American Exceptionalism in Anarchy - Short Quiz to see if you've been brainwashed!
Tests to see if your pals are really open-minded, reality-oriented Voluntaryists. State the following and gauge reaction:
Venezuela collapsed in large part due to US sanctions, not just “because socialism.”
John F. Kennedy was a terrorist leader no better than any other MSM bogeyman, burning children alive with napalm and escalating the Vietnamese conflict.
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were massacres of innocent human beings of unprecedented scale.
Abe Lincoln viewed blacks and whites as irreconcilably different and wished to send blacks “back to Africa.”
George Washington and the other founding fathers were slaveholding hypocrites.
Implicit American exceptionalism has crept into even the most vocally “anarchist” groups, think-tanks, and conferences. It’s a wonderfully insidious way to keep anarchists and Voluntaryists from actually becoming a threat to the status quo: DANGLE A CHUNK OF PURE ANARCHIST PHILOSOPHICAL, JUICY MEAT ON A STRING, GET THE GOOD-HEARTED FOLKS LOOKING FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE SALIVATING, AND THEN QUOTE SOME KENNEDY INTO THEIR EAR, OR FIRE UP THE TWO-MINUTES' HATE ABOUT FOREIGN SOCIALISM!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
Would be good to look at Haiti's history also. That is a country that was completely taken down because they wanted to be free.
Yes, the world domination/brutalization reaches pretty much everywhere, doesn’t it. I’ve heard about Haiti and looked into the history briefly, but I’ll have to revisit it. Thanks.
Check out Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast series. He's a mainstream statist historian, but good nonetheless, and his coverage of the revolutionary era beginning with the English Civil War.
That and they made a deal with the devil.
Hope you’re joking.
No, a preacher (Pat Robertson) actually made a statement about the Haitians having made a pact with the devil in the 1800's and that was the reason for the devastating 2010 earthquake.
Yeah, I heard Roberts talking about that before too. Just hoping @funbobby doesn’t seriously believe that hogwash.
The United States and its allies in the South American region have an economic ring to Venezuela, they do not want to sell food, nor do medicines, imperialism violates the human rights of all Venezuelans, do not know how far this situation will go? but we are in resistance we hope for the early activation of the cryptocurrency PTR I am sure that in that way we will improve our quality of life!
Haha and one more to add :p
But ... Obama told us we are the indispensable nation ... ??
See, with Trump all is better. The only thing indispensable now is He Himself!
And don't dare to mention that we all are holding slaves or killing children every time we buy a new smartphone (or a lot of ther stuff).
Well, there are a lot of views on that, but I don’t disagree that economic systems are abusive and inhumane under state control.
Still, buying a smartphone is a far cry from buying a human. That’s hyperbole.
I wonder if they’d be better off without the jobs?
https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/247wallst.com/jobs/2017/03/17/apple-supports-4-8-million-jobs-in-china-more-than-double-us-total/amp/
economic systems are usually more abusive and inhumane under not under state control. So buying a phone made from materials mined by slaves is somehow better than buying slaves?
Can you substantiate this claim with solid evidence?
Somalia, for just one very potent example, doesn’t agree with you:
https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/fee.org/articles/somalia-failed-state-economic-success//amp
And also the claim that iphone component materials are mined by slaves.
I think both yourself and @lennstar don’t seem to grasp what a huge stack of corpses 262 million + is. That’s only in the last century or so, not counting war. Victims of democide. Anything would be better than that.
Although, again. To suggest that buying an iphone is the same as holding someone personally captive and beating them is dishonest at worst. Ignorant at best.
Somalia is not a land without a government, it is a land run by western powers, criminals and pirates. And it sucks ass, if you wanted to go there and travel around safely you would have to pay a whole truckload of AK toting young men to accompany you. I am sure you saw that dollar vigilante recent report from there, that's what he had to do. Otherwise your fair skinned self will be kidnapped within a day. In Somalia life is nasty brutish and short. The life expectancy there is only 52 years. Is Somalia your example of anarchy working?
