuses on surveillance and other methods of tracking individuals or groups, is unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on where your beliefs lie) somewhat irrelevant in the wake of flock cameras and other mass surveillance programs. As this was written in the early 1970s, there is obviously no mention of the internet, which has become a larger part of our lives today than telephones or fax machines ever were in the seventies. The section also includes instructions on avoiding or disrupting government surveillance, which is, again, made useless due to modern advancements in technology. The book was written in a pre-PATRIOT act world, and it shows. Things detailed by Powell such as carjacking, which he describes as easy to get away with, would doubtlessly be a lot less reliable in the modern day.
The final main section includes information on building weapons. I think, out of all the content of the book, this is rightly the most controversial. Powell really gets in deep about his revolutionary goals, and provides analysis on why the US doesn’t undergo revolution like some other countries. He posits that it’s citizens are kept just comfortable enough where they don’t want to risk things by revolting, but if situations continue to degrade then revolution is much more likely. He speaks about this hypothetical revolution, calling for the use of “child soldiers” since he believes that they will be better fighters (87). He also speaks at length about things like guns, improvised weapons, and bomb-making, the last section especially likely being why the book is so widely banned today. Surprisingly, unlike most traditionally left-wing thinkers, Powell advocates heavily for the second amendment, saying that is essential for defense from tyranny, though still goes out of his way to state that “a gun is not a toy, a gun is not a plaything” (88).
In closing with this post, I think it is important to discuss the author himself. As said earlier, William Powell was only 19 years old when he first published the Cookbook while in New York, and later went on to greatly regret it, even attempting to get it pulled from publication. However, the publisher, Lyle Stuart (who, interestingly enough, also published The Turner Diaries) refused, and it remains in print today with Powell passing away in 2016. Another contextual aspect is that the book contains a large amount of inaccurate information. In the drug section, it posits that you can get high from smoking banana skins (you cannot), and in the section on bomb-making many of the recipes will result in the mixture blowing up. The book has even been theorized to be a CIA plant to provide inaccurate information to would-be terrorists, but I think this is more likely the work of a dumb 19-year-old forgetting to include crucial information.
While the book does call for violence, sometimes shockingly so, I think it is definitely worth reading. Even outside of the revolutionary context that Powell presents it in, sections like the guide to self-defense are absolutely helpful, even to someone who fully intends on staying inside the bounds of the law. He also discusses how to interact with police officers, putting forward advice like “For godâs sake, do not be a high school or college lawyer and explain to the cop what he can and cannot do. He can do anything, heâs got the gun.â (154) and other tips for protecting and taking full advantage of your rights, which I think is especially relevant in light of recent police brutality events. However, much of the book’s content is a time capsule of the 1970s counter-culture scene, and may not be as relevent today as it once is. I think, despite the author’s best intentions, The Anarchist Cookbook remains available today, for better or for worse.
Following a class discussion on the SCUM Manifesto, I realized that I made the ever grave mistake of seeing men as people. While I stand by what I said in that specific context, men at the time of the writing of the SCUM Manifesto and even now have never taken the time to see women as people either.
Using the SCUM Manifesto not for its violent and outrageous ideas about how to deal with men, it is a commentary on how men treat women without sugar-coating any of the hard to swallow details. Solanas portrays men as lustful animals, which historically they have shown themselves to be.
“Eaten up with guilt, shame, fears and insecurities and obtaining, if he’s lucky, a barely perceptible physical feeling, the male is, nonetheless, obsessed with screwing; he’ll swim through a river of snot, wade nostril-deep through a mile of vomit, if he thinks there’ll be a friendly pussy awaiting him. He’ll screw a woman he despises, any snaggle-toothed hag, and furthermore, pay for the opportunity. Why? Relieving physical tension isn’t the answer, as masturbation suffices for that. It’s not ego satisfaction; that doesn’t explain screwing corpses and babies.” (Pg1)
In the case of using the SCUM Manifesto in current contexts, this text would absolutely be flipped to used in a “boys will be boys” manner. Solanas spends a lot of time talking about the manner and nature of men, which is the primary reason for her aim to destroy and irradicate men. Men often ignore their own behavior and the behaviors of other men by claiming that the heinous actions they commit are inherent to their nature. The argument that human nature is one, something that exists, and two, something that has any weight on the actions of people in an anthropological sense that I think is incredibly stupid. If human nature, or in the is case the nature of men, allows for evil actions like rape and abuse, why would human nature not include the basic decency to not violate others?
