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Old 10-25-2009, 02:27 PM   #149
Despanan
 
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Sugar Hill
Posts: 3,887
Quote:
Originally Posted by JCC View Post
Why does being an anarchist automatically mean that you are forcing something upon others? When Noam Chomsky writes his newest piece of polemic, or makes a speech at a university, or appears in a documentary, is he forcing something upon others by expressing an idea or theory? If you see anarchism and revolutionary politics through the narrow mindset of violence and pre-emptive strikes then it is coercive, but there's nothing coercive in holding or propagating an ideal.
I agree (sorry if my post might have made it seem otherwise). I really don't see any problem with holding it as an ideal or an overall goal. My problem with anarchism comes from the more practical/right now implimentation of it. At best there is the danger of wasted effort in pursuit of a currently unattainable ideal (I previously compared it to a guy drawing up plans for an elegant golden palace he's going to build, when all he has access to are logs and the most rudimentary tools) and at worst a wide open door for the clever and immoral to engage in manipulation and exploitation of the mob.

Basically I don't see working towards and hoping for an anarchist society sometime in the future as a bad thing, more demanding it now.

I guess what I'm saying is that the statent: "this is how I want people to be, how do I change them?" is the realm of artists, priests and philosophers. while the statement "this is how people are, how do I deal with it?" is the realm of cops and politicians.
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