Existing Alternatives Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 Just made my way to podcast #272 (the one about Somalia). As every libertarian out there I have very high hopes for Somalia. In this podcast Stef essentially rains on our parade. His thesis (in case you don’t remember) is basically that since Somalis did not seek to establish a rational and moral (market anarchy) society, this whole mess they are in right now will simply result in another state. This made me pause for a second. Does this mean that if the Western financial / government system collapses tomorrow, vast majority of people won’t be looking for morality and rationality either? Are we doomed to end up with maybe even more oppressive state? Given the speed of dissemination of these ideas so far, we are still decades away from any kind of broad awareness? Is there no hope for Somalia or us?
masonman Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 This made me pause for a second. Does this mean that if the Western financial / government system collapses tomorrow, vast majority of people won’t be looking for morality and rationality either? If it collapsed tomorrow, you would have "chaos." People have been under the same statist paradigm for thousands of years, when it goes away people will panic and scurry and rush to get back under that system like an abused person runs back to their abuser. They see the state as that which dictates morality and rationality, and they will rush towards it with great speed. Nothing will change until people's minds have changed. The American Revolution would never have worked if the minds of a large number of Americans at the time hadn't already shifted to a certain philosophy. The philosophy always comes first. Forcing philosophy at gunpoint never works. This is also why political action is pointless (that is, by the time you have enough people agreeing with you that political action would be worthwhile and somewhat effective, you don't need political action anymore). So personally I think humanity is decades away of broad awareness, and, depending upon how things play out, it could be much much longer. Thats why I think the most useful mentality these days is that of comedy (then again don't take my word for it, I'm not exactly the happiest fellow): this whole statist faith and superstition is just one big dark comedy show, and we are all background extras that can choose to find humor in spectating. Having that mentality, talking to others about freedom, and then being peaceful and kind and fair to those in our own lives - that is all we really have the power to do.
Existing Alternatives Posted April 24, 2013 Author Posted April 24, 2013 This made me pause for a second. Does this mean that if the Western financial / government system collapses tomorrow, vast majority of people won’t be looking for morality and rationality either? If it collapsed tomorrow, you would have "chaos." People have been under the same statist paradigm for thousands of years, when it goes away people will panic and scurry and rush to get back under that system like an abused person runs back to their abuser. They see the state as that which dictates morality and rationality, and they will rush towards it with great speed. Nothing will change until people's minds have changed. The American Revolution would never have worked if the minds of a large number of Americans at the time hadn't already shifted to a certain philosophy. The philosophy always comes first. Forcing philosophy at gunpoint never works. This is also why political action is pointless (that is, by the time you have enough people agreeing with you that political action would be worthwhile and somewhat effective, you don't need political action anymore). So personally I think humanity is decades away of broad awareness, and, depending upon how things play out, it could be much much longer. Thats why I think the most useful mentality these days is that of comedy (then again don't take my word for it, I'm not exactly the happiest fellow): this whole statist faith and superstition is just one big dark comedy show, and we are all background extras that can choose to find humor in spectating. Having that mentality, talking to others about freedom, and then being peaceful and kind and fair to those in our own lives - that is all we really have the power to do. I agree – it’s an excellent attitude. But, “as a movement” we are still nowhere near our objective. This “scurrying” will arguably set us back even further in terms of philosophical and moral development. What to do?
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