[JCorbot]

By way of explanation

Hi all,

Simon and I were PMing about this daft Corbot thing and he asked what I thought was a very valid question.

‘What is the point of all this and also what do I hope to gain’

He also pointed out that some had been annoyed by the Corbot ruse and that it was unfair to play these games. Which I thought was completely fair, and was working on the assumption the Corbot identity was clear. So I thought I’d post trying to answer Simon’s question and hopefully gain some ‘peace of mind in doing so’ as well as explore some interesting ideas.

Firstly the original intention of Corbot was to gently re-introduce the mag back to ukb to see if anyone was interested, but at the same time maintain the weird and slightly uncomfortable nature of the material which is open both to the positive and negative aspects of life and as a vehicle ‘climbing experiences’. I’ll admit maybe this wasn’t the best plan and as I realised people didn’t get it, I let on to various forum members like Will and Doylo who made it more clear. So sincere apologies for any upset on any level caused. If it helps even my wife thinks it (the mag) is offensive and I am a bit nuts.

The mag it’s self and the content operates  on a variety of levels motivated by both internal and external factors. Climbing and its place in human experience can be thought of on some level as a masochistic and narcissistic pursuit. (I don’t mean narcissistic in a negative way but more of a fragile way in the sense that most of us desire to be liked and applauded). There is an abusive relationship with ‘the rock’ and in some senses nature itself. The rewards are often intense and very far apart, the suffering and sacrifices in-between are often great and sometimes at the expense of life, limb, health and relationships. We all trample, clean, drill, litter, poo and wee etc etc to be eventually gratified by conquering, regardless of what people say of alternative motivations. Will Hunt evoked a strong image to me describing arriving at Malham on a cool autumn day to see a climber hanging in his harness, wrapped on in a down jacket head and shoulder slumped like a body in a gibbet. Or alternatively Shark’s red wine soaked self loathing in Oak Based power club entries are regardless of actual experiences, evoke a sense of despair and suffering that has been chosen. I believe this is also represented in the pseudo positive nature of the climbing culture and associated commoditisation. Which results in for example timed training, nutritional restriction and obsessional mentality at the expense of interpersonal relationships.
Part of the mags purpose is to explore this in both a humorous and satirical way while also having a serious message. In a climate where positivity is valued above all else there seems no place to voice frustrations for fear of ‘the moral dissecting table’ a perfect example of the binds people are placed in by the ukc opinion pieces on issues such as Kinder ‘gate’ scandal. I’m pretty sure they won’t do a follow up on the Ste Mac ‘c@n5 gate’ scandal, and I don’t really blame them but it is curious why?

From a more internal motivation, well I’ve always been a highly neurotic individual who also likes doing creative things. The creative side has often been hijacked by an anxiety about wanting to be liked, well regarded, to perform and at some points crippling existential anxiety. As I’ve got older I wondered what it would be like to express myself free from these shackles. Initially this of course led to a polarised and probably quite negative ‘lashing out’ at all things that made me ‘feel bad’. But as times gone on the creative, fun and social exploration of all of this stuff is becoming more appealing. I’m actually in the process of writing a graphic novel serialised in the mag. I’ll include an excerpt below. For anyone who’d like a copy of the second issue free I have extra printing credits left over, please pm me and I’ll post it. For anyone I’ve upset in the Corbot gate affair and / or culled from the Instagram account in the buzzard build up. Please accept apologies. I will keep the insta account private but anyone can join over 18 without fear of getting shit.
Simon, thanks for prompting me to not be a twat. (Although that is brown nosing)

 
‘Isolation, Meaninglessness, Mortality and Freedom’

(Excerpt from graphic novel)

The modern world presents an ever evolving crisis, a crisis of identity, a crisis of physical form, a crisis of personal and cultural function. Commoditisation has diluted past symbolism, meaning has been lost and then formed into homogenous mass. A move towards sanitisation through a ‘cleansing’ of minds and bodies. Individuals operate in a ‘pretend’ mode where positivity and community is revered to the detriment of expression. This crisis presents an existential dilemma where the past self is being lost and one must find a new way. To transcend, to individuate, to gain insight to experience the givens’ of existence. Isolation, meaninglessness, mortality and freedom. Through consideration of the past and the development of the self in relation to the pursuit,  to think about things of risk and fear, mood and value, meaning and the obsession with progress.