Is your argument, "dude, we don't need a government because look at how great things are in Somalia?
Somalia, where they have fucking pirates, in 2018?
My example for "economic systems are usually more abusive and inhumane not under state control." is Somalia, it is a shithole. You wouldn't want to live there or even visit.
262 million is not that many and you left out the most important caveat, those people were killed by their own governments in countries that imposed restrictions on free speech and gun control, they are victims of communism and fascism. 262 million out of how many people have lived over the last 100 years?
So its OK ethically to purchase items made with slave labor?
I disagree and boycotted Hershey chocolate back in 2012, when they pledged to stop using child slave labor by 2020, I figured all the child slaves would be grown up by then. Not much of a pledge if you ask me.
Did you even read the article? I’ll take that as a big “no.”
Not that many. A tolerable amount of human death at the hands of the state.
Right then.
your decade old opinion piece that made claims such as this:
How could anyone not agree with everything that said after reading it?
It's always a questionable argument when someone says a total over some period they have chosen and presents it out of context and expects it to be shocking. What's less important than the total is the trend, which way is it going? Is the rate higher now or 100 years ago?
Would you really prefer a system where you can murder a man for 100 camels or a woman for only 50 camels?
Somalia is a shithole, its top rated attraction, something built by those evil colonial fellows, on Trip Advisor is currently closed to tourists due to warlords.
Not to mention the far worse conditions without state control.
For example cobalt, where 3/4 is coming from Congo. But unfortunately often not from where the state rules, but where the warlords reign.
Which means, basically, slaves (because the people often cannot leave) and sometimes child soldiers. Far less then the 30'000 there used to be 20 years ago, but still some.
BS. See above comment, and please substantiate these claims guys!
Just one example of many:
https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/fee.org/articles/somalia-failed-state-economic-success//amp
Regardless. Forcing your will upon non-violent others is immoral. The end. So even if you had all the hard-hitting rationalizations in the world, it wouldn’t matter.
Violence is immoral and supporting a system founded entirely on violence is as well.
262 million dead bodies in the last century are calling you a liar right now.
We don’t need more poison to control the poison! We need logic, love, and common sense.
Hopefully you have them!
Because the folks you are promoting are child rapist, village pillaging, health destroying, infant-flash-melting mass murderers.
its a very helpful post, thank you :)
Why is it helpful?
Well I'll tell you what I think... You tell me if I've been brainwashed:
Venezuela collapsed mainly due to mismanagement, corruption and socialism, US sanctions would have been less burdensome if they had all these in place.
You're probably correct about John F Kennedy
Absolutely correct about Hiroshima and Nagasaki
I don't know about Abe Lincoln... Would need to brush up on my history
Yes they may have been hypocritical, but it has to do more with the times they lived, so cant really hate them for it as horrible as it was
Gotta disagree. The “product of the times” explanation/excuse has been leveled many times, especially in the cases of the “founding fathers”/slavery, but there were plenty of abolitionists even then who understood the truth, and lived it.
As far as Venezuela, my point is that many anarchists will have a knee-jerk, emotional reaction when told that US sanctions played a part (in my view a very large part) in crippling the Venezuelan economy.
Heck, one of the commenters here lives there and affirmed the same.
So any 'anarchist' that has any credit agreement (including mortgage) of any kind, and also uses a smartphone (a slave paid for , establishment tracker), is a total hypocrite?
but there is plenty of us real anarchists, who understand the truth, and live.
There are plenty of us who use neither...
Are 'total hypocrites' of any kind, to be discounted as worthless, empty, theorists - or are they just living 'in the times they are living in'?
Give me the real wisdom, and far sighted intelligence of the founding fathers over 80% of 'plastic anarchists' wisdom, anytime.
..just sayin'.....from a real anarchists perspective..
A smartphone contract voluntarily agreed to by both parties is analogous and/or comparable to the direct owning and beating of other human beings to do your work for you?
