Collectivist thinking isn’t just about being cliquish or rude to others; carried to its natural extreme, it allows individuals to imagine a conflict where none exists and to use that imaginary conflict as an excuse for the most barbaric of behaviors.
Tag: america
Disobedient Subjects
The primary threat to any ruling class is the possibility that some of its victims will disobey and resist. No, the CIA doesn’t give a crap about someone in a cave in Afghanistan.
“But Gregory, Why on Earth Do You Need so Many Passports?”
Since it is not practical (and in most cases impossible) to exist beyond the influence of nation-states, the next best option for the exceptional person seeking to expand his identity is to embrace multiple nationalities.
The Religion of the State
Many objects have been turned into totems, but among the most common are flags, which are emblems signifying an association with a group and a cause taken to be larger than any individual. There’s hardly a need to point out how the flag is venerated in the United States — especially these days.
Questions For Anarchists That Are Harder Than They Like To Admit
One article type I’d like to spend time exploring on this blog are those questions that people commonly throw at Anarcho-Capitalists as critiques of their system.
In America, TV Watch You
Well, doesn’t it make you feel warm and safe to know that your own government has been working so hard to compromise your computer security? Your cellphone security? Your “smart” TV? In America, TV watch you. Welcome to the sequel to 1984.
Anarchy in the United States
What was the Wild West outside of the tourist traps we see now and the stupid reenactments by second rate actors? Was it actually endless gunfights and hangings, or was it more than this? The truth is often over shadowed by that which allows us the most flexibility in discussions and interpretation.
Building Border Wall Won’t End Well
Whatever else it might accomplish, President Trump’s border wall has already divided America. I oppose the wall, believing it’s a bad idea, but mine isn’t a popular opinion–even among libertarians.
Trump Assumes Command of the American Church
As Donald Trump demonstrated in his first address to Congress, no matter how loathsome a ruler may be, he can bring an assembly of politicians to its feet and disarm some critics simply by invoking the quasi-secular faith — Americanism — and eulogizing the latest uniformed war-state employee to sacrifice his life for it. Trump has indeed shown he can fill the job expected of any president: supreme head of what Andrew Bacevich calls the Church of America the Redeemer.
Life Isn’t Perfect, and Neither is Justice
I readily admit that some crimes are so heinous, full restoration is impossible. A life taken cannot be restored. Innocence lost cannot be reclaimed. Life isn’t perfect and therefore neither is justice. These facts are equally true in a retributive system of justice as they are in a restorative one. A murder victim is no less dead because his killer is executed by the state. A rape victim is no less victimized because her killer is locked in a cage for a decade. Retribution is popular because it feels good. Hurting someone who hurt us satisfies a primal urge. That doesn’t make it right.