[DAVETHOMAS90]

Some great stuff there JC.

"Come to Mother" has to be up there as one of the best/most ironic names out there.

.. somehow similar to my thoughts about climbing (mildly) loose routes like Breakaway being (speculatively) related to fragmentation in early Mother/child relations. (I'd actually said breastfeeding!)

Anyway, it gave me a migraine.

Climbing about attachment.

Too obvious lol.

[Fiend]

Good stuff but JCorbot is a shit name, hth.

[tomtom]

I’m left wondering why these issues that have been outlined are really worth the considerate effort put into exploring them (and/or trying to make people explore them) when there’s far more important things in life and the world to get eviscerated about?

<shrugs>
Homelessness, wealth divide, climate change, inequality (in all its forms) etc.. etc.. take yer pick. These are the things that keep me awake at night and seem far more important. 
<\shrugs>

[petejh]

You shallow cunt TT. Does the dilution of the anarchic traditions of relatively affluent people who like to climb to the top (sometimes not even the top) of bits of rock mean nothing to you 

[JCorbot]

Haha yes you could say it’s a bit shallow in the same way psychoanalysis was / is considered a privilege of the middle class. Although the truth of the matter in the health service is this isn’t the case.
I believe it’s worth exploring as many of the central themes are applicable to most things in life. Obsessionality, despair, fear and anxiety, interpersonal and social dysfunction, underlying beliefs, attachments, personality style etc all of which are associated with the issues you mentioned TT. Homelessness, substance abuse, domestic abuse, psychological disorders e.g anorexia, depression, etc. Climbing in this way isn’t really a primary interest but a vehicle to understand ‘the human’.
The answer that immediately sprang to mind was if those things are keeping you or anyone awake at night. Why spend days and days at the crag rather than say working in homeless shelters or needle exchanges or for aid organisations? Maybe you do?

[tomtom]

You shallow cunt TT. Does the dilution of the anarchic traditions of relatively affluent people who like to climb to the top (sometimes not even the top) of bits of rock mean nothing to you 

:D

[tomtom]

Haha yes you could say it’s a bit shallow in the same way psychoanalysis was / is considered a privilege of the middle class. Although the truth of the matter in the health service is this isn’t the case.
I believe it’s worth exploring as many of the central themes are applicable to most things in life. Obsessionality, despair, fear and anxiety, interpersonal and social dysfunction, underlying beliefs, attachments, personality style etc all of which are associated with the issues you mentioned TT. Homelessness, substance abuse, domestic abuse, psychological disorders e.g anorexia, depression, etc. Climbing in this way isn’t really a primary interest but a vehicle to understand ‘the human’.
The answer that immediately sprang to mind was if those things are keeping you or anyone awake at night. Why spend days and days at the crag rather than say working in homeless shelters or needle exchanges or for aid organisations? Maybe you do?

So why are you exploring these ideas via trolling responses using a series of alter ego’s?

That’s really weird Dan.

Enough from me. I don’t want to play your game.

[JCorbot]

Ok TT, like I said it was a bit misguided assuming the identity of JCorbott was clear. So sorry for that. If there is a game then I’ve tried to make it as clear as possible in the post above.
I use different identities as a weird way of expressing opposing points of view that are often contradictory or deeply held. I mean parliamentary question time now that is really weird. Again no games, feel bad for clearly pissing you off and tried to give an honest answer to your question of ‘issues explored’ above.

[JCorbot]

Also the definition of ‘Trolling’ seems quite a broad one. I’m not sure a couple of posts with actually relatively genuine questions e.g the origin of Egyptian or pointing out a toothbrush is useful for cleaning off chalk would account for the more extreme end of the current definition.

