Friday, June 11, 2004

You know ... Anarchism is a pretty amazing political ideology
ok ... since i've been listening to a lot of Against Me! recently, and since those guys are a bunch of anarchists, I've been pondering the political movement we call "anarchism." It's pretty amazing in a weird way.

here are One,Two against me! songs for you to listen to while you ponder along.

Ok, anarchism. anarchism is basically the belief that there should be no state, people should only have to answer to themselves ... or as Groliers Encyclopedia puts it

Anarchism is an ideology that regards abolition of government as the necessary precondition for a free and just society. The term itself comes from the Greek words meaning "without a ruler." Anarchism rejects all forms of hierarchical authority, social and economic as well as political. What distinguishes it from other ideologies, however, is the central importance it attaches to the state. To anarchists, the state is a wholly artificial and illegitimate institution, the bastion of privilege and exploitation in the modern world.

Now that sounds all well and good, except for the fact that people are inherently dicks so if anarchy was ever "how things were" everyone would probably be dead, a fighter, or a slave. although, i guess money wouldnt have any value, so it would basically turn the whole world into that movie No Escape where there's the society of lawless bandits and the society of peaceful hippies (hey man, I'll watch anything with Ray Liotta in it. Here's the preview ... rad).

so anyway ... when you disregard the fact that anarchy is a bad idea, you get to the pretty radical part. Anarchism is the only political ideology that you can live by regardless of what the people in the world around you are doing. If you want to be an anarchist, you just stop contributing to society. you live in the streets and steal to get by. it's pretty kick ass if you think about it. if i was a communist, i couldnt possibly create a communist world around me. the same is true for everything else ... except anarchism. The crazy thing about anarchism, though seriously unlikely, is that if TONS of people decided that "the state" was bullshit and decided to be anarchists, then anarchy would just be "the way things were." a political movement put in place just by individuals deciding to live their life a different way. nuts. weird even. so there you go. if you want to be an anarchist, it's just as easy as deciding to be one. just try not to get yourself killed or arrested.

here's some more stuff about anarchism. it's kind of interesting. I haven't really read much about it, so if everything i just said turns out to be retarded and wrong, don't hold it against me.

... especially if you're an anarchist. I like my apartment. please don't burn it down.

next time i'll talk about Fortress starring Kurtwood Smith (who you know better as RED FOREMAN! [he was also in Rambo 3]) and MORE IMPORTANTLY Christopher Lambert, who you might remember as fuckin' HIGHLANDER! rad.

... There can be only one!