If you believe government is needed, and someone suggests that it isn’t, you might be rather distressed. You might start to picture bands of rogues roving the land without cease, raping and stealing. In the minds of many statists, this fear is so real that it seems certain. But of course, little is certain in life, and we can no more say for sure that warlords will take over than we can say that they won’t. However, we can at least begin to estimate the likelihood.
If you’re like most people, it’s almost certain that you are threatened by group of people which claims to help you, a group which takes your money without asking first. Just as we can’t be sure that warlords won’t take over in a stateless society, it’s not certain that this violent group won’t grow larger, to expand to a level of control where many are fearful and even people with friends in high places can be destroyed without anyone being punished. In fact, such a case is much more likely to be found in a society with a state, than a society without a state, as the power structures are already there. In a stateless society, if these structures form, they’re likely to be smaller. It’s easier to go from 8 to 10 than it is to go from 0 to 10.
To get to a society that has no rulers, first there has to be a cultural change. People have to learn to do things without the help of their rulers, and instead depend on each other. The less they can solve problems on their own and working in teams, the more chance they have to be seduced by a person offering easy answers, or threatened by someone who comes along with a few guns and a few demands. If certain states vanished tomorrow, there would be a 99% chance that warlords would take over. However, the more the people learn to support each other, and the more people love liberty, the less chance a tyrant has of taking hold. The tragedy is, the more people cling to these concerns about warlords, the less people who learn to love liberty.
In the end, the reason cling onto these ideas is because of a deep-seated fear. People want to feel like everything is under control, even if it’s by a someone who, in their hearts, they know is a devil. Their fear leads them to fearmonger, spilling endless “what if” cases, none of which can be allayed by logic alone. As I said, nothing in life is certain. Yet, by embracing our uncertainty, and our fears, we can learn to overcome them. It’s scary to stand at the edge of darkness, not knowing what lies within. It takes heart to put your foot over that threshold, yet, that is the only way that humans grow – by putting ourselves in realms where nothing is sure, but everything is possible. Screw your courage to the sticking place, and feel just for a moment, what it would mean to be free.
Many people go through this life without thinking too deeply about what it is they value, what they would be willing to die for, and what they would be willing to kill for. It takes an uncommon man to consider the question deeply, and an even rarer man to follow through with his decision when the chips are down. Undoubtedly, people fail in this process all the time, but when you see someone make one of those tough choices, putting his principles above his bank balance, or his integrity before gratification, it can inspire you, and make you wonder: if one soul can stand so firm, firmer than old concrete, what else might it be able to achieve?
In this episode, Kurt is joined by two friends and collaborators, Link McElvenny and Mr. J. to discuss their ideas on the codes, principles, values and frameworks which they use to make decisions, and guide themselves through interesting lives. We discuss liberty, the non-aggression principle, non-violence, masculine and feminine polarity, trying to help others to gain a more empowering perspective, open-mindedness, and the difference between eastern and western views of teaching and learning.
Join us in this next soul-challenging, introspective, middle-path-walking episode of The Paradise Paradox!
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
With most of the world raving about the presidential election in the US, it can seem that your fate rests in the hands of a sociopath who thousands of miles away. The truth is, unless you’re being harassed by bureaucrats or police officers every day, you probably still have a lot of freedom in your life. Every breath and every step is an act of liberty, so choose them wisely.
The Story: 2016 Presidential election: Two party clown show
This is the weirdest election ever! It doesn’t represent the idea of a democracy at all. The idea of allowing the whole population to have a say and choose representatives, has been lost long ago and apparently to the people in power, it’s obsolete. The US ’two party system’ has nothing to do with finding the best head and body for a free country, but rather a distraction for the masses. This current US election has the taken form of a celebrity reality TV show – just with a bigger budget. Where the contestants fight their way through a series of social media obstacles to a final and super episode. The winner takes all! Payment in full of all capital invested and a director’s seat to the empire. Presidential perks accompanied with all tools of the trade, the oak Hollywood desk, a fancy white house and a panel of shiny red buttons – 50/50, ask the audience, phone a friend.
