Ode to Anarchism
A statement from my distant past keeps coming to mind. The statement has been ingrained in all of us. We accept it as truth prima facia. But in reality it, like most everything we accept without question, is complete bullshit.
In a computer repair shop in Overland Park, KS, 20 years ago, a debate was raging. The subject was politics, and one of the techs said to another, "Ya, but you don't vote, so you have no right to complain". At the time I was 20 years old and it made perfect sense. I self-righteously agreed. After all, I was a VOTER, and I made a difference, right? Well, possibly, but not likely. After thinking on it a few years, I'd like to travel back in time and challenge the premise of the statement.
You see, the premise of the statement above is that if you choose not to participate in what is almost certainly a dispicable, corrupt game of posturing and grandstanding for control, you should be willing to surrender your basic human rights. I'm sorry, but in what amounts to a competition for control over pfiefdoms, where we are all to be serfs choosing our overlords I see no way to win. Most often elections present us with a false dichotomy of choices that have been offered by those who are in power simply because they are the best manipulators. So they ascend to prominence by becoming a cult of personality. And I am expected to think I owe one of the two of them something? These are almost always people who appeal to the most base of human instinct in order to seize power for themselves. They pit one group against another in order to claim their authority. But the reality is, if we all agreed and cooperated, they would be completely useless wastes of oxygen and gravity. With the advent of the internet, airline travel, and cell phones, we are all beginning to realize we are alike deep down. We don't need to kill each other over resources, languages, skin color, or religions. Without these fears, we need no leaders to "protect" us from each other.
So maybe I will vote and maybe I will not. But if I choose not to, it does NOT mean that I have no human right to complain, or fight back by any means necessary against power that is often illigitamate in the first place. The kings of the earth are no better than the lowest peasants by birth. Both are born naked into the world, both will die alone, and both will do whatever it takes to advance their own self interest.
In an ideal world, no government would be necessary. Until we reach that utopia, we should strive for the minimal amount possible. But whether we ever reach it or not, I reserve my rights as a human being - even if I choose not to participate in a system that is essentially corrupt at its core.
In a computer repair shop in Overland Park, KS, 20 years ago, a debate was raging. The subject was politics, and one of the techs said to another, "Ya, but you don't vote, so you have no right to complain". At the time I was 20 years old and it made perfect sense. I self-righteously agreed. After all, I was a VOTER, and I made a difference, right? Well, possibly, but not likely. After thinking on it a few years, I'd like to travel back in time and challenge the premise of the statement.
You see, the premise of the statement above is that if you choose not to participate in what is almost certainly a dispicable, corrupt game of posturing and grandstanding for control, you should be willing to surrender your basic human rights. I'm sorry, but in what amounts to a competition for control over pfiefdoms, where we are all to be serfs choosing our overlords I see no way to win. Most often elections present us with a false dichotomy of choices that have been offered by those who are in power simply because they are the best manipulators. So they ascend to prominence by becoming a cult of personality. And I am expected to think I owe one of the two of them something? These are almost always people who appeal to the most base of human instinct in order to seize power for themselves. They pit one group against another in order to claim their authority. But the reality is, if we all agreed and cooperated, they would be completely useless wastes of oxygen and gravity. With the advent of the internet, airline travel, and cell phones, we are all beginning to realize we are alike deep down. We don't need to kill each other over resources, languages, skin color, or religions. Without these fears, we need no leaders to "protect" us from each other.
So maybe I will vote and maybe I will not. But if I choose not to, it does NOT mean that I have no human right to complain, or fight back by any means necessary against power that is often illigitamate in the first place. The kings of the earth are no better than the lowest peasants by birth. Both are born naked into the world, both will die alone, and both will do whatever it takes to advance their own self interest.
In an ideal world, no government would be necessary. Until we reach that utopia, we should strive for the minimal amount possible. But whether we ever reach it or not, I reserve my rights as a human being - even if I choose not to participate in a system that is essentially corrupt at its core.
posted by Jason E. Peck at 8:40 PM
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