Even though I have been an anarchist for 7 years, the religious quality of statism still manages to surprise me and catch me off guard. A lot of the time, when I am in public, I just observe people in my vicinity.
In many of these situations, people banter ceaselessly about politics, presidential campaigns, voting possibilities, and as many intimate details of their political masters as they can muster. They do it in a Jim-Jones-is-speaking kind of way, and I can tell that they do not even consider their words. Verbiage seeps out of their mouth as if they were speaking in tongues and running on autopilot—like they just drank the Kool-Aid.
It is as if culture has burned itself so far into their soul that it has blotted out their ability to consider alternatives or wonder about the consequences of their political soothsaying.
Combating Zealotry is Difficult
In most of these situations, I am not in a position to justify intervening or feel that it would not be worth my time to engage with this particular audience. I try to pick and choose my battles, and an intelligent individual always selects the high ground if possible.
Nonetheless, combating this kind of zealotry is difficult and time consuming. I have rhetorical methods and processes to help decondition people and see the woofuckery of their ways, but it is always challenging trying to topple someone's worldview and get them to see things in a more realistic fashion.
I guess what I am saying is that I have matured in my approach to tackling the issue of campaigning for anarchism and truth---and not everyone is ready to discard their dogmas, even if I used my most polished arguments and techniques to snap them out of their culture coma.
Statism is a powerful drug.
“The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster.”― Ludwig von Mises
My name is Sterlin. Follow me @ Psychologic-Anarchist. I also run the Psychologic-Anarchist Facebook page and produce many YouTube videos. My interests lie in the intersection of counseling psychology and anarchism. I write about the depredations of psychiatry, and also the new philosophy of compassionate anarchism. We have a large community devoted to discussing psychology and relational voluntaryism.
People can't seem to grasp the idea, that the idea of a government is fully made up. They think that they own themselves, while in reality the government owns their identities. Way too many people identify themselves with the identity their government gives them. I identify myself as a spirit on a journey.
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Wow amazing post , very educative on anarchism and statism :)
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Thank you so much. I will try to keep it flowing. And I assume the follow function is working now.
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Statism is a form of adolescence where adults still hope mommy and daddy authority will come make it all better. That authority is a myth. I see this pre-programmed thinking everywhere, even here on Steemit.
"The admins should do something!"
"Someone should enforce some rules around here!"
"We need to get dan and ned to ...insert own personal agenda here... !"
It's comforting to believe an authority will remove all reasons for fear. The reality is, life is what you make of it and though there are dangers to consider, true freedom brings creative opportunity.
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I recently replied to a commenter who was complaining that the whitepaper is not kept up to date with the latest hardforks and protocol updates. I pointed out that Steemit is incredibly busy coming up with those hardforks and updates (and recovering from the occasional hack along the way), and is small enough that they don't have people dedicated to documentation. I then pointed out that if someone else were to update the whitepaper, it might be a relatively easy way to make some money.
If you don't like what it is, change it. And try to get paid for your work; if you can, you earned it.
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Well said. It's a shift in thinking. "Someone should do something about this!". The obvious response to me is, "What are you going to do about it?" Updating the white paper is a great example and someone could make some money, influence, and reputation by suggesting some edits.
I hope @sterlinluxan doesn't mind a video in the comments of his post, but this is one of my favorites on the topic of "What will be done about..."? by @larkenrose:
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Exactly! The people are responsible for making sure society runs well, not some authority that claims power for itself.
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All the war in the world is caused by a religion, whether that religion is Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or Statism. All the soldiers are hired thugs whose wages are subsidized by propaganda that causes zealotry, or "Patriotism." They reap the benefits from the oppressed people of the world, rewarded by their state or church to higher rankings for their loyalty.
Indeed it impossible for a man to see the evil of the state if his paycheck is payed by it. Cognitive dissonance forces them to believe that they're making the world a better place, even when they're using violence. Instead of realizing they're extorting people, they think they're doing duty. Instead of waging war to protect the states financial interests, they think they're protecting their families.
Everybody would be safe from violence if we all applied the principles of non-aggression and non-compliance with the state. The state would simply cease to exist. Then we would be free to provide goods and services for each other in a world free from extortion.
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I disagree with your assertion that "All soldiers are hired thugs,,," as I believe that nothing could be further from the truth. While there is certainly a small percentage of people who serve that meet the criteria of a thug, I believe it is vanishingly small. I speak against this assertion as one who served for over thirty years. The argument for the anarchist model will not be won by aggressive posturing, nor, by the pseudo-intellectual who questions the motives and intelligence of those who choose to serve the nation as it is currently configured. I urge you to consider that your time would be better spent educating those who do not understand the non-aggression principle, rather than venting anger at, perhaps misguided, but, honorable and decent people.