After scratching the surface, it was evident that Kurt and I shouldn’t even be talking about this – why pay attention to the charade – other than for entertainment value? But this is no joking matter. Many, many people have given their power and responsibility away to these clowns. Watching the show, believing the lies and even picking a side. Who is actually involved here? Are your bets in? Unfortunately many continue to waste their friends’ time by talking about such rubbish.
Here is the truth – if we actually lived in a civilised society, with sound values and respect for others, there would be no need to live in governed regions, where people are controlled and manipulated. In today’s situation we need to be individually micro-managed – told what to eat, told how many hours to sleep and how we should be living.
Thank God that they all have television, I would hate to see what would actually happen it they started thinking for themselves, say the ‘people in charge’.
In a civilised country, government should be quiet and gradually shrinking away. A small and productive government shouldn’t even be noticed. Honestly, I am not even sure why free and civilised people would need a government. What they might need more is the protection from the threat of government.
Take a break from the direct mind control and plug into something alternative… The Paradise Paradox!
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
Anam Paiseanta explains his ideas on why rights don’t exist, and why keeping firearms can be so important – especially when negotiating with violent gangs.
Transcript
Anam Paiseanta: To have maybe an educated opinion about [gun control], we have to look at some of the other ideas we’ve inherited. It seems natural for anarchists to be pro-gun, because we understand that there are no such things as rights, right. There’s only what you negotiate.
The idea of rights – who gave us this idea of rights? Like there’s a package of benefits that you just ‘get’. Who gave us that idea? There’s not, that’s an illusion. And if we just started to see the world as – there’s just this playing field and then the results are whatever you negotiate.
Like a soccer team or a football team enters. There’s a field, it’s level, there’s a goal on either end. There’s lines that segment the field. There’s a team that opposes you, this could be seen as the obstacles in life. Then there’s the ball, there’s your effort, and there’s the network of people you can form who support you in your goals – literally in your goals – there’s a metaphor for you.
Which team has the rights to a goal? The idea doesn’t even make sense. There’s no goal unless you negotiate one. As we’re going through life, there are no rights, there’s only what you negotiate. When you’re negotiating with people in voluntary relationships, you have to come by adding value. And when you’re negotiating with gangs, even really organized gangs, that all wear the same color clothing, and have insignias that they all belong to the same gang, and they all have guns, and they come to the negotiation not with words, not with pieces of paper that are promises – they come to the negotiation with guns. And a lot of times, they act to take away your right to your body, your right to your product, your right to your free movement. So these are the three aspects of the self – your present, your future and your past self, right. Your body, your movement, and your product – things you spent labor or time on yesterday in order to acquire.
So how do you negotiate with these people? Because there’s no rights – there’s only what you negotiate.
So although I am all for peace, and I seek to contribute to a society that generates peace because it’s just, and it’s just because it’s voluntary – I recognize that, we don’t yet live in that society. And just like every eagle has claws and every gazelle has horns, and the ability to run away from its predators, and every animal on Earth has some kind of mechanism or apparatus to defend itself, I think that humans should not be the only animal
*Holds up rifle*
that gives away its ability to defend itself to its only predators – which would be other humans.
When you know that nobody can make demands of you. When you know that you are the greatest authority in your life. When you know you get to choose what you can do, and others can choose what is right for them. How does it feel to be free?
When you can travel the world without asking permission, without having to pay to pass an imaginary line. When the skies and the world are open like a great big adventure. When you can cross a continent, without having to prove to anybody who you are. When your face is your passport. How does it feel to be free?
When you can work for whom you like, and whoever likes can work for you, in the way you both choose. When you know your life is your own responsibility, and you know it’s your responsibility to take care of those around you. When you never say “Someone (else) should do something about it.” How does it feel to be free?
