Subject:
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Re: Goodness of Man? (was: Re: Merry Christmas from the Libertarian Party
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 1 Jan 2000 20:41:58 GMT
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Viewed:
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1506 times
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Jasper Janssen wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Dec 1999 19:30:52 GMT, John Neal <johnneal@uswest.net>
> wrote:
>
> > I hope it does. It seems to be a more mature (in terms of societal evolution)
> > system of government. Anarchy would be the most mature, IMO.
>
> Either you're nuts, or you havent read your history books.
>
> Remember what Europe was like when anarchy ruled? Think medieval times
> in between Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, etc.. It was _not_ fun.
> Even less so than with great dictators.
That's an old misconception. Having just helped teach a course called "The
Emergence of Medieval Europe" (c.300-1000), I can tell you that it wasn't
anarchy--things were in flux, but it only appeared anarchic because the meaning of
fealty and kingship was changing. There was never real anarchy--no more so than
there was in the 1700s, or between the World Wars in the 1900s (which is not yet
"last century", by the way).
> A societal system needs to be stable to survive. Anarchy is not statically stable,
but it's also not even dynamically stable.
I'd say this is true. I have the same fundamental objection that I have to Owenite
socialist utopias, Marxian communism, Libertopias (I like that word, Larry), and
vaguer forms of anarchy--human nature must change, a very long-term process, before
anarchy of any sort can work on a large scale. The "anarchic experiment" often
touted is that in Civil War Spain during the 1930s--but it lasted less than two
years, was a fairly small group, and collapsed because of the actions of other
human beings (the Fascists). The Paris Commune had a similar set of failings. It
can work for short periods with small groups at the behest of a visionary--but then
is not the visionary a form of hierarch? (The Soviets realized this, at least--and
as soon as there was only one, the USSR became a dictatorship.)
Now, the levelling effects of the Internet are a step towards decentering speech,
which is a necessary prerequisite for workable anarchy. IMHO, anyhow.
best,
Lindsay
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