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Yeah, I suppose not all soldiers are actually violent. Many of them have not even seen combat. But soldiers are willing to be violent, in exchange for money. And I believe that violates the principle of non-aggression.
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Another great post Sterlin. I really admire your work as you have opened my eyes with your writings. I feel the same way as I listen to people talk about their potential masters and voting for the orange guy or the email queen. I especially keep my mouth shut at my job to where my boss(a huge fan of the orange guy) is constantly speaking about politics and if you disagree with him you will be suddenly unemployed. It's a fucking shame too as i have so much to say, most of which would be contrary to what my boss says (not to mention everyone else) and believes in. Most of my coworkers say the same bullshit "politics are boring" or "I don't get involved with THAT crap" or my personal favorite "he/she is going to fix this country", because more government is the answer right?
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The struggle is real. You can have the most intelligent point, completely pertinent to whatever is being discussed, and people will often refuse to agree simply because you disagree with what they said earlier.
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The worship of a state is the worship of force.today this rule is implemented by the worst rulers.
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I love your appoach. ts almost like a psycholgica; Shao lin
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The older I get, the more I realize that I might be a libertarian.
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Interesting post, I really like reading your articles! Keep it going man!
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I appreciate it. I will work to write more.
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Sterlin great stuff man. Keep uprooting all that is false and planting those seeds of truth.
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Counterpoint:
https://steemit.com/anarchy/@alexbeyman/anarchism-in-the-animal-kingdom-the-humble-slime-mold
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The idea of actually living independently, where you are responsible for effecting a solution for EVERYTHING on your path, is terrifying for most people. When something major goes wrong, the reflexive turn to "Big Daddy" (whether it's the government, the admins or your actual father) is a hard piece of conditioning to break through.
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This article could have been a lot shorter if you had just mentioned that statist sycophants experience Stockholm Syndrome with the State. Just sayin'
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Yup, belief in the state is one the worst religions.
As with any dominating ideology, it is taken for granted and considered as some sort of extension of human nature. Because of that, no one even realizes that it is artificial concept to be questioned. Almost no one questions it.
https://steemit.com/anarchism/@logic/the-meaning-of-true-anarchism
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Ya. If someone is in a coma, you don't try to teach them ballet.
If I had to jump into a conversation about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump or whatever, it's usually more enjoyable to me (and symbiotically I feel it does more good) to just engage them on their paradigm, and maybe you offer some little kernel of new thought that's helpful to them in some way, rather than swing for the fences and try to somehow get them to see that it's predicated on violence.
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I have to agree with you that changing the statist status quo mindset is a difficulty approaching self-levitation. And, being honest, as a product of several of the systems in place today, there are certain transitions to the anarchic model that I am not comfortable with. While the anarchist model, as I understand it, is most consistent with individualism, most of my peers, elders, and friends aren't ready for it. The fear machines in politics and the media have done their work well. Modest moves toward the anarchist model, I fear, would be met, at present, with a militant response. My hesitations to fully embrace the model are based mostly on the timeline. It cannot happen quickly. Though perhaps it should; Here in the US our ability to embrace change has made us quite successful in adapting to the technological wonders emerging daily. But, some things that are changing a great deal more slowly; The god delusions, the grasp of altruism, the reach back to golden era memes, will be pain points for a long time. I guess that while I see the anarchist model as the most consistent of the 'thought collections' out there today - the majority of humans are going to need a godlike futurist to lead the way.
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It's funny when I a staunch 100% atheist tend to get along better with those who openly admit that they're religious to some God, rather than the purported atheists who have just displaced one false God for another that they call the state. They don't seem to understand that politicians are simply human beings who pretend to be Gods as they pass 'Laws' to force their edicts on their populations. The people will follow all these crazy rituals, and pray to their new mortals deities for change in a never ending cycle of next time we'll choose the right person for the job.
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Interesting
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As time goes by, anarchism becones more and more obvious to me. I constantly have to remind myself that I too was once so very lost. This is the only way I am able to keep my sanity when trying to talk sense into the densest statists. Thanks you for another great piece, @sterlinluxan.
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I see the same thing (avid gossip about politics) even among my anarchist friends sometimes. It's a bit odd, to say the least.
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Another excellent observation by Sterlin.
I would observe that
the quasi-religious nature of government dependent personality
is so universal it is almost always a waste of effort to try to oppose it.
The only realistic hope is to escape it, if possible.
As you said:
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Saludos desde Venezuela, espero ganar mucho dinero con esto.
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Beautiful, masterful prose Mr. Luxan as always!
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