It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Anarchism is a political theory which aims to create anarchy, "the absence of a master, of a sovereign." [P-J Proudhon, What is Property , p. 264] In other words, anarchism is a political theory which aims to create a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. As such anarchism opposes all forms of hierarchical control - be that control by the state or a capitalist - as harmful to the individual and their individuality as well as unnecessary.
In the words of anarchist L. Susan Brown:
"While the popular understanding of anarchism is of a violent, anti-State movement, anarchism is a much more subtle and nuanced tradition then a simple opposition to government power. Anarchists oppose the idea that power and domination are necessary for society, and instead advocate more co-operative, anti-hierarchical forms of social, political and economic organisation." [The Politics of Individualism, p. 106]"
Originally posted by Starchild23
reply to post by guavas
Whoa...are you guys STILL on the topic of hemp?
There's much more important matters to be discussed here...like the thread itself!
Originally posted by Meaningless
Enlighten me.
Originally posted by Blaine91555
Originally posted by Meaningless
reply to post by Blaine91555
Too many people want peace and no one wants to be told what to do. We keep order by keeping order in ourselves, not in the hands of some government. It is absolutely possible to live in local communities, uniting together and swaying off any intruders attempting to gain control. Do you even know what dictates behavior in humans?
Yes I do Do you
Originally posted by NoHierarchy
"What people (aside from rulers) don't like about hierarchal societies is that they don't exist for all their members in the same way. They provide a life of unbelievable luxury and ease for the rulers and a life of poverty and toil for everyone else. The way rulers benefit from the success of the society is vastly different from the way the masses benefit, and the pyramids and the temples testify to the importance of the rulers, not to the masses who build them. And so it goes, through every phase of life in a hierarchal society."
- Daniel Quinn, Beyond Civilization
Originally posted by Blaine91555
Originally posted by loveguy
I've had to share a lock-up once with a bunch of illegals. One thing I noticed was that when rations were given; cookies or whatever the cops felt like throwing in our cage on the way to the dumpster...
It didn't matter who of these illegals got their hands on which goodies; they would hand it off to the eldest, and he would make sure that everyone got their portion. Even a gringo such as myself!
So to think we are incapable of governing ourselves is drinking the pee that we are told is coolaid, and good for us; absolutely ludicrous!
Then what you are saying is that we would immediately recreate a government and a set of rules (laws), along with an enforcement mechanism (Courts, Jails etc..) That is true and it would lead us back to the system we have now out of necessity. All Laws come from necessity. All government comes from necessity. You are in fact making my case for me.
What you saw happening in that situation was a government being formed.
Mexico ironically is a great example of this in action. 50,000 dead since 2008 due to rule by the man with the biggest gun. Once the government of the people failed, the government by the strongest replaced it.
Another example of a place with true anarchy in recent history is the story of the Congo. Remove all law and all government and it turned into a horror story of epoch proportions.
Originally posted by loveguy
...I'm not locked in a box filled with a helpless mentality that I owe something to someone who is here under the same circumstances as myself, but is somehow more special...or entitled to lead me to my doom.
Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
reply to post by loveguy
When you say "govern ourselves", do you mean each individual person governing themselves? Or do you mean the people creating their own government (a government that isn't the current individual governments of the world)?
If you are talking about the former, I really doubt people would all get along without a mutually decide-upon set of rules that applies to all individuals, and a method for enforcing those rules. If you say "They'll make their own rules among them and figure out how to enforce those rules themselves", then you are talking about the definition of government.
If you are talking about the latter, then you are simply swapping one government with w new one -- a new government that is equally capable of having corrupt individuals as any present government.
edit on 4/18/2012 by Soylent Green Is People because: (no reason given)