Do I completely agree with Solanas, no, but do I understand some of her points, absolutely. Solanas was a true deeprooted misandrist, but if men now were to get a hold of this text today they would somehow turn her into the poster girl of their own twisted version of feminism, as we talked about in class. Without looking at men at their very simplest, as people, men can absolutely be seen as hazards not only to women but to society as a whole, and with that Solanas may be on to something with changing the manner in which the world spins by decentering men, even if she was a little more harsh about it.
The SCUM Manifesto is a very interesting read. the SCUM, or Society for Cutting Up Men, Manifesto is a radical feminist work that encourages women to “overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex”(p.1). The author believes that men are inherently flawed with this flaw stemming from their incomplete chromosomes. “The male is a biological accident: the Y (male) gene is an incomplete X (female) gene, that is, it has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female”(p.1). She then explains how men’s inadequacy of not being female leads them to cause various issues such as war, prejudice, and censorship. I found it particularly interesting how she describes the continuation of capitalism/work as an attempt for men to overcome this inadequacy, give himself power over women, and to give himself a purpose. She argues that most work could be automated and money made obsolete but men prevent this because of these reasons. But the part of the text that this manifesto is most well known for is the advocation for the destruction of the male sex. “Just as humans have a prior right to existence over dogs by virtue of being more highly evolved and having a superior consciousness, so women have a prior right to existence over men. The elimination of any male is, therefore, a righteous and good act, an act highly beneficial to women as well as an act of mercy” (p.12). I find this entire text to be fascinating in how unapologetic the author is in her beliefs for the destruction of men, so much so that I question if this is a work of satire similar to “A Modest proposal”. Overall, I found this text to be quite interesting and enjoyable and it might be my favorite of the texts that we have read.
The SCUM Manifesto consists of 5 radical beliefs. She begins with stating how men are emotionally and biologically inferior to women. She calls men “A walking abortion” (Page 1) stating that their Y chromosome is and incomplete X chromosome making them deficient. Then she moves to explaining that their incompleteness results in poor emotional development. How men are egocentric, incapable of empathy, love, friendship, affection of tenderness. For me this was the most impactful part of the text. I know its not grounded in reality or even science, however it really caused me to think more in depth about my own personal experience with guys.
She goes on to talk about how their emotional deficiency is the reason society is essentially screwed, How they’re poor parenting results in self loathing girls and boys, the need for violence and war so they can feel stimulated, race wars to place their failures on others. Even explaining how they put these traditionalist beliefs on women to keep them in a position to serve men. Her solution to this is the women who are not bound by these traditions and beliefs, who hate men, the idea of being a mother, and even being peaceful. She believe if enough of these women worked together they could completely take down society and the money system. Eventually rebuilding a new world where men are dominated by their female partners, and if they are not subservient and instead combative, they should be disposed of.
I did not care much for her actual manifesto and conspiracy to take down the world, I suppose maybe I’m complicit, I felt she definitely had a lot of oversight. She definitely lost me quite a lot when she began discussing homosexuality and transgender people, I simply think thats not a group of people to be spoken for, especially stating that they all want to be women, and that their relationships are unstable.
However, as I said before when she talks about how men are incomplete emotionally because they’re Y chromosome instead of two X chromosomes, it made me consider personal experiences. Even some research I’ve looked into describing how boys develop significantly slower then girls. I found that even at the age of 18 boys are at least 1-2 years behind. I really had to sit on this because it genuinely made me process the difference in the mindset of many guys I’ve met versus the many women I know. Even knowing Solonas had no scientific evidence to back her claims, its hard to look at guys and not see them as underdeveloped.