[JCorbot]

On another note, many issues are explored in different and weird ways. Performance art, plays, paintings, film etc etc. Sometimes it’s not always clear to the audience. I read an interesting quote the other day about a famous philosopher who said on his death bed... ‘I will die having one student who has understood me, and he Misunderstood me’

[Will Hunt]

I'm surprised to see you resort to whataboutery, TT. Dan's efforts look like an elaborate piece of performance art to me, and is the kind of anti-establishment thought that UKB would once have welcomed. Maybe people can take it as such and, if it really offends (I can't see why it would be offensive) there is always the "hide poster" option.

I'm quite glad that there is someone with enough passion to produce this odd stuff, even if it is not widely appreciated.

[cheque]

there is always the "hide poster" option.

Where?

[webbo]

I'm surprised to see you resort to whataboutery, TT. Dan's efforts look like an elaborate piece of performance art to me, and is the kind of anti-establishment thought that UKB would once have welcomed. Maybe people can take it as such and, if it really offends (I can't see why it would be offensive) there is always the "hide poster" option.

I'm quite glad that there is someone with enough passion to produce this odd stuff, even if it is not widely appreciated.

To me it’s someone with a background in Psychology/Psychiatry talking bollocks.

[JCorbot]

Admittedly that’s pretty close to the mark Webbo. Most of it is complete claptrap. Which is ok surely?

[webbo]

Admittedly that’s pretty close to the mark Webbo. Most of it is complete claptrap. Which is ok surely?

Having spent 30 years doing the same. I can hardly criticise.

[shurt]

Dan's efforts look like an elaborate piece of performance art to me, and is the kind of anti-establishment thought that UKB would once have welcomed.

I was going to say something similar. I don't know why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist. But also why does everyone have to explain themselves?
Why does everything have to make sense?

It says a lot when the best thread in recent memory is about someone shitting at the bottom of a route...At least Dans having a go.

[36chambers]

Well all this is completely lost on me. But perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention.

Were your powerclub posts just to mock people then JC?

[spidermonkey09]

[/quote]
To me it’s someone with a background in Psychology/Psychiatry talking bollocks.
[/quote]

Thank god someone else said it.

[Murph]

Well all this is completely lost on me. But perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention.

Were your powerclub posts just to mock people then JC?

That’s exactly how it came across to me.

[JCorbot]

Well all this is completely lost on me. But perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention.

Were your powerclub posts just to mock people then JC?

Please don’t pay more attention 36chambers that might just add another wall for me to defend

I never set out to mock ‘people’ and the power club posts were very representative of an average weeks climbing for me over a couple of years. I did set out to write that down and see how it felt in context, and also make a commentary on the goal / training / progress led culture which is quite overwhelming. So in a sense I was highlighting that in a weird way and can see how people doing that felt mocked. I tried to explain and apologise for that more negative lashing out at what for me was quite misery inducing. Again nothing related to any of you guys.

[Yossarian]

For your next trick, you could try infiltrating Cocktalk. Perhaps as a 62-year-old divorcee who’s stuck at HVS and who wants some advice about tent pegs...

[abarro81]

I just find it all a but weird, but in a very uninteresting way. Guess that's why I'm not hugely into the more arty/intellectual/pseudo-intellectual end of the arts... I think all the things you're on about could probably make a bunch of interesting conversations, but for me the way you approach them is neither illuminating nor interesting... horses for courses maybe.

[JCorbot]

Do you have a crystal ball Yossarian? I think I’ve just seen the future. I think It’s best to steer well clear of that as it would be a magnified version of this.

[JCorbot]

I just find it all a but weird, but in a very uninteresting way. Guess that's why I'm not hugely into the more arty/intellectual/pseudo-intellectual end of the arts... I think all the things you're on about could probably make a bunch of interesting conversations, but for me the way you approach them is neither illuminating nor interesting... horses for courses maybe.

I did have quite a good chat with Stu about this at the tor a while ago. What he said was quite illuminating for me! I’m still waiting for my Maths based poem btw Stu