freedom, not chaos.
One day, in my Law and American Society class the teacher was discussing laws in society and the reasoning behind making them into laws. At one point he mentioned anarchy. He started saying that anarchy meant no government, and how no government means no laws and no order. He was saying that in this type of society, that a kid could come to school and say to another kid that he did not like the other kids hat, then shoot him. He concluded that anarchy is a bad idea because people would just kill each other, and that we need laws to protect us from ourselves.
This really got to me for a couple of reasons. It clearly showed that he knew nothing about the philosophy of anarchism. Even a non-supporter of anarchism who has studied the subject knows this is not how an anarchist society would work. What about moral law? What about human ethics? Would everyone really kill someone because of their hat, or even just because they can? Hopefully not, otherwise any hope for humanity is lost. Anyone in their right mind would not. Before you do something, anything ‘wrong’ do stop and think "is this against the law?" or do you think, "is this just morally wrong?" In an ‘anarchist society’, people will still know the right from the wrong. They just would not have people telling them that human nature is wrong. Rape, murder, and other vicious crimes are/would still be considered wrong, but just because there are no laws does not mean that these unmoral acts would go unheard or unpunished. If someone rapes someone else, the people in that community will not just say, "well there are no laws, we can’t do anything to that person." By that, you are making the no laws in an anarchist society a law. That is just plain hypocritical, an oxymoron. Someone who rapes or murders in most circumstances, would be banished from that society or community and will face some sort of punishment. Just because there are no written laws does not mean we would not go by moral law, or our ethics. It means that we will not submit to written law or anything that holds back any right we have as humans or mammals born on this planet.
Anarchy isn’t for everyone. It can’t be forced upon the people or its meaning is lost. And sure, if you make an anarchist community at a scale as large as New York City, than there probably would be some chaos. An anarchist community can work in small communities where everyone takes part and helps out. Anarchy can only work if everyone in their community works hard and supports each other. It is something that needs to be nourished and held as a belief, just as parents raise their children Christian, we need to either raise our children by it or educate others on its true meaning. If you introduce an anarchist society to someone who just looks at it as a society with no rules, there will for sure be some chaos with people like that. That is why we need to educate people on the true meaning and that anarchy doesn’t mean chaos. Just because there are no laws does not mean there will be chaos. It just means you don’t have to submit or obey.
