The only time the rest of the community hear from them, is when they are "causing trouble"
Compare and contrast with the FSPers who are, eg, quietly helping out at the Food Bank, or get themselves elected, or even who put out newspapers/radio shows/TV programs. Those people are engaging the society, not antagonizing it.
This is actually the more important of comments I wanted to address, if any comment can be deemed important.
I have a long-standing criticism as well, on this. I've said time and again, the image is extremely important and it is damaging to the overall project when people cause shit-storms.
I have absolutely no problem with people who like to party. But it seems to me, every fuckin' burner on the planet is hell-bent for leather to roll mightily into Porc Central, and when they get there, they're housin'. If they're gonna go there to get fucked up, lets just call it what it is, the Fucked Up Project.
The locals know it. The cops know it. And neither take kindly to being a haven for a burgeoning drug culture. Granted, if you're an insider, your quality of shit has probably gone through the roof, and props to that. But that should be, at best, a pleasant side-effect of the efforts.
The real efforts should be focused on attracting some serious challengers who aren't fuckarounds. Professionals who got game. And this criticism is not in any way meant to detract or talk down to the younger folk, but you guys should really keep a tighter lid on things and not be quite so flagrant about your recreational interests. I know its exciting to be among a counterculture society, but you guys ain't the first, trust me on that. And if you've got any serious, realistic hopes on making this fucking thing work, you will pull in your horns and stop acting like a bunch of half-cocked rookies, because you're making it twice as hard on the serious folk to get any traction on the ice.
For every one guy who takes a chance opening a business, three probably decide it ain't worth it to be neck-deep in wild-eyed radicals. And thats whats killing the whole thing.
Now, I understand Denis wasn't directly or indirectly addressing the stoner situation. He tactfully sidestepped it, and instead called out a generalized "trouble". But I have no qualms about calling it what it is. Because I don't give one fuck about who likes me or not. There is a time and a place for behaviors and activities. Society is a balancing act, it requires equal measures. And you guys are seriously out of balance on the entrepreneurial and professional side. And it will NOT recover and prosper if the situation continues to grow more radical.
In fact, it will blight. And you will be blamed. People who close shops will directly blame the influx of unemployed for a downturn in economic hardship, escalating criminal activity, and low rent statistics and arrest records will be cited. People who fail in business and have a grudge are always willing to lay blame at the feet of others, rather than cite their own mistakes. And you know as well as I do, it could easily become vogue for local disenfranchised business owners to point fingers as a parting shot. I saw it a dozen times, except they cite bars as the reason. As if their yarn shop failed because of midnight bar traffic. Their yarn shop failed because its a fuckin' yarn shop.
The young men and women who participate in the various freedom projects need to display a higher measure of personal responsibility. They need to represent. They are the independent spokesmen for their cause, and should make a concerted effort to avoid at all costs being the butt of their jokes, or an example of what *not* to do.