Justice as fairness: we can do better than we are

[betenoire]

The funny thing about anarchy is this:

For you to honestly believe it would work you'd have to have a pretty altruistic view of human nature. You know, the doctor will be very happy to care for your sick mother because she is very excited that you tend the chickens. The dude next door would never rape you because he is a good person and knows you are a good person who would never steal his car. Blah blah social contract blah blah.

That's pretty stupid and naive, for starters.

But on TOP of that. Right on top of that - you have the fact that most "anarchist" groups are populated by dickheaded 25 year old white boys who break windows and do more harm than good when they show up at a protest. The behaviour of the average self-described anarchist ALONE is evidence enough that anarchy would never work.

[SecretAgentMa'am]

Originally Posted by betenoire

But on TOP of that. Right on top of that - you have the fact that most "anarchist" groups are populated by dickheaded 25 year old white boys who break windows and do more harm than good when they show up at a protest. The behaviour of the average self-described anarchist ALONE is evidence enough that anarchy would never work.

This. So very much this. I know a few anarchists. In fact, there's a large group of them who are in the same Sociology of Social Problems class with me this semester. Their ideas about how the world *should* work are absolutely laughable. Their certainty that they're right and anyone who disagrees with them is stupid is chilling. They're also very quick to suggest that Occupy Portland should be rioting to get what they want, rather than just peacefully protesting. Anarchists are the last people I want anyone listening to regarding governance of a nation.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

And this is precisely the point I was making. Sure, deep blue-state me would be perfectly happen adopting Canada's lack of laws governing abortion. Deep red-state someone else would have a BIG problem with it. Deeply Catholic Nicaraguans would probably have a *gigantic* problem. And woe betide the person who tried to take that away.

Well nobody would get to take it away because we'll just adopt that whole "right to bear arms" thing from you guys and then -nobody- will be able to take away our abortions (or our Queen).

The whole thing is just such a bad nightmare, really.

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMa'am

They're also very quick to suggest that Occupy Portland should be rioting to get what they want, rather than just peacefully protesting. Anarchists are the last people I want anyone listening to regarding governance of a nation.

Anarchist - [an-er-kist] - noun: A jerkwad who likes to break stuff and has conveniently found a self-righteous explanation for their crappy behaviour.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMa'am

This. So very much this. I know a few anarchists. In fact, there's a large group of them who are in the same Sociology of Social Problems class with me this semester. Their ideas about how the world *should* work are absolutely laughable. Their certainty that they're right and anyone who disagrees with them is stupid is chilling. They're also very quick to suggest that Occupy Portland should be rioting to get what they want, rather than just peacefully protesting. Anarchists are the last people I want anyone listening to regarding governance of a nation.

Count me in on this, too. Frankly I find much meaness and bullying behavior from most anarchists. Often, this looks to me as quite the same as one Dick Cheny, Rush Limbaugh, or Glenn Beck.

I have no interest in every single person in my country thinking exactly like I do. I do, however, want mutual respect of ideas and an ability to work together to promote liberty and justice "for all." Which takes accepting that everything will not be exactly as I would like it. But, that we all find common ground in ideas that do promote equal opportunity for the entire population.

I know, I have a streak of idealism- the fact is, I do find what is good in all and try to figure out how that can best be utilized for the whole.

Bet's take on the 25 year old white boys... usually pretty spoiled white boys as anarchists fits with what I have seen as part of and looking from the outside of social movements since the mid-1960's. In fact, you can count on them to want to run everything!