When your projects grow like spearmint on a wild and open plain. When you don’t need a licence to innovate. When you know you can make it, because the evidence is all around you. How does it feel to be free?
When everyone you love, you do so not because you’ve been trained to do so, not because you’ve been forced to do so, but because you choose it. When everything you hold dear sits in that purest place of your heart. When your beliefs are aligned with your spirit. How does it feel to be free?
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The Cash:
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Story:
This could be one of my favourite PP-Dice-Dox themes ‘Anarchapulco Nights!’ In this episode Kurt and I discuss more of our personal experiences from the largest anarchist conference in the world, Anarchapulco! The conference itself offers packed days of paradigm shattering topics and long nights of thought provoking discussions – which takes a solid toll on the minds eye.
In this episode we share a few funny stories from behind the scenes. As well as the weirdness of being around so many interesting super heroes. Attending the event immerses you in an empowering scene with so many inspiring people. This could be a rare experience for many of us. However, when sharing your own personal story, you may realise that we all have the capacity to be inspiring, when and if you are willing to make the leap.
There is a principle of law that is acknowledged and often enforced all around the world, that if someone interferes with another’s person or property, they will be punished. For example, if you break down someone’s door without a damned good reason, such as the prevention of harm to an innocent, if you are caught and proven guilty, you will be punished. Likewise, if I approach someone and threaten them into giving me money, if I am caught, I will be punished. Of course, if it is found that I was in a very desperate situation such as having to feed my family, this will be treated as mitigating circumstances and the sentence will be reduced. However, I will still be punished.
Given the choice, would you prefer to live in a society where everyone who broke down doors without a very good reason were punished, and everyone who threatened others into giving them money were punished? Or would you prefer to live in a society where certain classes of people had an exemption, where they could break down doors indiscriminately, without good reason, and threaten people into giving them money without being punished at all?
If a person doesn’t give the question its full consideration, most people will say, of course they would prefer to live in a society where the law is applied evenly. But what is the full extent of this proposition?
Police, having no right to arrest anybody whom they didn’t reasonably suspect of harming someone or their property, will decide to keep mostly to themselves, or find productive ways of maintaining the peace, by establishing ties with the community and gaining its trust. Instead of demanding someone pull over for driving too fast, they would calmly and politely ask, and attempt to persuade them that their actions exposed themselves and others to undue risk.
Judges, knowing that they will be liable for any command they make, will be unwilling to enact any punishment against peaceful people, for example, for buying or selling drugs.
Politicians would be scared to pass any legislation punishing anyone who hadn’t harmed another – making the job of politician almost completely unnecessary. And they certainly wouldn’t call for acts of war which endangered the lives of innocent civilians, because every innocent killed could be a charge of manslaughter. Likewise, soldiers would refuse to attack unless they could be certain they were only attacking a legitimate threat.
Tax collectors would decide to change tactics, knowing they couldn’t threaten anybody into getting their money, and so they would instead canvas for donations, or turn to charging for individual services.
If you agree with the premise that those who injure, threaten or steal from others should be punished, you might have to rethink what the problems with the world are, and what your idea of an ideal world might be. If you disagree, and believe that certain classes of people should be free to attack, threaten and steal from others, and even commit mass murder, then again I would suggest you reconsider where your ideas might lead, what kind of ideal world they imply, and whether that is really the kind of thing you want to support, in your heart or in your actions. Do you really want to be a detractor of civilisation, welcoming violence as necessary, along with all of the abuses of power that come with it?
Making a more peaceful world isn’t easy. There will be challenges along the way, inventing new ways of solving problems with less and less violence, or no violence, when previously we believed they were only solvable with violence. And maybe we’ll never achieve such a thing in our lifetimes, or in any lifetime. But when you look back on your life, with your dying breath, will you be content in knowing that your entire life you supported the status quo, that violence is a requirement? Or would you be more content knowing that you dared to dream, to imagine a world without war, without police brutality and abuses of power, where the word “civilisation” is not a euphemism for a society dominated by the threat of violence, but, through an entire population becoming civil, is a literal fact.