I think this also is where the line of feminism and Misandry should be discussed. Feminism is about the uplifting of women from the position they’re put in by society. Solanas’s manifesto is not about lifting up women but instead about the destruction of men and patriarchy. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when people conflate women uplifting women and women hating men.
While reading The SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas I found many of her ideas strange because she talks about men in a very negative way. I understand that she is criticizing how women are treated in society. I was surprised by how she blames almost every problem on men. On page 1 she says that “To be male is to be deficient emotionally limited” . I found this interesting because of criticizing specific behaviors she makes it sound like all men are the same. I think this makes her argument difficult to agree with even when she brings up problems that are important.
Another thing that caught my attention was her opinion about money and work. Solanas believes that society would be better if money disappeared and machines did most of the work. On page 2 she writes that “There is no reason for money or for anyone to work more than two or three hours a week at the very most” . I found this idea interesting because work and money are such a part of everyday life that it is strange to imagine a society without them. At the time I think she makes everything sound too simple as if removing money and changing society would automatically solve its problems.
Overall I think The SCUM Manifesto is an extreme text. I can understand that Solanas wanted to criticize the way society treated women. I do not agree with the way she generalizes an entire group of people. What stood out to me most was how she goes from criticizing society to suggesting that almost everything, about it needs to be destroyed. It made me think about how anger can make someone see the world in a different way. For me the book is interesting to read because it makes arguments but it also makes me question whether the solutions she proposes would actually make society better.
Ignoring the context of the SCUM Manifesto, this text presents itself as a satirical piece. The work basically says that men are incomplete women and that the world should be dominated by females.
Solanas starts off the text by describing men. She states that they are incomplete genetically and are
âa walking abortion.â (Pg. 1)
She claims that the male does not have empathy and is a worse organism than apes. When comparing males to animals, it flatters the male species. Essentially, Solanas states that men are
âa walking dildo.â (Pg. 1)
This line of thinking made me question how much Solanas knew about biology and whether her use of aggressive language came from her inner feelings and beliefs.
Solanas then goes into explaining why men are supposed obsessed with sex. She asserts that have sexual relations is the male attempting to prove his âmanliness.â This is because men want to be female. In fact, the traditionally known male traits are actually female traits and vice versa. While I agree that dominant traits exhibited by females have been ignored and pushed aside, I do not agree with the extremity of this idea.
The next section offers evidence of what men are responsible for. Solanas provided reasons for war, having a âsocial code,â having a monetary society, and more. Most of the things men are responsible for seem to be due to wanting power, having purpose, and being in control. Solanas also goes into the difference between mothers and fathers, specifically in the way they treat their children. The âDaddyâ wants to be feared because this is the only way he feels respected. Another topic that is approached is that females have individuality and males donât. Because of this, the males try to compensate for their lack of individuality by assigning himself important roles.
After the many things men are responsible for, Solanas outlines a plan for reproduction and a takeover. She questions whether having children, let alone male children, will continue if aging and death are gone. She then starts pushing for action now.
I can understand how this text sparked fires. While, by itself, the text is seen as satirical, it also brings little truths almost every woman can relate to.
Going into the context, Solanas wrote this manifesto because she was not happy with how the world functioned. I believe Solanas viewed this work as fact but also added in the shock factor to enlighten people to how bad the situation was in her perspective.
Overall, the SCUM Manifesto is an interesting piece that can be viewed in many different ways.
To be honest, I found the SCUM Manifesto quite amusing because it is so extreme that it almost sounds like it could be satirical, similar to A Modest Proposal.
Overall, Solanas wrote the SCUM Manifesto in an organized, yet repetitive manner. She breaks the text up into several sections, each describing a different part of societal infrastructure that males have developed in an attempt to achieve womanhood and to also hide the fact that they are not females, while also manipulating females from childhood, who Solanas believes to be the superior sex, into believing that they are of the status Solanas believes men to be: that is, an empty, boring, insipid, and inferior blob. This manipulation of women by the male sex is what Solanas argues has allowed males to lead the world and for women to be on the sidelines (for example, being subservient and pandering to men instead of expressing original opinions).
