The other day, someone asserted to me that the definition of anarchism must rest on Plato’s conception of anarchy with no rules or government whatsoever, where everyone is only out for themselves. And that anarchism must necessarily also be an umbrella term which covers not only the aforementioned, but also “shitty takes” like anarcho-capitalism (US libertarianism) as well as the “modern” anarchism we discuss in spaces like this.
I didn’t really have the wherewithal to address this other than voice my vehement disagreement. It just felt… prescriptive in a very weird way, at best, and at worst, a bad-faith justification to tie the concept of anarchism as we understand it to its most unfortunate “iterations”.
I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts on this. Is there merit to such an argument? Was I just getting trolled?
The other day, someone asserted to me that the definition of anarchism must rest on Plato’s conception of anarchy with no rules or government whatsoever, where everyone is only out for themselves. And that anarchism must necessarily also be an umbrella term which covers not only the aforementioned, but also “shitty takes” like anarcho-capitalism (US libertarianism) as well as the “modern” anarchism we discuss in spaces like this.
I didn’t really have the wherewithal to address this other than voice my vehement disagreement. It just felt… prescriptive in a very weird way, at best, and at worst, a bad-faith justification to tie the concept of anarchism as we understand it to its most unfortunate “iterations”.
I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts on this. Is there merit to such an argument? Was I just getting trolled?
The person you were arguing with was definitely an experienced farmer, judging from their expertise at building strawmen.
Yep. If you are against calcified hierarchies of power unless it’s a capitalist oligarch. You are just a capitalist
Yeah, that was my understanding too… there’s an inherent mismatch. Thanks for chipping in
Ha, thanks for the input. Some people just say whatever they want… I am trying to get better at knowing when to walk away.
Like fucking Plato has any authority over me.
B-but they even linked to the Wikipedia page where Plato said the thing… that’s the most authoritative source 🤔
Wikipedia is definitely where facts are made