Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Gah? Also, More Anarchy

Yes, I do seem to now be specializing in inarticulate sounds for post titles.

I'm really burned out now -- the holidays about did me in; New Year's week was something of a social whirl (by my lights -- probably about typical for most folks), plus I worked the holiday and there was the Great Plumber Fiasco; on the weekend, the Data Viking was kind enough to take me to the Ming Dynasty exhibit at IMA Saturday morning -- and then I had to work until midnight that night! Sunday was a day of catch-up, mainly of sleep, Monday, right back into it, tuesday more of the same and here we are. Somehow I have not had a screaming fight with anyone in RL this holiday season. It's not a first -- I managed the trick last year, too; but last year, I spent most of my time alone.

And that's even leaving out the tempest-in-a-teapot in the comments section of my blog.

I'm really sorry about that last; I honestly believed that asking the fellows to play nice would work. I was wrong. This might be cited as a ringing indictment of anarchy; I would point to it instead as an example of anarchy in action: no government or law removed the offending individuals and they were neither fined nor harmed nor imprisoned; I applied the tools provided by Blogger/Google in addition to private correspondence. I am pleased to say the gentlemen involved were no worse in e-mail than when commenting and in one case, actually more civil. While we have not parted friends, we have most certainly parted and I am happy with that outcome. It's a big world and there are lots of people one needn't talk to.

One other lesson learned and filed: if you're going to be an ass, you had better be a charming one.

About anarchy: it's where you live. Yes, you. Right now. Unless you're in jail or the military, unless there's a police officer following you around everywhere all the time to ensure you Refrain From Smoking and neither speed nor spit where prohibited by law, the only real control over what you do and say is you. You are the boss of you and I suspect the reason you have not robbed or killed or cheated anyone today isn't that there is some law against it but because you have made the moral choice not to do so; in fact, if you're like most people, you find even pondering those actions repugnant.

I don't know about any "Fight The Power" spitting-in-the wind; when crossed, the State sees you and I about like we see bugs that hit the windshield: just barely, and then only if it's a loud "splat." It's pretty much the same deal humans have had since forever, except we have running water, indoor plumbing and electric lights. --That doesn't mean it's a good idea to give up but understand we're mostly fighting little battles, not reshaping Gummint entire. If you want Anarchtopia, you picked the wrong time to be born.

And I'm not going to debate the notion. If you don't like it, tough.

Good night.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sleep well, M'lady.

Crucis said...

Kudos. Idjits abound---too many and too worthless to spend time on'em.

Ed Rasimus said...

Unfortunately too much of what you say is true. I've been generally optimistic for years, especially in my political science classroom where I try to take a positive view of the American experiment in democracy. Today, there is too much evidence to deny that the pessimistic students are right and the idealistic prof is wrong.

As for rational dialogue on the Internet, I learned some time ago that the purpose of a posting (whether blog today or USENet a few years ago) is to offer info to the readers and lurkers and should never be in the hopes of changing the mind of the Neanderthal you are refuting.

That being said, however, I still come out in the balance as more half full than half empty. And I meet new folks every day that confirm it for me.

Keep up the fight!

Anonymous said...

"You are the boss of you"...I am gonna remember that one, the next time someone sings me a song about the problems they have caused themselves all being someone else's fault.
Because it's true.

Arcadia Iris said...

I've never identified myself as an anarchist of any sort, though reading your posts has made me re-think that. I think I never wanted to be seen the way I saw so many people who were running around like kids in high school who just learned what that sloppy A and circle thing stands for... the "Dude! Anarchy, dude! You can do anything you want and there's no police or jails or anything. You can smoke weed and pick up hookers and be a hooker and rob banks and set fire to everything and type run-on sentences and there's nothing anybody can do!" crowd.

I just always figured there would still be consequences. Everything has consequences, positive or negative, and an absence of laws and authorities wouldn't change that. If there was no law against murder, it doesn't mean you could plead anarchy to get out of the consequences when some guy shows up at your house to make sure you don't murder anyone else's daughter like you did his. You couldn't take a leak all over your neighbor's carpet and him still have to have you over for dinner because, "Hey, dude... anarchy. I can pee where I want."

So, no... I don't see anything wrong with moderating the comments on your own blog, the guestbook on your own website, or the language used while people stand in your front yard. That simply is not the same as crying, "Oh noez! I don't like what these people are saying, so we need a law to punish them for saying it."

Unknown said...

I'm no anarchist, but that might be that I think that too many people become rabid jerks when they aren't given boundaries. That said, I would like my government to leave me a little more the hell alone.

Also, if the government would stop trying to protect people from the consequences of their own stupidity, these people would learn. Or die. Either way, they'd stop doing the stupid things, and we wouldn't have people who "need" protection anymore.

I guess one of the boundaries that I would want restored would be "natural consequences of one's own actions." Which fortunately involves government getting less involved. Maybe this would help with the rabid jerk problem, but I don't know.

That said, I try to avoid being an ass with people, even if I disagree with them. At least most of the time. Even online.

Crucis said...

I have to agree with Kelly and others. I was thinking about this and decided to re-read F. Paul Wilson's "An Enemy of the State." There is an acronym used in the book, KYFHO, a philosophy. I short, it means, "Keep Your F** Hands Off."

There is a lot to consider as proposed by the book.