#and it’s one am and I read some Thomas Hobbes and he annoyed me sooo bad and he’s dead so I can’t argue with him

[x-ladydisdain-x]

“people are inherently selfish, government is necessary bc everyone would hurt each other without enforcement of rules” my local library has no late fee. sure, maybe some asshole who has been so deeply brainwashed by capitalism that they are convinced that ultimate success is material/monetary gain that comes at minimal cost to themself may steal a book every once in a while. this hypothetical asshole is not a representative of human nature, but a product of the society they live in. This asshole would not exist in an anarchist society. And then there’s the majority of the people who visit the library and know that stealing from a public library is an awful thing to do because libraries are sacred spaces and provide crucial resources. the majority of us who are not so far gone as to never even consider the community and to prioritize self gain above all else are who should be used as a more accurate representation of humanity. And sure maybe there’s another person who knows that stealing from libraries is bad and wouldn’t so in most circumstances, but maybe for whatever they really really desperately need a book permanently and can’t obtain it through other means, and so they steal. Because this is not to say that people aren’t inherently selfish, this person is a perfectly valid representation of human nature as well. It’s just that humans are also inherently communal and compassionate. We just live in a society where selfishness and individualistic drive is encouraged, praised, and necessary, while collectivity and striving for the common good is frowned upon and a burden, and efforts rarely have lasting tangible results. So with the question of the necessity of government or the potential for any economic system beyond capitalism, it is easy to say that nothing else would work due to the inherent selfishness of humans when that is what we have been taught and what we observe. And in situations of suddenly entering periods of anarchy, of course there was violence and theft. Of course after generations of viewing the accumulation of wealth and material goods as the ultimate goal, and being met with the shock of it all being within reach with no more regulation of what you can or can’t have, the people failed at self regulation and acted brashly. These instances can’t serve as examples of life under anarchy because they happened suddenly, under already strenuous and desperate circumstances. Such a system, or lack thereof, would have to be implemented gently, changing peoples mindsets alongside it.

#im not necessarily saying I think we shouldn’t have a government im just saying the reasons used against anarchy and communism are bad #and it’s one am and I read some Thomas Hobbes and he annoyed me sooo bad and he’s dead so I can’t argue with him #and I mean communism in a veryy general sense. idealistic socialism. nothing to do with actual real life uses of communism #because those have not been self regulated societies. obviously. literally the opposite