RE: My problem with Communism
Is democracy a good idea?
You tell me in what context and it should be glaringly obvious if democracy in the context of government is a good idea because democracy in the context of an organization of people who consented to follow what they vote for is obviously a great idea.
Is freedom of speech a good idea?
Again, freedom of speech in the context of you have sole authority over your body is a great idea, a next step from self ownership, a great idea.
Is freedom of speech in the context of "protected" through force and extortion a great idea or just a bullshit privilege?
Is decentralized banking a good idea?
We'd have to understand what you mean by both those words.
Are basic human rights a good idea?
Again you'd have to define exactly what that means, what that entails, it must have a WHY and a HOW, or it's not very much a good idea..
Is promotion by a merit based system a good idea rather than a nepotist system?
Again you believe that these things are one thing, but until you define them I can argue that both those things are irrelevant in the context of good ideas.
If you think about the history of countries all over the world and the steps that were taken to remove royalty and other forms governments that had dynasties of family lines you see the trend of force. While there will always be good ideas that most people can agree on being good ideas, there will always be resistance that wants to hold the common good back for a larger gain for a smaller group of people.
And each revolution installed another tyrant, and nothing changed.
You changed one master for another. Nobody had to force math onto people. Nobody had to force anarchy onto people, there's 100 million people that live in Zomia for longer than any civilization that have practiced anarchy and continue to this day, they have a great idea, nobody had to be forced.
For the record math has been forced on people, one example would be Peter the Great forcing the nobles to learn math, science, and other specific subjects to keep their positions.
And ok, we can specify each topic down to the exact meaning I am talking about, but it would then only allow for specific holes to be picked at in the idea. How can one debate if basic human rights are a good idea? Like I said everything is somehow going to impact another's lifestyle and it will be viewed as change, change is not normally an easy thing for people to come to terms with. You say that Zomia has lives in anarchy, but I am positive that everyone there did not just think hey, this is a good idea, we should all do this. I'm sure people pushed agendas and aggressively pursued the goal of making anarchy their system. One ruler will take over another ruler but the following is usually a more popular ruler that the people can relate to more than the previous.
I thought I used pretty simple examples, but it seems that they were to broad for you to give thorough answers.
Because people are forced to have a great idea doesn't make it right. Forcing people to do things is wrong.
Nobody forced math on people, people saw the beauty of math, and ran with it, but yes, some did not care for math, and having it forced on them won't implement or make them use a cup like math, you've simply forced people.
What makes it wrong, to be specific if you can?
Because we allow for specific holes to be picked at in the idea? Well that sounds like a scam, let's not talk about this great idea because it will allow for specific things to be picked at it
Because they aren't defined that's how, I simply asked you to defined, and we can see exactly how it can be debated and why.
And, so? That means it's ok to force people? Force people to learn, sounds like reasonable, if there was a world where forcing people or initiating force is ok. Yeah, that's what you're arguing, it's ok to do it for learning, or implementing a great idea, your great idea.
I'm sure you are wrong, I'm sure that people there have resisted in numerous ways people taking power, in there the individual is first, not the community, and the individual doesn't believe in some are allowed to do what some are not allowed to do, more than that, leaders, from what I understand, haven't been through force or have more authority than an individual, any individual, nobody forces people to comply to their mandates, there is still justice but it isn't monopolized. They have done this for ever, because they wanted this, because they didn't want RULERS.
I broke down how some of those ideas are great when force is not used, and not great ideas at all if force is used, and then asked to define this other ideas that would be helped if we forced people to be great.
You admitted that defining those terms will make them susceptible to being seen as not so great, like I pointed out, in the context of force.
This is so funny to me because I feel like I'm debating myself. So I feel as if I'm playing devil's advocate. Like I said before I am not really about the use of violence or extreme force. I believe in leading by example and letting the pack follow. I also believe that if you force something on a person, although they may pick up the idea you forced for a while, they will ultimately go back to their original routine when the influence decreases. However, if you use a small amount of force to start the spark of interest..then at that point you will achieve a greater success rate of conversion. Sometimes people have to be forced to look at something or they would have never looked at it at all. Many opportunities are missed because people don't take the extra step to be persistent but not relentless.
But I do not believe in a society where one puts themselves over the community and still "doesn't believe in some are allowed to do what some are not allowed to do." How can I put myself above the community but still say that I care about what everyone else is allowed to do. With that mindset why would you care what anyone in the community did? Or is it just a battle of "well, he did it too" in the the culture.
The Zomia State does not have a written language and there is still division among the people and it is not a happy utopia that you are, to me, describing. From what I researched, it seems that the social building practices and social ties that the community imposes on it's people is what keeps the structure. In one article I read it stated that, "kinship systems are based on overlapping and redundant relationships that create a strong social network and limit the formalization of power." I will concede that these people did leave many different areas to escape other forms of government, but I still believe they are just follow another rule system that forces them to limit power. In my opinion that is just power being used form a different angle. And division is still present in these lands. The people that do the farming in the valleys consider the people in the mountains, of the already treacherous lands, as primitive and living ancestors.
Nothing is perfect, but it is the method of weighing pros and cons that helps the decision making process. If one does not have goal, then what is one living for? Some systems are more goal oriented and others are made for those who want to simply exist. If you think about it, how many times a day do you have to force yourself to do something because you would rather be doing something that's unproductive or against what you had planned for the day?