Little Brother

The friendly anarchism little brother Ryan Stec articulates in this first issue of his zine makes a lot of sense. First off, he explains the title of his zine. Now many many zines start off explaining their incomprehensible title, and usually their explanation is more confusing than the title. But Ryan just says look, I’m a little brother, little brother as opposed to Big Brother, little brother being the guy who always gets kicked around for just trying to be someone who is not Big Brother. Fine, this makes sense to me (hey, I’m a little brother too). Then we get a quick essay that articulates everything wrong with law and order in society using the example of the traffic light. Ryan clearly explicates the idiocy of fifty cars lined up at the intersection waiting for the light to change. But most of this zine is dedicated to food particularly the meat and dairy industry; “with limited info and stacked odds the beef bullshiters almost surpass the dairy board in making their shitty product look healthy.” Go Ryan! Pet stores and catholic weddings are also given a twist by Ryan’s sensible every day common-place anarchism. You know, the more I think about it, the more I appreciate Ryan’s relaxed way of taking society’s crap to task. One thing though, is that Little Brother could be a lot more solution oriented. Problems are problems, but it’s also nice to know how to solve things. For instance, instead of telling us to switch off the tv and radio, why not tell us how to revamp commercial mass-junk mediums into anarchist havens for free expression and art?

zine / #1 / main creator: Ryan Stec / 50 cents / Apt. 4-112 Guigues, Ottawa, ON, K1N 5H7

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