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Annoying Objection to Anarchism

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Eric080 Posted: Sun, Feb 20 2011 3:14 AM

One thing I've never fully understood about people objecting to anarcho-capitalism, at least with regards to law enforcement, is how they are scared of an agency running around jailing or punishing people for crimes that the individual doesn't view as a crime.  I have to ask though, what do you think any pot-smoker who was caught with a joint would have to say about such a scenario?  Basically that is what we have now.

 

Liberals don't want their tax dollars to fund nation-building across the Atlantic and into Arabia.  Conservatives don't want their tax dollars to fund abortions.  Libertarian minarchists don't want their tax dollars to fund the drug war.  Yet what do they do?  They sit back and take it.  That is the only reason why it doesn't seem as coercive as it is on the surface.  They think somehow that we have peace in a Statist society, but the only peace occurs because they don't fight the law.  If a PDA went around jailing people because "marijuana is immoral and a danger to the fabric of society," that would be seen as an outrage because it is assumed that their authority is just made up and declared by fiat.  Yet somehow voting makes it okay.

 

Ok, that was a bit of a ranty post. cool

"And it may be said with strict accuracy, that the taste a man may show for absolute government bears an exact ratio to the contempt he may profess for his countrymen." - de Tocqueville
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They can't criticize the principle of statist impositionism because they all lust for the power and control it has. Many people, especially intellectuals, are power-hungry and see other humans as vessels for their brilliance.

I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of dead will outnumber the living.
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Eric080 replied on Sun, Feb 20 2011 3:28 AM

I think you're right.  They don't think there's anything wrong with the State, as long as they can take control of it (in the next election cycle of course!).

"And it may be said with strict accuracy, that the taste a man may show for absolute government bears an exact ratio to the contempt he may profess for his countrymen." - de Tocqueville
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MaikU replied on Sun, Feb 20 2011 6:13 AM

I think power is not the case here. State is a mother and father, people believe in authority of state as much as they believe in the authority of their parents. They see DRO and PDA as stepfathers or complete strangers that they have no control.

"Dude... Roderick Long is the most anarchisty anarchist that has ever anarchisted!" - Evilsceptic

(english is not my native language, sorry for grammar.)

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Why have we adopted this 'PDA' and 'DRO' lingo? It's not like these things don't exist. They're arbitration agencies and private security, and anyone with the money to afford them prefers them. They're nothing new or unknown, right now a majority of corporate officers use the AAA, private security and insurance to resolve most of their company-to-company disputes.

I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of dead will outnumber the living.
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MaikU replied on Sun, Feb 20 2011 7:24 AM

"but what about the poor? what about the needy? What if they all create a big gang and start taking money from us with force? At least governments can protect us. We can vote and choose our masters"

"Dude... Roderick Long is the most anarchisty anarchist that has ever anarchisted!" - Evilsceptic

(english is not my native language, sorry for grammar.)

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There is no logic, its just pure indoctrination. 

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It's the illusion of peace under total domination.  If you have no hope of winning, you don't fight; you cut your losses by surrendering.  It's the possibility of overcoming enemies that leads to combat.  Suppose we have two kidnappers.  One kidnapped Dolph Lundgren.  The other kidnapped a 6 year old girl.  The one that kidnapped a 6 year old girl could gloat about how his system is peaceful whilst the other kidnappers system is a war of all against all.  After all, the 6 girl year old girl saw no benefit to struggling against a big man being thrown in the van and sees no benefit to struggling against him to escape the prison.

Then there is the "power vacuum" argument.  When two forces are mutually threatening to each other one has a half-life like some articifial element that turns into lead seconds after being created.  So, nature abhorring a vacuum, will turn Dolph Lundgren into a 6 year old girl anyway and situation will end up the same.

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Bohemian replied on Sun, Feb 20 2011 9:14 PM

Agreed about people merely being indoctrinated. I've had many fruitless debates on the matter of justice in an anarchist society. I've observed that people become very angry when you point out that their system exists singularly on using violence and the threat thereof to force others into adherence to their preferences.

Aside from that, it's pure irrational fear blended equal parts with hypocracy.

Group X fears a group of strangers (Y) dominating them.
Group X then empowers another group of strangers (Z) to pre-emptively dominate other strangers (Y).

Madness.

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MaikU replied on Mon, Feb 21 2011 6:51 AM

And we should stick to pointing out such contradictions, because they are the core of their cognitive dissonance. Like religious people are atheists about 99,99 percents of the gods, statists do the same. They don't believe in any criminal gang ruling over them EXCEPT this one called "our state" or "our government".

You destroy this line of thinking and you almost have a new anarchist.

"Dude... Roderick Long is the most anarchisty anarchist that has ever anarchisted!" - Evilsceptic

(english is not my native language, sorry for grammar.)

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