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Philosophy and Dissent
Aug. 14th, 2011 07:53 pmIt is fascinating to note how the media has altered the meaning and semantics of anarchy. Anarchism, from the Greek “anarchos” , means without leaders or rulers. The political and philosophical idea that is anarchism has become dislocated from the current use of the word “anarchy”. Anarchy use to mean the state which anarchism aspires to, but has now become to mean “disorder”. There is a tradition of words being redefined and appropriated to suit the needs of them in power, from Luddites to “friendly fire” to hoodies.
Pierre Joseph Proudhon was the first self proclaimed anarchist , who in 1840, in his “What is Property?” , defined anarchy as the absence of a master or a sovereign. Later, in “The General Idea of Revolution” (1851) he urged a “society without authority”. No mention of disorder or chaos in the text. Certainly these current day looters are not anarchists and possibly would not know its philosophical roots.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Proudhon
The current rioting brings to mind that of Situationism. Guy Debord , Parisian anarchist and Situationist philosopher, first described the so-called “Society of The Spectacle” in 1964. This classic anarchist text described a world as a spectacle, a state on rampant consumerism, which would supersede reality. Debord knew about reality, and the simulacrum of reality TV and computer games, but no mention of disorder , mob rule, victimization, bullying or mugging.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_the_Spectacle
Proudhon in his essay “What is Property?” (1841) explicitly rejected the conjoining of anarchism with destruction and disorder. Similarly, Mikhail Bakuhin, said that the world without oppressive power is far more humane than the situation we find ourselves in. Noam Chomsky depicts anarchism as “based on the hope that core elements of human nature include sentiments of solidarity, mutual support and concern for others”.Anarchy is not disorder as the media insists. It is a state that is arrived through the philosophy of Anarchism. Mutual aid, without rules, living together and working things out together in a cooperative manner.
However, crowd mentality has to be blamed as a cause of the rioting. When in 1895, Gustave Le Bon wrote “The Psychology of Crowds”, he noticed that when an individual forms part of a group he acquires a sentiment of invincible power, and inhibitions fall away and all the cruel brutal destructive instinct can surface, stirred up to find gratification. The group is extraordinarily credulous and open to influence and a trace of antipathy, and outright nihilism, turned into furious hatred. A crowd mentality that subsumes the individual, and hence, causes the outbreak of rioting we have witnessed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky%27s_political_views
Pierre Joseph Proudhon was the first self proclaimed anarchist , who in 1840, in his “What is Property?” , defined anarchy as the absence of a master or a sovereign. Later, in “The General Idea of Revolution” (1851) he urged a “society without authority”. No mention of disorder or chaos in the text. Certainly these current day looters are not anarchists and possibly would not know its philosophical roots.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Proudhon
The current rioting brings to mind that of Situationism. Guy Debord , Parisian anarchist and Situationist philosopher, first described the so-called “Society of The Spectacle” in 1964. This classic anarchist text described a world as a spectacle, a state on rampant consumerism, which would supersede reality. Debord knew about reality, and the simulacrum of reality TV and computer games, but no mention of disorder , mob rule, victimization, bullying or mugging.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_the_Spectacle
Proudhon in his essay “What is Property?” (1841) explicitly rejected the conjoining of anarchism with destruction and disorder. Similarly, Mikhail Bakuhin, said that the world without oppressive power is far more humane than the situation we find ourselves in. Noam Chomsky depicts anarchism as “based on the hope that core elements of human nature include sentiments of solidarity, mutual support and concern for others”.Anarchy is not disorder as the media insists. It is a state that is arrived through the philosophy of Anarchism. Mutual aid, without rules, living together and working things out together in a cooperative manner.
However, crowd mentality has to be blamed as a cause of the rioting. When in 1895, Gustave Le Bon wrote “The Psychology of Crowds”, he noticed that when an individual forms part of a group he acquires a sentiment of invincible power, and inhibitions fall away and all the cruel brutal destructive instinct can surface, stirred up to find gratification. The group is extraordinarily credulous and open to influence and a trace of antipathy, and outright nihilism, turned into furious hatred. A crowd mentality that subsumes the individual, and hence, causes the outbreak of rioting we have witnessed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky%27s_political_views
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