She describes how men are always trying to âfuseâ with females in order to become like them because males on their own are essentially lifeless and the only way for them to have some sense of feeling is to become a woman (the superior sex, according to Solanas).
She uses the SCUM Manifesto as a call to arms for women to not fall for male antics and rise above institutionalized maleness to reclaim the world for themselves by eliminating the male sex and all the institutions that it has established. She even goes as far as to say that âif women donât get their asses into gear fast, we may very well all die,â (Solanas, 8).
Solanas also describes how the SCUM will reform society and how they will aim to eliminate the male sex and take over the world by undermining male-created infrastructure like the money-work system, taking over broadcasting, and breaking up male-female couples.
Another aspect of the SCUM Manifesto that I found interesting is how cynical it is, which I feel is not typical of someone that is trying to be revolutionary. In her call to arms of the female sex, suggesting that there is hope for society if the SCUM eliminates males, Solanas is also saying that there is no point in continuing society after the first generation. For example, on page 12, she asks questions like: âWhy produce even females? Why should there be future generations? What is their purpose? When aging and death are eliminated, why continue to reproduce? Why should we care what happens when we’re dead? Why should we care that there is no younger generation to succeed us,â which does not seem conducive to a successful movement.
So why would Solanas write this manifesto?
Solanas was likely not happy with the state of the world and how current male-dominated institutions were negatively affecting society when she self-published the manifesto in 1967. This leads me to believe that the manifesto functions as a satire that mocks male-led societies and institutions. It could also be negative personal interactions with men throughout her life that factored into the way she writes about them in her manifesto. Her distrust of men, especially in the artistic world (which she details in her manifesto) could also be why she shot Andy Warhol in 1968 because her extreme distrust of male artists led to her experiencing extreme paranoia over a work of hers that she presumed Warhol stole. Solanas was also very resentful of anti-feminist women that catered to the patriarchy because in her eyes, they were allowing men to continue destroying the world, which she discusses in the SCUM Manifesto.Â
Overall, I can certainly see why the SCUM Manifesto is controversial. If anything because of how extreme it is. However, like A Modest Proposal, Solanas probably saw real problems in society that she believed male-led institutions caused and wanted to bring them to peopleâs attention, which led to her releasing this manifesto. However, I am not so sure that it was effective, as people were not really aware of the manifesto until after she shot Warhol, and even with that exposure, large second wave feminist organizations such as NOW distanced themselves from her and condemned her actions, which stifled any support for her ideologies in the manifesto.
While humorous in its depiction of men at times, the SCUM Manifesto managed to annoy me with its ableist language and eugenics philosophy. For such a radical feminist proposal, I had thought its attitude might be kind to those deemed lesser by society; I was incorrect. Instead, Solanas declares genetic control will soon be possible and production of people with âphysical defects of deficiencies, including emotional deficienciesâ would be immoral. I disagree with this entirely, as people with disabilities or different abilities can have perfectly satisfactory or even enjoyable lives no matter their physical, mental, or emotional capabilities. People who are different are not lesser, they are just as worthy as everyone else. The suggestion of genetic control is not only scientifically inaccurate, as many disabilities can be caused by simple life activities, it is also abhorrent in philosophy, as it has historically discriminated against race, gender, sexuality, and marginalized communities. Later in her writings, Solanas promotes the formation and use of âfriendly suicide center[s]â for handicapped âbeingsâ, something that very much reminds me of Nazism and concentration camps. Thus, Solanasâ belief disadvantages the very people she claims to uplift; women.
Women are more likely than men to have disabilities and women are more likely than men to not receive appropriate medical care. Thus, shouldnât radical feminism support changing medical systems to be based around both genders, shouldnât Solanas uplift the idea that all bodies are equal, instead of proclaiming the perfect female can be artificially generated? I might agree that the patriarchal society has consistently harmed and put down women for literal millennia, however, I do not believe in reckless violence or condescending behavior. I want careful education, better societal standards, and equal opportunities. Solanas roots for anarchist actions that destroy society, focusing on pure rebellion which would harm millions, even billions, including those she wants to save. This manifesto is not realistic, it is delusional hope dressed as political commentary.
