SigmatheZeta
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2021
- Messages
- 615
- Gender
- she/her
- Basic Beliefs
- Generally, I am rooted in both ancient Epicurean and ancient Pyrrhonist sentiments, although I am somewhat sympathetic toward the intentions behind ancient Cynicism.
Hi, guys.
When I say "I am an anarcho-communist," that really translates loosely to "I'm running Linux." I really just like the basic philosophy that lies behind it. It is a creation that people share, and everybody that wants to contribute to making it better and more beautiful does. I wish that more things in life worked that way. It makes a deep, instinctive part of me feel incredibly peaceful and happy. If I could create my own heaven, everything would work that way, including how we grew our food and built our automobiles. People would create beautiful things because just sitting around doing nothing is boring, and it gets old.
In light of that, it might come across as provocative to call myself something that contains the word "communist," but the only reason that it might come across as provocative is that somebody chose to make communism a taboo set of ideas. People used to say that about alternative sexualities. They still say that about some alternative sexualities. I am zoosexual, and not everybody agrees that I have a right to say that. There are people that want you to think the FBI will come make you disappear just because you mentioned it. There are still many people in this world that think you should be treated as a criminal based on who you are or what you believe or do not believe.
I might not agree with Marxist communism, but I still think his ideas are valid in a discussion. If we just discussed it openly and honestly, without going into the usual toxic places, someone might eventually bring up the idea that Karl Marx was not the only communist philosopher. In my opinion, the best and most brilliant communist philosopher was Pyotr Kropotkin. As with Darwin's theory of Evolution, his original idea had a long way to go before it was really perfect, but I believe that Pyotr Kropotkin's idea of communism was substantially more noble and more pure than that of Karl Marx. Nevertheless, even Karl Marx might have been right about some things, and we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Even though "anarcho-communism" is not even close to being a thoroughgoingly comprehensive description of my views on political economy, I should have a right to be able to talk about those ideas openly. Those ideas are valid, and I believe they have had an overall benevolent influence on our way of life.
Some people call themselves "libertarians." I say, the real fallacy behind libertarianism is the idea that you should really need the government's permission to be free. Anarchy is the realization that you are free, and what the government doesn't know will not hurt them. Anarchy is the idea that if you don't want people to think they HAVE to make laws to stop you from living how you choose to live, then learn to coexist with people in peace. Learn how to just be kind to people. Whatever dumb laws they make, they will probably forget about those dumb laws when they realize that you are not really a scary person.
As an anarchist, I think that people write laws in the same way that a Catholic clings to a crucifix. They write laws in the same way that an orthodox Jew kisses a mezuzzah. They write laws in the same way that a Muslim kneels on a prayer mat. They like to go through life believing that if they make a law against something, it stops existing. Laws or no laws, though, people will accept just about anything if you can get them to understand that it's not really something they need to be afraid of. It's when you make people feel unsafe that they become dangerous to you, even if you never meant to make them feel unsafe.
As communist, I believe that it's not really true that people are inherently lazy. They are just taught a false belief that being unproductive is a reward, but if being unproductive is a reward, then why is retirement so terrible for a person's health and such a cause of depression? People are most happy when they are creating things. I think that people naturally like to share. It's not the fault of human nature that we are brainwashed into thinking we are obligated to enjoy idleness when it is so clear that idleness is bad for us. We might not be able to do it in one generation, but I think it's possible to deconstruct this brainwashing, and if we did, I think it would lead to people being happier.
Senator Kennedy, the word is not "comrade." It's tovarish. The meaning is subtly different.
When I say "I am an anarcho-communist," that really translates loosely to "I'm running Linux." I really just like the basic philosophy that lies behind it. It is a creation that people share, and everybody that wants to contribute to making it better and more beautiful does. I wish that more things in life worked that way. It makes a deep, instinctive part of me feel incredibly peaceful and happy. If I could create my own heaven, everything would work that way, including how we grew our food and built our automobiles. People would create beautiful things because just sitting around doing nothing is boring, and it gets old.
In light of that, it might come across as provocative to call myself something that contains the word "communist," but the only reason that it might come across as provocative is that somebody chose to make communism a taboo set of ideas. People used to say that about alternative sexualities. They still say that about some alternative sexualities. I am zoosexual, and not everybody agrees that I have a right to say that. There are people that want you to think the FBI will come make you disappear just because you mentioned it. There are still many people in this world that think you should be treated as a criminal based on who you are or what you believe or do not believe.
I might not agree with Marxist communism, but I still think his ideas are valid in a discussion. If we just discussed it openly and honestly, without going into the usual toxic places, someone might eventually bring up the idea that Karl Marx was not the only communist philosopher. In my opinion, the best and most brilliant communist philosopher was Pyotr Kropotkin. As with Darwin's theory of Evolution, his original idea had a long way to go before it was really perfect, but I believe that Pyotr Kropotkin's idea of communism was substantially more noble and more pure than that of Karl Marx. Nevertheless, even Karl Marx might have been right about some things, and we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Even though "anarcho-communism" is not even close to being a thoroughgoingly comprehensive description of my views on political economy, I should have a right to be able to talk about those ideas openly. Those ideas are valid, and I believe they have had an overall benevolent influence on our way of life.
Some people call themselves "libertarians." I say, the real fallacy behind libertarianism is the idea that you should really need the government's permission to be free. Anarchy is the realization that you are free, and what the government doesn't know will not hurt them. Anarchy is the idea that if you don't want people to think they HAVE to make laws to stop you from living how you choose to live, then learn to coexist with people in peace. Learn how to just be kind to people. Whatever dumb laws they make, they will probably forget about those dumb laws when they realize that you are not really a scary person.
As an anarchist, I think that people write laws in the same way that a Catholic clings to a crucifix. They write laws in the same way that an orthodox Jew kisses a mezuzzah. They write laws in the same way that a Muslim kneels on a prayer mat. They like to go through life believing that if they make a law against something, it stops existing. Laws or no laws, though, people will accept just about anything if you can get them to understand that it's not really something they need to be afraid of. It's when you make people feel unsafe that they become dangerous to you, even if you never meant to make them feel unsafe.
As communist, I believe that it's not really true that people are inherently lazy. They are just taught a false belief that being unproductive is a reward, but if being unproductive is a reward, then why is retirement so terrible for a person's health and such a cause of depression? People are most happy when they are creating things. I think that people naturally like to share. It's not the fault of human nature that we are brainwashed into thinking we are obligated to enjoy idleness when it is so clear that idleness is bad for us. We might not be able to do it in one generation, but I think it's possible to deconstruct this brainwashing, and if we did, I think it would lead to people being happier.
Senator Kennedy, the word is not "comrade." It's tovarish. The meaning is subtly different.