Quote of the week

That's not an anarchist, that's a hermit. Or are you aiming for some
kind of local record for reductio ad absurdam?

 

What you describe (and I snipped) isn't an anarchist /society/

Anarchy relies on self discipline - see Kropotkin (sp?)

 

Oh yes, and most anarchists I've met are models of self-discipline.
<cough>
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Go on then, since you seem to know something about it - prove that most
Anarchists aren't wankers.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

....but that wasn't your original justification as to why they're wankers.

 

Sir should have a shufty at the work of Stuart Christie.

 

Because it's a daft notion - it simply wouldn't / doesn't work. Like all
theoretical systems (and ones that have been tried) it falls down when
actually put into practice. Human nature sees to that.

--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Possibly, but if you're going to simply dismiss people as wankers it's
usually a good idea to be able to justify your arguments. You failed to
do so originally and now rely on the old chestnut of "human nature".

Human nature cuts both ways and you shouldn't judge by your own (as in
western) social standards and experience. My view is the majority are
good - I tend to trust people before mistrusting.

There are examples of selfless anarchists where their actions and social
developments worked. The one I can think of is Durutti; hopeless
military leader but developed working anarcho-syndicalist communes across
Spain.

Personally, my experience of anarchists is that they tend to be
economically illiterate, selfish and sometimes borderline autistic. But
that's a description that can be applied to most ultra-left.

 

It's only an old chestnut because it contains a huge truth. True, it's
become a cliché now, but during the experimental years of various
alternative societies it became more and more obvious that such
societies only stood a chance of working if human nature was radically
different from what it actually was. Perhaps such societies might work
in the second or third generation, but they would need to be shielded
from the world outside to stand any chance. Experience has taught us
that such a thing isn't possible.

Your last paragraph illustrates you know exactly what I mean.

Yes, good intentions are fine - most people have them. It would be
wonderful if we could actually base a society on them and not have it
undermined by short-termism, greed and the desire for shiny toys.

I know nothing about Durutti - must google later. Depends, I suppose on
the time and place - if he was setting up communes that offered some
better life than under the rulership of the day, he'd have been ahead,
true.

And the right. Which only goes to show, most of them are wankers, too.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

I'd say that too, to be fair. I've met some of the buggers.

 

<queues up some early chumbas>

Well, yeah, but some of 'em have made some cracking tunes.

 

Well, based on that analysis bikers are wankers. I've met some of them
too.

 

S'funny. I never thought of myself as an anarchist.

 

Usenet is *THAT* old?

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

I don't see anyone arguing.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Dr Ivan D. Reid

The fact that you didn't know that reveals you for the neo=Hitlerian
fascist that you are.

Or something.

--
Wounded Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Falling apart) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Grimly Curmudgeon

TBF, I would argue, but I've just... got... to... to...

Nnnngghhhhh!

--
Wounded Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Falling apart) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

This thread is getting very close to a 306b...

 

First disorder, surely?

 

Arr, true. Point taken.

I had a bit of a baptism of fire with them at the NUS conference,
having become college union president with every intention of doing my
best to actually represent my members. The worst wankers were actually
Student Respect. The anarchists, mostly philosophy types, seemed to
run them a close second.