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ELI5 why is anarchy not "the guy with the bigger stick" making the rules? (lemmy.giftedmc.com)

submitted 10 months ago by haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I'm politically agnostic and have moved from a slightly conservative stance to a vastly more progressive stance (european). i still dont get the more niche things like tankies and anarchists at this point but I would like to, without spending 10 hours reading endless manifests (which do have merit, no doubt, but still).

Can someone explain to me why anarchy isnt the guy (or gal, or gang, or entity) with the bigger stick making the rules?

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[–] janonymous@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In an anarchist society, that is a community without hierarchies and rulers, threats are handled by the community. So one person with a big stick would have to fight everyone else to establish their dominance.

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

My point was that the "stick" could just be charisma. Our problem as a society seems to be gullibility (for the majority) and a blind trust in power figures. I always have to think of "negan" in twd as a figure taking hold in a chaotic situation. Someone explained that anarchism isnt "chaos" but my ability to grasp it isnt that deep yet.

[–] daltotron@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I tend to think that twd is fiction, and the people who negan piss off, who want to kill negan, only need to get lucky once, while negan needs to keep succeeding over and over (I've never seen the walking dead tho I'm just kind of going based on vibes).

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 10 months ago

I agree. A work of fiction often pushes it to the extremes. But we are seeing irl figures that succeed bit by bit, making the world worse (while others improve it on the other side, which leads to constant debate over the actual state of the world).

But since I read and heard a lot more about anarchism now, the proposed structure is a lot more complex than just absence of a government. So my goal has been achieved and I have been educated. :)