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NiamhNyx
I'm NOT a 'he'
Registered: 09/01/02
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anarchy: definitions 101
#7425589 - 09/18/07 08:24 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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an·ar·chy /ˈænərki/ Pronunciation[an-er-kee]
1. a theory that regards the absence of all direct or coercive government as a political ideal and that proposes the cooperative and voluntary association of individuals and groups as the principal mode of organized society.
2. confusion; chaos; disorder: Intellectual and moral anarchy followed his loss of faith.
[Origin: 1530–40; (< MF anarchie or ML anarchia) < Gk, anarchía lawlessness, lit., lack of a leader, equiv. to ánarch(os) leaderless (an- an-1 + arch(ós) leader + -os adj. suffix) + -ia -y3] Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
The most popular of these definitions seems to be #2. People frequently use this definition when attempting to argue against anarchism under the mythical, ridiculous belief that somehow definition 2 is interchangeable with definition 1. Definition 1 is essentially, in very simple terms, what anarchists are refering to. There is an incredible diversity of ideas regarding what such a society may look like and how it could be achieved, but that is an entirely different matter altogether.
My only aim in this thread is to clarify what anarchism actually is, and point out the significant definitional differences between it and other uses of the word. In other words - get your definitions straight before vomiting all over me. It is boring and annoying to constantly explain that no, anarchism is not what happens when there is a hurricane or a genocide.
Edited by NiamhNyx (09/18/07 09:00 PM)
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elbisivni
Registered: 10/01/06
Posts: 2,839
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Re: anarchy: definitions 101 [Re: NiamhNyx]
#7425675 - 09/18/07 08:46 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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CST Punk
-------------------- From dust you are made and to dust you shall return.
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PhanTomCat
Teh Cat....
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Re: anarchy: definitions 101 [Re: NiamhNyx]
#7426150 - 09/18/07 10:24 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Thanx~ for clearing up the differences for me in the points you were trying to make while I was vomiting all over you.... It almost seems like you feel personally attacked by my second use and understanding of the word (which is frequently interchanged with "chaos").... It is humorous when someone is easily annoyed by simple words....
But, back to the question that is being lost due to (my ignorance and) the semantics..... If "proposing the cooperative and voluntary association of individuals and groups as the principal mode of organized society" = Anarchy Then how does one that believes (ie, "has faith") in this sort of society and philosophy justify stealing from another as an example of this philosophy.....?
It seems that if leading by an example is how we learn, then sometimes it will be our weaknesses and mistakes that is learned from others....
>^;;^<
-------------------- I'll be your midnight French Fry.... "The most important things in life that are often ignored, are the things that one cannot see...." >^;;^<
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PhanTomCat
Teh Cat....
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Re: anarchy: definitions 101 [Re: PhanTomCat]
#7426552 - 09/19/07 12:20 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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OK, seriously, I think I just figured it out, and why the two definitions of "Anarchy" were (falsely?) associated by myself.... The topic was about stealing, I did not associate the first definition of Anarchy to stealing, I likened it more to the second....
Now you can at least understand what triggered the "vomit" reflex....
The only question left by myself is, what part of the definition does stealing fall under....?
>^;;^<
-------------------- I'll be your midnight French Fry.... "The most important things in life that are often ignored, are the things that one cannot see...." >^;;^<
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NiamhNyx
I'm NOT a 'he'
Registered: 09/01/02
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Re: anarchy: definitions 101 [Re: PhanTomCat]
#7427590 - 09/19/07 11:06 AM (16 years, 5 months ago) |
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Sorry about the vomiting bit, it's just that explaining over and over and over again that anarchism isn't about people raping each other gets rather irritating after a few years. It's not that I think of it as a personal attack, more of a matter of wishing people could just pick up a book or do a google search.
As for the stealing thing, it's not that any people woud really argue that theft is an example of anarchism in practice; it's more that an anarchist, through thier critique of capitalism, would not think that stealing is wrong in some contexts. Of course most anarchists would think it's just not cool to walk up to some guy on the street and steal his wallet. There is a distiction between personal property (my shoes, stereo, etc.) and the vast hoarding of resources. You need your personal supply of groceries to feed yourself, walmart does not need 500,000 boxes of cereal for any reason other than increasing thier profit margin. A good example is land ownership and squatting. Real Estate speculators buy buildings and leave them empty for years at at time while there are homeless people on the doorstep of a gigantic waste of a building. People squat in empty buildings, which, by defintion is 'stealing.' Squatting is a great way for people to take control over the conditions of thier lives by taking the home that is deprived them by the conditions imposed by capital (an unnaffordable rental market.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting
To answer your final question, stealing doesn't 'fall under' either definition of anarchy, it isn't inherent to either of them. It may (or may not) occur in the latter, it certainly occurs in the here and now, and assumedly it wouldn't be too severe of a problem in an anarchist society because there wouldn't really be much to steal - everyone would have equal access to land and resources. There would be no significant discrepancies between one persons utter poverty and another's unprecedented wealth.
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impgl
CrimethINCspecial agent
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Re: anarchy: definitions 101 [Re: NiamhNyx]
#7967615 - 02/02/08 04:27 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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just doin my part to sting at the slave masters
-------------------- omg really?
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
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Re: anarchy: definitions 101 [Re: NiamhNyx]
#7967826 - 02/02/08 08:07 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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"a political ideal"
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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