I’m not asking much. I’m not asking you to do or say anything, or even exert any effort. I’m just asking you to let go of one idea, the idea that “violence is necessary” – the conviction that even an ideal world must include threats of violence – because whatever happens, the thought of dominating your fellow man out of necessity can never make you happy. To liberate yourself from this idea is to open up new possibilities, to open yourself to compassion for your fellow man, and to embrace the innocent as worthy of your protection.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
The Cash:
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Story:
As you walk past billboards, TVs playing advertisements, use products with bright logos on display, listen to news radio and read corporate reports, if you’re not paying attention, it might be easily to overlook the fact that every person and every medium that is communicating to you, is attempting to change your beliefs, to alter your perception in subtle ways , that somehow work in their favour. Coca-Cola Amatil wants you to identify as a beach-ball-rolling Coca-Cola man, Pepsi wants you to believe that it passed the Pepsi challenge, and your own government wants you to identify as a patriotic citizen, and to believe that its enemies are raping, bestial monsters.
If everyone dropped their defences completely, letting this propaganda in without question, the world would end up a boring place, with people, instead of being sovereign, independent-thinking individuals, instead resembling pinballs moving around the board, bouncing off bumpers and repeatedly hitting pretty lights. People would adopt the words “Obey” and “Consume” as their personal mantras. Some parts of the world are getting dangerously close to this dystopia – but fortunately, we have the Internet to make people aware of the potential diversity of lifestyles, beliefs and opinions.
How can we recognise the more insidious forms of propaganda? What are the principles which advertisers and speech writers can use to bury their thoughts in our brains, making us believe that they are our own? And what are the costs if we are not vigilant enough? We explore these questions and more, in this mind-penetrating episode of … The Paradise Paradox!
What do you value? What’s important to you in life? I can name a few things that are important to me: liberty, peace, respect, human rights. Some people don’t value those things, or at least, they’re lower down on their list of values. Instead they value things like certainty, convenience, and even feeling good, and their own ignorance.
Now a lot of people will say that they value liberty, but once you get into it a little more closely, you can see it’s not quite so true. So let me as k you: did you ever value liberty enough to say “Free Irwin Schiff”, a man who was in prison because of his belief in property rights – his belief that his money and other people’s money, shouldn’t be taken from them by force, and used as collateral to fund central banks, and fund expansive, endless wars.
Did you ever value liberty enough to say – at least just say the words – “Free Ross Ulbricht” – a man who provided a service for hundreds of thousands of people, a man who provided a service that was very much in demand, the service of allowing people to buy and sell drugs on the Internet.
The thing is, if you value certainty over liberty, then you must either value your ignorance, pretending that humans rights abuses don’t happen, because of institutions such as taxation – or, you must value the certainty that human rights abuses are going to happen, because that’s exactly what does happen, when you give people the power to rule over others.
Liberty is dirty; you don’t get any guarantees in liberty. Sometimes liberty is even violent. But you know, liberty also gives you personal responsibility – that’s the thing. That’s the great lie; that’s the great trick. Because what they’ve told you is, by giving up some of your liberty, you’re actually going to limit your personal responsibility, which is something that can never, ever be true. Nobody can ever take that power from you – nobody can ever take the fact that you are captain of your own soul, that you are architect of your own destiny. And any responsibility that you have, for the rest of humanity, can never be delegated to someone else. It cannot.
Whether you choose the certainty of domination, the certainty of people abusing their power, or you choose liberty – that beautiful chaos, that beautiful space that allows the human race to transform, to transcend, to create something new and different – whatever you choose, I advise you to choose. Because people may call you many things. They may call you delusional, a pinko, an idealist, a fool, a warmonger, a violent sociopath. They might even call you a freedom fighter. But, as long as you choose, they will never call you the worst of all insults. They will never call you wishy-washy, they will never call you vague, and they will never call you indecisive.
