Explain Anarchy to me

[GrizzlerBorno]

Ask the Assassin's from the Assassin's Creed franchise. It's what they (and by proxy, I) are fighting for.......for some stupid reason....

It's already been shown that (in the game universe) almost every Governmental construct in modern history was either created or controlled by the Templars, to try and control people, from Theocracy, to Communism, to Capitalism. Hence, the Assassin's want none of those since they control people. Which is what a Government IS, at the simplest level.

So which Govt. do they live under, then? Indulge me, would you kindly?

I have no idea what point you are trying to make, but you did nothing to combat my previous comment - that the assassins do not live in an anarchy, as they have laws, leaders and very strict codes of behavior.

Anarchy;
1a : absence of government
b : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority
c : a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government
2a : absence or denial of any authority or established order
b : absence of order (disorder)
3 : anarchism

[sup]([link]http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anarchy[/link])[/sup]

Clearly not how the assassins of Assassin's Creed operate.

Ah. Well in that case I'm sorry to inform you that you have completely missed the point of my first comment. Please read it again. It says "[anarchy] is what the Assassin's are fighting FOR."

Do they have rules within their own order? Course they do. The "Creed" dictates the actions of all bona-fide Assassin's. But they are NOT fighting to recruit every man, woman and god forbid, child INTO the Assassin Order, are they? No, they fight for some arbitrary and naive illusion of "freedom".

The Rules they have will never work for the large population they hope to set free from "Tyranny". These are not rules that can be enforced, so the whole brotherhood relies entirely on "trust" of it's members to follow the creed. Well you can't "trust" 6 billion+ people, so yeah.....what they fight FOR....is anarchy. That's all I meant.

 

[rabidmidget]

Anarchy doesn't necessarily mean no laws or order, it simply means that there is no form of "state", one way a anarchic society could work would be through a purely capitalism based society where everything is privatised, or on the other side of the coin, a purely communist based society, where everything is shared and everyone is equal.

But I still think it's fundamentally flawed.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

words

"The order believed in a strong set of values that strictly governed their way of life. This Creed consisted of three tenets:
'Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent.'
'Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd.'
'Never compromise the Brotherhood.'

[sup]([link]http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/The_Creed[/link])[/sup]

Doesn't sound anything like anarchy to me.

Jebus fucking christ! Are you even Reading my replies?

YES the Assassin Order have very strict, very Noble Rules. I KNOW. I AGREE. But their aim is NOT to make everyone ELSE on Earth follow these rules. Their aim is to setup a society with no rules. Not even THEIR noble, strict rules. Do you understand the "words" that are coming out of my mouth?

 

[Iron Mal]

Anarchy by my understanding is a state of lawlessness, no rules, no regulations, no order (at least none of which is officially enforced).

To some it sounds like a brilliant idea becuse of the supposed freedom and independance it brings but for some facism is a good system because of the sense of strict order and discipline that it brings (everyone has their own idea of what a true Utopia would be).

I think that Anarchy would only ever be a temporary event if it ever was adopted, after long enough there would be people who would want the state of unpredictability and chaos to end (people need stability in their lives), you'd be suprised how quickly we'd start missing our 'oppressive, evil governments' if there was no police to help us when someone breaks into your house or no hospital to help your loved one when they've been seriously wounded or taken ill (things we only have because of the organisation and resources that a formal government can posess and utilise).

 

[Friendshipandmagic]

Jebus fucking christ! Are you even Reading my replies?

YES the Assassin Order have very strict, very Noble Rules. I KNOW. I AGREE. But their aim is NOT to make everyone ELSE on Earth follow these rules. Their aim is to setup a society with no rules. Not even THEIR noble, strict rules. Do you understand the "words" that are coming out of my mouth?

Do you understand that the "words" coming out of your mouth as of right now are terribly rude and obnoxious? Seriously, no one insulted you or anything. If your gonna assert your point, calm the fuck down.

Of course your assuming that because the brotherhood are fighting the templars, that automatically means they hate all government. Thats not how it works. They are fighting to end the templars control, that doesn't mean they want to end governmental rule totally.

