This was written by a friend of mine. I thought at first about writing my own treatise on why I consider myself an anarchist, but this was so well written I thought it would be best to post it here.
Parable of the Present
Written by Edwin Porter-Daniels
"What people do not realise is that Nineteen Eighty-Four is not a vision of the future, but a parable of the present" - Robert Anton Wilson
More terrifyingly, he said that more than forty years ago.
Whenever I switch on the radio, or watch the television, or walk through a town, or travel on the underground, or catch a bus, a train, a plane, whenever I hear a politcian talk, whenever I consider the society I live in, whenever people talk about "neccesary wars" or "liberal conspiracy" or "security", whenever I see a police officer, or hear an announcement about luggage at a station, or read a newspaper, or go outside, or stay inside, I see Big Brother.
And Big Brother sees me.
Whenever someone suggests something that restricts our freedoms in an obvious and clearcut way, people resist. Identity cards, constant surveilance, compulsory drug testing in schools - Big Brother is coming, they say, look out, if we don't stop this now, it'll be like 1984.
Too late.
I can't see anyway that this is not a distraction technique. If people can be made to concentrate on one particular thing, then they have a target, and they ignore everything else. Like new laws that take away freedom of speech. Or the constant low-level fear response that 99% of society expresses. You might not know what I mean. That just means it's working.
Think about it. Think about the last time you were at a station, preferably in a big city like London. Think about the announcements.
"For your safety... be vigilant... be suspicious..."
Be afraid, that's the real message. The bad guys are out there, and we want you to be scared. Scared people are easier to direct, easier to control. If you're afraid, you can't fight back properly. Let us help you. Let us protect you. Just sign your name on the dotted line...
You might think I'm a conspiracy nut. I'm not - it's not a conspiracy. It's not hidden from view, or plotted from behind the scenes, or masterminded by a shadowy world-wide organisation. It's right out in the open, and we let it by. How could we not, we're trained to, right from birth, right from the moment we first open our eyes. Do what we say. Follow orders. There has to be a government. The law is good. We'll protect you. Buy, buy, buy.
I'm an anarchist. People sometimes react with horror when I say that. They think it means "terrorist". Fear response, fight or flight, let them protect us. Another response is "Don't be stupid, we have to have laws"
No one has ever been able to explain to me why. "But, people will just kill people, and chaos will reign, and death and destruction and argh argh argh" Death, and destruction, and fear fear fear. We're so scared of not being told what to do, because we're told to be scared, we're trained to be scared of it, conditioned.
People have said to me "If there was such a big conspiracy, the government wouldn't let people be communists or socialists or anarchists. You're not in prison, so clearly there's not a conspiracy". Why bother locking people up, if you can manipulate society into never considering their possibilities. Communism, totalitarianism, democracy. They're all, at their most base level, the same. They are all control of the many by the few, enforced by violence. They are all governments. That's what a government *is*.
What about social contract, people ask. What about it? Surely if social contract is what's important it doesn't matter if you have laws or a government anyway? If we're honest, any government rules by fear and violence. There's not other way to rule, and still *be* a government.
We're trained to be scared from the start, from school. Don't get a detention, sit up straight, stand in line, conform conform conform, even if it's to the nice little set of non-conformists, make sure you're scared of stepping out of line. We don't beat kids at school anymore. We've just made what we do less obvious.
Look around you. Wake up. Only you have control over your life, any other control is either an illusion, or you've granted it. The reason that peaceful protest works is that the only response a government can have is violent, and that cannot be prolonged. If we all decide to not be ruled by the government, they do not rule us. If we decide to be unafraid, we will be. Stand up, and be yourself.
Parable of the Present
Written by Edwin Porter-Daniels
"What people do not realise is that Nineteen Eighty-Four is not a vision of the future, but a parable of the present" - Robert Anton Wilson
More terrifyingly, he said that more than forty years ago.
Whenever I switch on the radio, or watch the television, or walk through a town, or travel on the underground, or catch a bus, a train, a plane, whenever I hear a politcian talk, whenever I consider the society I live in, whenever people talk about "neccesary wars" or "liberal conspiracy" or "security", whenever I see a police officer, or hear an announcement about luggage at a station, or read a newspaper, or go outside, or stay inside, I see Big Brother.
And Big Brother sees me.
Whenever someone suggests something that restricts our freedoms in an obvious and clearcut way, people resist. Identity cards, constant surveilance, compulsory drug testing in schools - Big Brother is coming, they say, look out, if we don't stop this now, it'll be like 1984.
Too late.
I can't see anyway that this is not a distraction technique. If people can be made to concentrate on one particular thing, then they have a target, and they ignore everything else. Like new laws that take away freedom of speech. Or the constant low-level fear response that 99% of society expresses. You might not know what I mean. That just means it's working.
Think about it. Think about the last time you were at a station, preferably in a big city like London. Think about the announcements.
"For your safety... be vigilant... be suspicious..."
Be afraid, that's the real message. The bad guys are out there, and we want you to be scared. Scared people are easier to direct, easier to control. If you're afraid, you can't fight back properly. Let us help you. Let us protect you. Just sign your name on the dotted line...
You might think I'm a conspiracy nut. I'm not - it's not a conspiracy. It's not hidden from view, or plotted from behind the scenes, or masterminded by a shadowy world-wide organisation. It's right out in the open, and we let it by. How could we not, we're trained to, right from birth, right from the moment we first open our eyes. Do what we say. Follow orders. There has to be a government. The law is good. We'll protect you. Buy, buy, buy.
I'm an anarchist. People sometimes react with horror when I say that. They think it means "terrorist". Fear response, fight or flight, let them protect us. Another response is "Don't be stupid, we have to have laws"
No one has ever been able to explain to me why. "But, people will just kill people, and chaos will reign, and death and destruction and argh argh argh" Death, and destruction, and fear fear fear. We're so scared of not being told what to do, because we're told to be scared, we're trained to be scared of it, conditioned.
People have said to me "If there was such a big conspiracy, the government wouldn't let people be communists or socialists or anarchists. You're not in prison, so clearly there's not a conspiracy". Why bother locking people up, if you can manipulate society into never considering their possibilities. Communism, totalitarianism, democracy. They're all, at their most base level, the same. They are all control of the many by the few, enforced by violence. They are all governments. That's what a government *is*.
What about social contract, people ask. What about it? Surely if social contract is what's important it doesn't matter if you have laws or a government anyway? If we're honest, any government rules by fear and violence. There's not other way to rule, and still *be* a government.
We're trained to be scared from the start, from school. Don't get a detention, sit up straight, stand in line, conform conform conform, even if it's to the nice little set of non-conformists, make sure you're scared of stepping out of line. We don't beat kids at school anymore. We've just made what we do less obvious.
Look around you. Wake up. Only you have control over your life, any other control is either an illusion, or you've granted it. The reason that peaceful protest works is that the only response a government can have is violent, and that cannot be prolonged. If we all decide to not be ruled by the government, they do not rule us. If we decide to be unafraid, we will be. Stand up, and be yourself.
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