Hi folks. What is authority? To me, I’m not interested in using a dictionary definition, authority is power over others. I don’t like authority, I don’t like telling other people what to do, and I don’t like other people telling me what to do, unless I’ve asked for help. I am a very passive person, and by that I mean that I simply let other people do their thing. You wanna take drugs? Great, take as many drugs as you want, I don’t care. I do not subscribe to this pornoghraphic notion of a social contrat. One guy put the “social contract” like this: You owe other people, and other people owe you. To that I say this: I don't owe anyone anything, and no-one owes me anything either. I am not all too familiar with Ayn Rand, but I agree that there’s nothing wrong with being selfish. I think most people would say that they think other people shouldn’t have it bad, so what’s wrong with saying I shouldn’t have it bad either, and I am gonna look after myself to make sure I am fine? There isn’t anything wrong with that, and in fact it’s actually necessary in a functioning civilization for people to look after themselves before looking after anyone else. If I have children, how am I supposed to protect them and look after them if I don’t have my own shit together? That simply doesn't work, and you may choose to sacrifice for others, but that doesn't make you more righteous, it makes you in a lot of ways less righteous, since you are throwing away your own life, and happiness. This is basically the Ayn Rand view of things, and I agree with this, but I don’t agree with everything Ayn Rand thought, or wrote. I don’t subscribe to any notion of say private property, and I don’t think that people that lie to others necessarily are bad. See, I think that lying to oneself is the greatest treachery, but I don’t have as big of a problem when lying to others, it really depends on the situation, and if lying can take you farther, I don’t have a problem with it. But never, never, lie to yourself, always remain clear and honest with yourself, and never allow reality to slip out of your hands, but if reality slips out of other people's hands then that’s not necricerily your problem, and in certain situations you can use that to your advantage. When it comes to property I simply don’t see how you can establish notions of property without authority. I think that people just like any animal can enter into whatever land they want, I don’t mind. It’s called freedom of movement. Now, you may choose to enforce what you consider your property, and if you do that you are basically the state in my mind. See, for me the state is just synonymous with the state, and I don’t care who is the state, if it’s the elected government, you, or some corporation, when you use authority you are the agent of the state. What to do about people’s homes, houses, companines, etc? Do as you wish, I am not saying that I am against people enforcing what they consider their property, I just don’t think that you have a greater right to anything that isn’t your body more than any other living thing, that’s all. So I don’t recognize property, and if someone else chooses to “steal” your property you either take it back or let them, that’s up to you, I don’t care since it’s not my problem. This is the point where I lose most of the right-wing libertarians, but I do believe this, see I want to remove all authority, I want to deregulate humanity, and that includes what some would call property. Again, I am not necessarily against people enforcing things as long as it doesn't affect me, but I just don’t attach any moral virtue to it, I am neutral. Humans are animals, and just like any other animals they are going to do what they need to do, regardless of if you think that they are “stealing” from you. To me life is about making sure that we can live another day, and that our offspring can live another day, and whatever way people use to survive doesn't concern me that much, as long as they are free from coercion, and force. If people choose to live like outlaws, then that’s their business, and if they come around me and I feel threatened by them, I might take them out, so that I can live another day, that’s life. Just because I am against authority doesn't mean that I won’t impose authority on others in order to survive. In my book might is right, that’s one natural law that’s universal, regardless of the life form. I’ve stated this before, but I’ll do it again: Morals, right and wrong, are sociobiological constructions, and they sure serve a purpose, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to be immoral, but they are just constructs, and life is all about life, and that certainly could mean disregarding these constructs. I don’t choose to live an immoral life, because I have a great deal of empathy, and because It wouldn't help me live another day, but I don’t care how others choose to put themselves in relation to morality, because I am anti-authoritarian, I think that other people can make that decision on their own. I don’t need to force other people to be moral, or for that matter imoral. I recognize that human beings are very controlled by other human beings, social mores, biology, etc, but I want to break man free from all that, those things I considered to belong to the old world. You only live once, and I consider it a travesty that man is unable to live to the fullest extent, and that’s why I want to shake myself free from the ghosts of the old world. The problem is of course that other humans don’t want me to live to my fullest extend; they want to impose their rules on me, they can be socialists, nazis, or even other anarchists, so fuck all of them. For me that’s what anarchism is about, and that includes not only abolishing authority, and hierarchies, but also embracing oneself. I am not opposed to collectivism, I am opposed to enforced, and involuntary collectivism. I recognize that most endeavours require people helping each other, that’s really what a civilization is, but I don’t subscribe to the enforced, and authoritarian part of it. If you’re a socialist, go create your socialist utopia; just don’t impose it on me. The same goes for the far-right, if you're a nazi, great, go be a nazi, but leave me out of it, don’t force your will on me. If you’re a nazi, go create your little nazi society; if you’re a socialist, go create your workers commune, but don’t enforce nazism or socialism on me. Human beings are social animals, and the problem with that is that they seem unable to not enforce their will on others, and I consider this a problem, and a flaw. Yes, you may say that this has allowed humans to survive, I grant that point, but I don’t like it. I like living on my own, away from humans, and their dastardly rules, but the problem is that they don’t want to seem to leave me alone. What people consider right and wrong often overlaps, but that doesn't mean that I think that you have a right to enforce that on other individuals. Would you enforce morality on a lion, or a tiger? Probably not, so why do you need to enforce it on other humans? My definition of the state therefore becomes enforcing your will on me. If you want to enforce property, or anything else really, you're not more righteous than the person you are forcing it on. If you don't like that, then you aren't really libertarian, or anti-authoriratian, you're just libertarian when it suits you. Again, the word libertarian, for me, is just the opposite of authoritarian. Live and let live. Signing out.
Reginald Drax – March 17, 2024.
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