The SCUM Manifesto is the most enjoyable text I have read this semester. Valerie Solanas, the author of the text, is a radical feminist, and the text shows this incredibly well. Despite enjoying the reading, I disagree with Solanas on almost every point she makes, as it is clear that she is generalizing all men down to the very worst of their kind.
On page one of the SCUM Manifesto Solanas claims that “To be male is to deficient, emotionally limited: maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples”. This quote sums up the content of the entire text, Solanas believes that men are subhuman compared to woman down to the fact that they are men. Solanas aims to prove this point by breaking down male behavior across multiple topics, mostly sex, and coming to baseless and outrageous conclusions that nobody but her would find plausible. Below are a few direct quotes from the text that show just how odd Solanas’ beliefs about men were.
“The male is an incomplete female, a walking abortion-” (Pg1)
“To call a man an animal is to flatter him: he’s a machine, a walking dildo. It’s often said that men use women. Use them for what? Surely not pleasure” (Pg1)
“Eaten up with guilt, shame, fears and insecurities and obtaining, if he’s lucky, a barely perceptible physical feeling, the male is, nonetheless, obsessed with screwing; he’ll swim through a river of snot, wade nostril-deep through a mile of vomit, if he thinks there’ll be a friendly pussy awaiting him. He’ll screw a woman he despises, any snaggle-toothed hag, and furthermore, pay for the opportunity. Why? Relieving physical tension isn’t the answer, as masturbation suffices for that. It’s not ego satisfaction; that doesn’t explain screwing corpses and babies.” (Pg1)
“Every man, deep down, knows he’s a worthless piece of shit.” (Pg2)
“The male has a negative Midas Touch — everything he touches turns to shit.” (Pg2)
Each of these quotes are Solanas’ own generalized ideas about men, ideas that are seemingly based in nothing but misandry. Some of Solanas’ claims can be applied to certain men, but to claim that all men act in this way ignores that a lot of men, even most men, are completely normal. A lot of the things Solanas says about men to rally women to overthrow them are just things that she believes, possibly rooted in her own life experiences. As far as the text goes, it reads in an almost satirical manner; there is just no way anybody believes these things to this extent. Except for Valerie Solanas herself.
Valerie Solanas was a troubled woman who struggled with mental illness. In her 52 years of life she was sexually abused by her father, lived with her abusive, alcoholic grandfather, became homeless multiple times, had one child at the age of 17 who she then never saw again, wrote a play called Up Your Ass and the SCUM Manifesto, gave women tips on how to go against men, attempted to kill Andy Warhol, been imprisoned, been institutionalized multiple times, diagnosed with schizophrenia, all before eventually dying at 52 of pneumonia. Solanas had a great amount going on in her life, and much of it could be used as evidence for her views in the SCUM Manifesto.
Overall, The SCUM Manifesto was a fun read but slightly appalling in content. Solanas is highly prejudiced against men and makes harmful claims about them within the Manifesto. If a man were to have written the same text about women in modern day, most people would jump on him and call him an incel, which is not too far from what Solanas may have been.
The bulk of the SCUM manifesto is divided into two main concepts, Solanas’ current disdain and grievances towards men, and her view of an egalitarian, female-only future free from things like money, illness, or death. To present the former, Solanas gives a long list of issues that she believes men are responsible (such as ugliness, boredom, war, and conformity). One of the main issues that she presents is that she believes men are, in fact, “incomplete women” due to the Y chromosome, and thus lacking in things like kindness, empathy, or creativity. Because of this, she states that men attempt to become women by taking on “feminine values”, and projecting “masculine values” like shallowness, commercialism, and vanity onto women to feel superior.
Solanas presents a somewhat irrational view of a man-free future. She states on page 11 that if it were not for men hindering the scientific process, the concept of disease and even death could be eradicated in a mere matter of years. Going further, she later posits that due to people being functionally immortal, there would be no need for sex or reproduction, and humanity could become fully self-sustaining. These lofty ideals are presented in a way where they seem entirely practical, and while there’s no way for anyone to know how society would turn out if all men were eradicated, it seems incredibly aspirational to say that all humankind would achieve immortality just a few years afterward.
