Subject: Some more thoughts
Date: 9 Oct 1998 00:40:23 GMT
From: bh505@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Arthur Sankey)
Organization: The National Capital FreeNet
Newsgroups: alt.anarchism, alt.society.anarchy
What are anarchists? Those who oppose the old lie - that people are stupid and need to be controlled for their own good. Dictators think it, managers and executives think it, and often the people, considered conservative by default, are either convinced of this, or fail to make fruit of their dissent.
"You'll get a pie in the sky when you die." This is among the main objections to religion, and is justified, at least in the way that religion has been applied.
There is an assumption in our society that heaven is some sort of world already in progress, with parents sitting around and waiting for their kids to die, or guys hoping the widows they left remain unmarried, etc. A lot of christians say "I can't wait to see what Einstein's been up to" or whatever, yet this isn't heaven as described by Jesus. He spoke of a judgement in the future - that is, heaven doesn't exist yet.
Early christians expected the world to end within their own lifetimes, and only after decades did they realize that it would be worthwhile to write a book. Ever since Revelation was written christians expected it too be soon - yet it has not come, and I don't expect it at the millenium.
Maybe we're not the brightest bunch. It's taken us 2000 years to realize that we've got to build heaven ourselves. The book of Revelations is basically the story of a revolution, with the old being destroyed to make way for the new - personally I hope this part doesn't come true. (by the way, the seven headed monster - some say it's the G7 nations, but I've got my bet on the 7 sister oil companies)
Heaven would be our anarchist world, presumably with massive technical and scientific advances. I assume at some point we'll be able to raise the dead, even those with which we have no DNA for. (Time travel?)
Monopolies come in many guises. A cartel may not literally be a monopoly, though it functions as one. Hollywood is a monopoly in the form of a city. Sometimes monopolies exist in the form of interests - media needs to satisfy its sponsors (and addict its recipiants). Vote-chasers need a quick scapegoat or a short-term solution to age-old problems.
Even though there are separate individuals involved, their interests conform so much that they might as well be one.
At a tremendous cost in labour and capital, humanity struggles to remove a basically useless metal from under the earth. We then form it into pure bars, and then what do we do? We put it in deep in safes, back under the ground again. Just another example of capitalist efficiency at work.
There's a problem with good and evil - evil cannot help but win. If there's sex and violence, the latter's getting one hell of a complement. Advertisers try to associate products with sex - and throughout history, moralists have done just that with violence, and other things that should not be done. Have you ever seen the warnings that come on before pronos on pay-per-view?
"Warning: this program contains nudity, explicit sexuality, and LANGUAGE THAT MIGHT BE OFFENSIVE". This sounds absurd - but if think about it, what's wrong with any of it? Maybe someone would want their kids to be healthy and satisfied but not say four-letter words.
Many preachers speak of two things that people use to replace the love of god - money and rampant sex. Yet this is often watered down - they say the evil is "the love of money", not money itself, while sex remains as is. This is because of the same thing that corrupts political parties - someone's got to pay the bills. Piss off the rich guy, and when the collection plate goes around, no matter how many poor folks support you, you're on your own.
This leads us back to the top - now money has been glorified by appearing on the same pedistal as sex. And yet, Jesus hardly ever said much about good or bad, he talked about consecuenses - this'll get you to heaven, this won't. It's a lot like eastern religions: this is wise, this is not. Nothing about good or bad. This is a good idea, that would be stupid.
Here we are, consuming as much as 20 third-world humans would. And here we are, telling THEM to use birth control. Overpopulation is a result of capitalism - the poor cannot invest in anything other than babies - and to add insult to injury, children are considered property. In many places, children are a status symbol - like a car or ring. The poor cannot afford these - or children, for that matter, yet they feel they must keep up in the property contest.
What have us westerners done to remedy this disasterous situation? We send them advertising. More demand makes them work harder.
Should anarchists vote? One would suppose that in choosing between Himmler and Goebbels, the right thing to do would be not to vote. A better way to show dissent, in my humble opinion, would be to "throw your vote away" on a party like Natural law. (Not sure if this one's in the US, but it's around in the commonwealth). This way, it is made clear that there is actual dissent, not mere laziness or apathy. That said, do we want our dissent to be visable?
The art of war is based on surprise and superior information. Is there any way we can spread the word on anarchism without tipping off the power elite? The greatest victories have been won by those their enemies did not think of as a threat. Yet sadly, people tend to stick to the side that's winning. Propagandists face this issue in another way - how can we appear mighty and yet also apear as victims?
For us the question is "how can we convince people that there's a revolution happening without the opposition quickly turning us into victims?"
One thing I can suggest is the concept of guilt by association. Basically, if you don't resist, you're part of the system that causes so much death and suffering, and if you do, virtue is its own reward. We can undermine authority with a low profile if we do it for our concious, for posterity, or for a positive afterlife, things that no authority will be able to detect.
Freedom. Freedom until it hurts.
- Arthur Sankey (bh505@FreeNet.Carleton.CA)
