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How do people feel about the constant linguistic abuse of the word "anarchy"? Anarchy is often use, particularly within the context of current affairs, to describe chaos. However, that is not the pure definition of the word. The literal definition means "without order" which is not inextricably linked to chaos. For example the headline several years ago "East Timor Descends Into Anarchy" was not remotely accurate. Neither Kropotkin nor Malatesta's vision was realised. Rather there was a sense of chaos and uncertainty.
Any angry anarchists out there or are there just mildly agitated ones?
Luncheon meat goes down very well with cherryade.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I know nothing about the politicians you mention. I agree that chaos means a total lack of order,
and it is an exaggeration to describe a nation with no party having a controlling majority as
being in a state of chaos. Nothing useful may be accomplished, but order may suddently be
restored. That can't happen with chaos.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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Us anarchists are so used to the misuse of the word that we hardly notice and only occasionally can be stirred into protesting.
Anarchy, strictly speaking, doesn;t mean lack of order - it means "without a leader."
It is not absolutely essential to have a leader in order to have an ordered society. However. in practice, leaders almost always rise to fill any given need. Most modern anarchist theories agree that a leader to co-ordinate a particular project is often useful.
The limits that anarchism tends to put on this phenomenon are that the leadership should be just for one activity for one occasion*, and that there shall not be an overarching, permanent leader.
(It is generally accepted that anarchism will only work in smallish societies - up to about 2000 people, by which time it begins to creak a bit.)
*This is not to say that the same leader may not rise a second or any number of times, if the need arises, and the consensus if the society agrees. There is, of course, a danger that such a person may become a de facto permanbent leader - one of the ironies of anarchism.
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Carpal Tunnel
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i don't know.. i think of anarchy, (and aristocracy, and democracy,) and all those term as how people organize and have government.
iraq, has a government style, where the strongest, most vicious person is the leader.. i know sadam was unapposed, but i suspect, from a commom man iraqi point of view, he is the only choice.. look at him, he stands up to the US and the UN and the rest of the world, he really is the biggest baddest dude around.
in small iraqi villages, the village leader too, is a strong man. (and 1000 year ago, fighting skill were pretty dam important when it came to deciding an an english king!)
is sadam a regent? is the government a regentcy? he might not call himself king.. but what ever he is its the as kings of old.
now chaos-- i don't think of this as political system (or even a lack of a political system. chaos is a mathmatical term.
there have been politacal upheaval, as peoples grow and change (and the nature progression of small groups that are communal to larger groups that have kings is well documented.) during times of change, there is anarchy.. there is no one organized way for society to behave. this is not the same as chaos.
the study of chaos seems to be similar to how people organize.. only is is in reverse. in mathmatics, it is held that the core is ordered, and as you move further form the center, to the outer edges, it there that things get more and more chaotic.. but this level of math is one that i only have vague knowledge of, and even less complete understanding.
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It is important that the accurate definition is correctly understood otherwise the whole movement which is a vital conversation in the political discourse of the left, will be misunderstood.
I myself cannot make the leap of faith to anarchism but would quite like to........
Welwyn Garden City - An Island In The Setting Sun
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Don't know who wrote it but one of my all-time favorite bits of humor (can't call it a joke; it's far better than that) is to completely straight-facedly (word?) insert the following into any casual conversation:
"I was president of the Anarchy Club in college but we had to disband when we couldn't agree on a constitution."
I'm sorry but I think that is absolutely hilarious! What makes it even more so, in some perverse sense, is that IT NEVER GETS A LAUGH! Absolutely, positively NEVER! I've tried this wheeze on maybe a dozen different occasions in front of some 30 people or more and no one has gotten it yet.
If ever I get so much as a smile from a woman on this line, I'm proposing marriage on the spot.
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Carpal Tunnel
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CJ, I smiled, but sorry, I'm already taken.  I actually think it would be funnier if you stopped with just this much: "I was president of the Anarchy Club in college." I tend to favor that kind of no-possible-answer humor myself (and have earned many a you-are-really-weird look, in the process).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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president of the Anarchy Club
The South Eastern Ludicranian Benevolent Anarchy is headed up by the Grand Anarch, whose slightest whim is Public Agreement.
No problem with leaders springing up when needed; the problem comes when a leader thinks that he should be leader of everything all the time.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I just posted some quotes from Grendel, and found one for this thread:
"I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist...I grew limp with my anarchistic laughter."
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old hand
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old hand
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If ever I get so much as a smile from a woman on this line, I'm proposing marriage on the spot.Well, I smiled too! and unlike Jackie, I'm not taken. But I don't want you unless you can promise me you'll never go limp with anarchistic laughter....
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