RE: Response to @littlescribe - Fake Media - Debunking the Conspiracy Theory
This is great piece! I disagree with you on an inability to change the system though. Anarchy is not the answer it doesn't scale well. But it is possible to change this, to do it you need to actually reach into the lives of people and shape their perceptions. This is only now becoming possible for the common person. Putting up your hands and saying "well, we tried and failed so that's that!".
Is just defeatism and benefits nobody. Fact, each of these talking heads has a social media presence. Fact each of us is connected by six degrees of separation or less. The trick here is to tune the signal to what they need to hear and then make sure they hear you. You can be persuasive, but only you can be you being persuasive.
This echo chamber effect. It works both ways ya know. It's mostly just bots doing the curating and doing the echoing. Should be simple enough to figure out what's making them tick. If that means getting into the AP and other news orgs and gaining name recognition, then so be it.
My feeling is it will take all of us standing up at once and sending out a blast so loud it's heard across the internet for ages.
Now... Where to start?
I believe you can fix it BRIEFLY by the method you describe. The problem is I can find no examples of things that survive more than a generation (sometimes not even that long) before they are corrupted by human nature. That nature basically generally being those that want power and authority tend to acquire it simply because the rest of us would rather be doing other things than dealing with the things that grant that. Those that want power also tend to be the people that should not have it.
So can we fix things? Sure. Briefly. This has been done many times in history. Yet should we keep repeating the cycle, or should we try to fix it?
I do not believe anarchism instituted RIGHT NOW would work at all. It would require teaching critical thinking, logic, and reason at early ages, and teaching people to not give into generalizations, appeals to authority, etc.
It would require an innate understanding of the Non-Aggression Principle.
If those things happen I believe Anarchy could work quite well.
The problems in life tend to come from granting authority over others to other people.
I do not believe I have the right to tell you how to live if you are harming no one.
I do not believe a billion people have the right to tell you how to live if you are harming no one.
So as you said... where to start?
I did fight from within the system because I felt that we could start the process there.
Though from within I saw truly how rigged it is. I did not GIVE UP as you put it. I simply refocused. I do not see this as ultimately sustainable, but it may take it imploding upon itself before people will begin to resist the conditioning.
Ultimately the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. For that to work it has to be instilling the values that gave you these freedoms into the next generation. Have you ever noticed that most anarchists spent time in either military or prison? It's not a coincidence. Having one's freedom removed for a time makes one fight harder for it.
Anarchy means literally "without leaders". Leaders always emerge naturally.
All movements are led by someone who at some point exists on the hairy fringes of society, but who has some damned important things to say and can say things in a powerful and eloquent way.
Once the leader dies, the movement isn't long lived. It's because people want to be led. We're natural followers and leaders are scarce. Even more so when there hasn't been anything to test the mettle of the leader.
By definition though, you can never lead an anarchist movement ;)
I actually heard it means "without rulers". There is a difference between a ruler and leader.
EDIT: I can LEAD you to a location. That does not mean I rule you.
I can lead by example, that does not mean I rule you. There is a difference.
Archy derives from Archon a ruler. So yes you're right about the term.
But I'm right about human nature ;)
Fact is we have the same vision. Just different viewpoints on it.
We need better people, the current crop won't work. We've all turned into a freakish, nightmarish caricature of human potential.
It'd be like trying to lead teletubbies.
Best to see what we can do with the next generation. In the meantime it doesn't mean we have the right to give up trying within our own system. It is our duty as parents to make the world better for our children and their children.
Keep working it until it's plaint. This isn't 2008 anymore, your voice has weight and it carries.
Oh I still fight. I simply don't fight from within their system. I fought from within the system in 2008 and 2012. I fight by speaking with others. Sharing ideas. Trying to help people learn about generalizations, appeals to authority, ad-hominem attacks, etc. Plant seeds in the minds of people where and when I can. I also have seeds planted in my mind by other people.