Anarchy Is Chaos: Difference between revisions
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A virtually ubiquitous trope, both in fiction and [[Real Life]], is the misconception that anarchists have no beliefs, that [[Title Drop|anarchy is chaos.]] While anarchy and chaos are not mutually exclusive (chaos is anarchic, although it often devolves into warlordism, but anarchy is not necessarily chaotic) such an un-mindset is properly called [[Nietzsche Wannabe|nihilism, the belief in nothing]]. However, the actual definition of Anarchism is ''the belief that rulership should not exist'' (as indicated in its Greek roots, an- [no] -arkhos [ruler]). There is much division on the extent and nature of rulership, and what it means. Regardless of this division, ''in fiction'', Anarchists (of any stripe) are often accused of [[Chaotic Stupid|favoring a Hobbesian-style war of all against all]].
This trope, admittedly, has been bolstered by the idea that society's existence is contingent on that of top-down leadership, but also because of the “propaganda by the deed” violence some anarchists about a century ago perpetrated against the robber barons of the gilded age and various heads of
Of course, there have been Anarchists throughout history who appear to have played this trope chillingly straight. Max Stirner stood for Egoist Anarchism – the belief that everyone should be allowed to do whatever they want, period. However, like most Egoists, Stirner believed voluntary cooperation and ''avoiding'' chaos was in the self-interest of every human being, and thus a (sane) egoist would not want chaos. A French variation was Illegalism; that committing crimes was the only true expression of anarchy. And don't get started on the Russian Nihilists and Anarchists of the 19th century, many of whom were pacifists but more than a few of whom were willing to commit terrorism and murder in the name of combating repressive institutions, such as to bring down the absolute monarchy of Russia and other things seen as parts of the Bourgeois control. These ideologies reached their climax in the 1881 assassination of the Tsar, which got most of the perpetrators hanged and helped to undermine the Russian anarchist movement generally. Use of political violence to make change reached an ugly, bloody conclusion in the 1917 October Revolution of the Bolsheviks, the repression of all opposition (including the anarchists) during the subsequent civil war, and Stalin's purges in the 30s and 40s.
In the USA, “Anarchist” tends to call up images of [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzsche wannabes]], [[Dirty Commies|leftist radicals]] (though Anarchism and Marxist Communism have been ''miles'' away from each other since Marx and Bakunin were rivals in the First International) and [[Bomb-Throwing Anarchists]], while “Libertarian” tends to call up images of [[Deep South|redneck]] [[Crazy Survivalist
Predictably, anarchists have been historical targets of brutal persecution from both capitalist and socialist authoritarians, due to belief that both are wrong in their domineering ways. Note, however, that there are both capitalists and socialists who use the term “anarchist” for themselves, who disagree with each other just as much as any other factions of such do.
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