Are you referencing the poor working conditions in China, maybe?
Ah, just read your username on your profile. Your comment lionizing slaveholders makes more sense now. I am not sure what patriotism and individualist anarchism have in common.
You miss my point.
Anarchist theory is to avoid government interaction, if possible. Disregard it if possible at alltime. The gentle fight of the anarchist movement....?
So by volunteering to have a self paid for, government tracker , doesn't really correlate. (to me).
It correlates perfectly if you you value convenience over principles.
Principles are hard.
lol. I'm a real life, living anarchist. For the last 20 years or more...
I'm a patriot to war gaming, not a country. (if you read my profile username - and the info underneath, you would have seen this. ...
The foundational principle (which is really just a metaphysical reality) of voluntaryism, is individual self-ownership. This means that I have the highest, most direct, nature-conferred executive authority over, and right to exercise, use, and own, my life and body, and so does every other individual with respect to their individual self.
Choosing to have a smartphone, or a computer, or any other tool is not in violation of the principle of individual self-ownership. These are inanimate objects which can be used for good or ill. One can freely choose to acquire these tools, or not. Nobody is directly forced into anything, as with actual slavery.
By your own standards, the fact that you use a blockchain-based social media website could be twisted and skewed to the interpretation that you don’t mind each of your transactions in Steem and on social media being tracked.
You’re an anarchist. Great. That’s excellent. Telling others which technology they can or cannot use is pretty silly, though, in my view.
perhaps he is talking about the African slaves who mine rare earth metals?
yup, only hypocritical when we judge them using our modern morals.
I checked and Kennedy died in 1963 but napalm use in Vietnam did not start until 1965.
Yep he died in 1963. And he authorized the napalm use prior. And more than one thing can happen in a year as there are 12 months. You kidding now?
https://chomsky.info/20131122/
And napalm use started well before ‘65. Maybe shitpost less, and read more.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm
I blame google
"reality-oriented Voluntaryists" seems like an oxymoron.
The Saudis intentionally flooding the market with cheap oil in order to screw all other oil producers is what really did Venezuela in, of course neither socialism nor American sanctions were helpful. Socialism is why their economy was utterly dependent on the nationalized oil industry.
They didn't start using Napalm in Vietnam until about 2 years after Kennedy's assassination, so obviously there is some bullshit there.
The bombings in Japan were part of a war, those killed were supporting the war effort, a war the Japanese started with a sneak attack. Not to mention the number of lives that using those bombs saved on both sides, do you think an invasion of Japan would be less bloody? Would you prefer firebombings like Dresden? More civilians were killed there so that level of slaughter had a precedent.
Indeed Abe Lincoln didn't really give a shit about black people.
The quip about Washington is revisionist, they are only hypocrites if we project our modern understanding and morals on them and take them completely out of context. It's part of a modern progressive effort to demonize white men and by extension America. Washington didn't do anything wrong or hypocritical by owning slaves. Washington understood very well that the only possible way for America to pay off its debt was to allow slave labor to develop the frontier.
We see slave labor as bad because we have fossil fuels doing most of our slave labor for us. We take that luxury for granted. Of course America is still very dependent on slave labor, we just outsource it.
You’re wrong on the napalm use. Pretty easy to research. Correct info in my reply above.
As for the US sanctions not playing a part...why would sanctions not cripple a nation?
As for slavery. Nah. Plenty of abolitionists in Washington’s time, but by all means, keep making excuses for slavery.
Damn man, are your hearing yourself?? MUH ‘MERICA!
Of course the fractional reserve banking corporatocracy creates slaves! That’s why I’m an anarchist!
slaves are not allowed to move to Japan.
@therealwolf 's created platform smartsteem scammed my post this morning (mothersday) that was supposed to be for an Abused Childrens Charity. Dude literally stole from abused children that don't have mothers ... on mothersday.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@prometheusrisen/beware-of-smartsteem-scam