Solanas talks at length about her disdain towards those considered “great artists”, saying that most art exists only to uplift men and express female values, again going back to her idea that men want to become women. She believes that men can never be artists because of an inherent lack of creativity, arguing that “A degenerate can only produce degenerate ‘art'”(Solanas 9). When looking at this alongside the historical context of her shooting Warhol, her issues with art and artists seem rather telling.
It should be noted that, despite Solanas’ claim that men are responsible for prejudice in the world, she isn’t above it herself. Solanas frequently uses homophobic slurs in her writing, as well as referring to transgender women as “drag queens”. Despite her own definition of maleness as conceptual rather than entirely physical, she seems convinced that a transgender person cannot fully change their gender, and a transgender women to her is lumped in with the men she is so passionately against.
There is a case for the work to be an example of pure satire, with no real intended threat behind it, but when looking further at the context this is somewhat doubtful. The manifesto does seem to be satirising Freud’s theory of femininity, replacing the concept of “Penis Envy” with “Pussy Envy”. It does also bring to mind A Modest Proposal, with both being texts presenting the hypothetical positive consequences of the elimination of a certain group of society. However, considering that SCUM was an actual movement that Solanas attempted to start and the fact that she shot Andy Warhol (no doubt considered one of the so-called “great artists” she was so fervently against), it’s clear that, at least in part, her ideals were authentic.
On a personal level, while we have read multiple hateful texts in this class, this was the first one explicitly targeted against a group that i’m part of. It’s a little shocking to see this kind of vitriol towards people like me just because of our gender. While Solanas does have several beliefs that I agree with, like being anti-war and not being a huge fan of Andy Warhol, overall this just reads as a series of angry ramblings. Other manifestos i’ve read, like Mein Kampf and Industrial Society and it’s Future at least attempt to seriously analyze society and present solutions, entirely flawed as they may be, but the SCUM Manifesto is content with thinking up hypothetical issues and presenting hypothetical solutions that all rely on one initially sharing Solanas’ worldview. While it may not be an expecially dangerous work, and I don’t think it deserves censorship, I doubt there’s much merit to be gained from it’s analysis.
When watching Triumph of the Will, one of the things that stands out the most is just how grandiose everything is. The movie opens up with an aerial shot, flying through the clouds, and descends until you can see the city of Nuremberg, which almost looks like it’s out of a fairytale. This continues as the movie goes on, with large displays of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, enormous swastikas, and giant eagles that loom over the shots as if the film itself is trying to point the the apparent power of the Nazi movement.
One thing that strongly stood out to me was how disturbingly similar it is to the modern world. In fact, when Hitler first got off the plane at the start of the movie, the enormous crowd of cheering people almost reminded me of the clip of the Beatles first arriving in New York. The people in the film look like normal, friendly people, individuals who I would walk past every day, and that’s because they were. The film shows the more “human” side of the Nazi party, which is where the danger of harmful ideologies like Nazism comes from. Anyone can become entangled in them, and by recognizing the Nazis as humans, it allows us to better identify the causes behind their beliefs, and ultimately prevent anything like the Nazi movement from occurring again.
In fact, the movie takes great strides to try and legitimize the Nazi party as the only reasonable way forward for Germans. A lengthy scene shows Hitler talking to the gathered members of the Hitler youth. This scene, as well as others showing Nazi officials interacting with Nuremburg’s children, appears to be a way to further endear the party in the eyes of the German people.
Interestingly, despite the facade of power projected by Hitler during the rallies, there appear to be cracks forming. Hitler speaks extensively about the SA (more commonly known as the brownshirts), reassuring them that they won’t be dissolved and that they’re an important part of the movement. I was curious about this, and as it turns out that this movie was made shortly after the Night of the Long Knives, where the SA leadership was purged by the SS. In light of this, it makes sense why Hitler seemed so desperate to maintain order; the party was undergoing a serious period of infighting, and Hitler didn’t want the cause losing any momentum.
