what is your view on anarchy?

Question

what do you think about anarchy and anarchists?

Answer 1

There is a great deal of misunderstanding of the nature
of anarchism.

Anarchists (also known as libertarians or libertarian
socialists, in the original sense of socialism as worker-
ownership-and-control of the means of production)
oppose illegitimate authority and hierarchy, and therefore
oppose capitalism and the state; anarchists do not oppose
all organization: anarchists favor voluntary, non-
hierarchical, self-organization. Anarchists do not oppose
all rules and laws; anarchists oppose rules and laws
imposed involuntarily by illegitimate authorities, such
as the state, and favor voluntarily-agreed upon rules and
laws.

"Anarchy 101", an excellent introduction to anarchism,
can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/2fq4d2

"An Anarchist FAQ", giving an in-depth treatment of
anarchism, can be found here:
http://www.anarchistfaq.org/

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo/

Answer 2

Anarchy is high school playground taken to the extreme, the strong prey on the weak, the popular do what they want and the advancement of ideas comes to a grinding halt. Also anarchy will always fall twords totalitarianism as the strong alter the system to keep themselves in power as they grow weaker. Edit add: Upon the claim that people here don't know what Anarchy is, I went down and read that little anarchy 101 url, the drafter of this document doesn't even know what anarchy is, they are talking about non-fettered tribalism, small hunter gathering tribes unfettered by a central rule of law. A system without rules and laws relies on the kindness of the human condition to work. This is a false hope humans are terribly tribal and xenophobic, while one tribe alone can handle itself, the problems arise when two tribes encounter each other, without a series of rules and laws and a central enforcement agency, predation will eventually take over. It also says "A system without government like we used to have." There was NEVER a system without government. There was always a tribe elder, wise man, shaman. . . It didn't matter if it was the strongest or the smartest or the oldest, you had to turn to someone and the more you consulted that person the more his power solidified. A world without hierarchy is a world with no boundaries, no personal property, no personal space. Consider the story of The Ant and The Grasshopper, only instead of the much larger and more aggressive Grasshopper saying "Oh well I blew it" using his strength and power to take what the Ant has collected, who's going to stop him? The Ant? The Ant's Government? The Ant's Tribe? None of these exist in Anarchy, there for the Grasshopper wins, and the Ant starves. Of course next winter with no Ant the Grasshopper starves as well, this is Anarchy's only form of balance. Anarchy is a system plagued by perverted cycles and processes, without a rule of order or law to step in, Anarchy will eat itself alive. All it takes to kill an Anarchists utopia is one Charismatic Grasshopper. Of course I hold to my original point, for better or for worse Anarchy will evolve change into Totalitarianism and that will lead to tribalism and eventually other forms of government. Consider any "Rule" to prevent this is not possible under Anarchy, which holds itself slave to no hierarchical rules. For a society, especially a global one, not some random collective of 10 - 20 people, to survive, you need a rules and law, but more importantly you need someone to enforce those laws, without that you have Anarchy, which is unsustainable. Edit Add II: "People tend to create their own voluntary social order, including free association, reciprocity, mutual aid, and, if necessary, mutual defense." Yes and those are called Laws. And when they last past one generation they are no longer mutually agreed upon rules. Also a system where "Do this or else the group will beat you up, exiled or worse" can hardly be called voluntary, calling yourself anarchist and then setting up a council of mod rule really hold true to the values you wish to expound. If we accept the above statement as true it further proves is Anarchy is unsubstantial given people slide towrds social order. Anarchy as being presented here is not a system of "Rule" it is merely an intellectual tool to argue for the tear down of the current state.

Answer 3

Well, since Anarchy has no form of government whatsoever, it can be complete and total chaos. Our founding fathers knew that once a society got so big, government was a necessity. When you have a small living community, government is not a necessity.

Thomas Paine said, "Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness. The former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices." in his 1776 book Common Sense that was a very popular book in it's time.

Answer 4

Anarchy helps the rich. A state (government) is the only thing that can control the rich and enforce some rules to protect the rest of us. Without that enforcement, the rich can do whatever they want.

Dishonest anarchists pretend to be for working people and the poor, but what they say they want (no state and no rules) would really help the rich. The rich always want no government controls on the economy and "a smaller government."

Honest anarchists just don't understand, and they confuse a government OWNED by the rich with government period. A workers government wouldn't be the same.

The question isn't "a state, or not?" but WHOSE state.

Answer 5

To answer your question;

I believe anarchist do not know what a can of worms they open when they profess to overthrow society. For it is society that allows them to hold that viewpoint. In a true anarchy I feel that the current group of anarchist would not last a very long time.

Answer 6

Its not even possible, the very act of saying we should create anarchy is anti-anarchy.

Answer 7

Anarchy is a way for a group of people to have power where they would ordinarily be powerless.

Answer 8

I think if their goal of anarchy comes to fruition, we should ransack their house first and loot all of their stuff.

Answer 9

Anarchy would mean that the mobs rule.

There would be no government, complete lawlessness, no authority.

Basically it would mean that you could do whatever you wanted, take whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted.

Answer 10

Petulant children throwing tantrums because they can't get their way.