Overall, Triumph makes great strides to show off Hitler’s vision of the Nazi party, and I think that it does have quite a lot of value from a historical perspective. While it does serve as propaganda, I think that that negative is outweighed by the fact that it lets viewers get a look into the mechanics of how strength and power is projected, and how even the most ordinary-looking people can become swept up into dangerous ideologies.
The goal of this paper is to understand how often people, who speak out against societal norms, get punished. There are many cases we learn about in school of people who took a public role in speaking out and then facing some form of retributions in return. For each person I investigate I want to understand what they did, how was the public reception to what they did, what were the consequences for the public position they took, and where they ended up as a result for it. The people Iâm researching wonât be just activist who got in trouble. Iâm interested in looking into Malala, a womenâs activist from Pakistan who protested against the Taliban banning girls from school, Malcolm X a Black activist from the United States who advocated for black empowerment, and Galileo a scientist who said argued for the heliocentric theory against the predominant Catholic church. I am aiming to keep this paper diverse in people who were shunned for a belief. This idea originally stemmed from learning the context behind the 120 Days of Sodom. Although de Sade himself faced no real consequences from his book, the book eventually became a piece of debate in communities of research and censorship of books.
References I intent to use:
X, Malcolm, and production company Educational Video Group. Great Speeches Video Series. Volume 16, Malcolm XâŻ: âDemocracy Is Hypocrisyâ Speech. Educational Video Group, 1960.
X, Malcolm, and production company Educational Video Group. Malcolm XâŻ: âWho Taught You to Hate?â Speech Excerpt. Educational Video Group, 1962.
Glyde, Tania. âMalala: Agent of Change.â The Lancet [London], vol. 386, no. 10006, Nov. 2015, pp. 1814â1814, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00770-9.
Attia, Shaimaa Mohamed Shehata. âMalalaâs Mission: Challenging Taliban Rule and Patriarchal Norms in Pakistani Education.â Maǧallaáș Kulliyyaáș Al-AdÄb Wa Al-ÊżulĆ«m Al-InsÄniyyaáș – ÇŠÄmiÊżaáș QanÄáș Al-SiwaÄ«s, no. 49, 2024, pp. 457â82.
Liana, Zbigniew. âCriteria for the Acceptability of Scientific Theories as Locus Theologicus: A Methodological Analysis of Catholic Churchâs Reactions to the Cases of Galileo and Darwin (BellarmineâPius XIIâJohn Paul II).â Religions (Basel, Switzerland ) [Basel], vol. 16, no. 2, Feb. 2025, p. 153, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16020153.
Triumph of the Will is Nazi propaganda disguised as a general documentary. It is long, uninteresting, and above all else, sleep inducing. The film does not touch on what most people know of the Nazis now; there is no mention of Jewish people or any other supposed “enemies of Germany”. The film is more about Nazi nationalism; it shows how loved Hitler and his special forces were by the German public, as well as depicted Nazi soldiers and the Hitler Youth as happy to do their jobs and happy to be in the presence of Hitler himself. The film is mostly ambient music with each small break in the music screaming from either Hitler or one of his generals. Hitler himself is INCREDIBLY loud throughout the film, despite it being mostly visual. Every time someone began shrieking speaking, nine times out of ten it was Hitler.
Despite it being extremely boring and me watching most of it with my eyes closed, the documentary does a good job of showing how the general public felt about the Nazi party prior to the Holocaust. People lined the streets to watch the soldiers march and there seemed to be other events, like a showcase in traditional clothing, that people also participated in. The children are also a major tell of the public’s reception of the Nazi party as the views of parents generally shape the views of the children. Many children were shown to be just as in awe of Hitler as the adults were; young men joined the Hitler youth and at one point there was a scene of a toddler (young enough to still be carried) saluting Hitler as he walked by.
This film was a good insight to the often overlooked piece of the Nazi party and helps me understand how their later crimes were mostly ignored by German citizens; they LOVED them, so in most eyes the party could do no wrong.