 

[Keava]

I undertand theres more to anarchy than just "no government"

however personally I dont understand how our society could run under such a thing, no one is going to clean up the streets for nothing, and some people arnt going to stop killing others because its not a very nice thing to do

It couldn't. Because we are greedy and selfish bastard in heart, no matter how we try to deny it.
Problem with defining Anarchism is that there is so many different schools and variations you can't really get one and only answer to the question "What is Anarchy".

In the most common definition however, anarchy is a social and political doctrine that considers all form of administration as obsolete. It assumes that society (as in people) are mature enough not have to be told what to do. Instead everyone should be responsible for their own surrounding, and if possible be active in improving the community.

In some forms like collective anarchism by Mikhail Bakunin, all production means are owned and managed by the collective of producers rather that single entities. Wages are equalized and determined in democratic ways, based on the job difficulty and time contribution of workers to be later traded on communal markets for other goods - "To each according to his labour" philosophy.

On the other hand there is also anarcho-communism that completely removes the salaries instead allowing every member of society freely draw from the goods depending on the needs - "To each according to his needs" philosophy.

There is plenty of other views on what anarchy should really be and how it could work in societies, but if you really want to know just go read on them. It's highly utopian doctrine that requires the society to be willing and active in building it rather than expecting the body of state to resolve every matter.

 

[Blunderboy]

To quote Sons of Anarchy.

"Anarchism stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion and liberation of the human body from the coercion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. It stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals" Emma Goldman

 

[Togs]

Whilst Ive had anarchy explained to me numerous times but I still dont get where its a good idea.

If you look throughout history when government dissolves there is no peaceful equality but sheer and utter chaos, theres no noble cooperation just flat out barabarism.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

WHY won't you understand?

Are you......are you seriously not getting me? Dude, I NEVER, EVER said that the Assassin's don't have rules. Not once have I said that they follow Anarchy themselves. Why exactly are you implying that I did say that?

Do you understand that the "words" coming out of your mouth as of right now are terribly rude and obnoxious? Seriously, no one insulted you or anything. If your gonna assert your point, calm the fuck down.

Of course your assuming that because the brotherhood are fighting the templars, that automatically means they hate all government. Thats not how it works.

I am trying very hard not to be Rude. I swear I am. But this fellow keeps saying (literally) the same thing over and over again no matter how many times I tell him that I'm not disagreeing with him.

As for the second bit. No they are not anti-government. They are just trying to prevent the Templars from controlling people, but the backstory (as told mostly through Subject16's visions) has already established that every form of Government used in modern history was directly controlled by the Templars, and thus directly opposed by the Assassin's.

Spoiler: For example:

The Templar's used the tactic of Theocracy to control people for over a 1500 years before that begun to lose power over the people. Following the Industrial Revolution, they used industry to advance their goals, and when the opportunity arose they tested if Communism would work on a National scale by setting up the USSR (I'm not making any of this up. You can look it up if you want). When that started to collapse they latched onto the new ideals of Capitalist America, and have been using THAT to control people (through their wallets) ever since. Now the Templars operate through one of the largest Corporation's in the game's world: Abstergo.

That's how I reach the conclusion that, unless the Assassin's find some magical, fool-proof governmental system, they are antagonistic towards all forms of Societal control as we know it purely becuase they believe Societal control as a Concept is evil. And lack of Societal control is......wait for it.......Anarchy. Do you get what I'm saying?
See I can explain calmly.

 

[Friendshipandmagic]

I am trying very
As for the second bit. No they are not anti-government. They are just trying to prevent the Templars from controlling people, but the backstory (as told mostly through Subject16's visions) has already established that every form of Government used in modern history was directly controlled by the Templars, and thus directly opposed by the Assassin's.

That's how I reach the conclusion that, unless the Assassin's find some magical, fool-proof governmental system, they are antagonistic towards all forms of Societal control as we know it purely becuase they believe Societal control as a Concept is evil. And lack of Societal control is......wait for it.......Anarchy. Do you get what I'm saying?
See I can explain calmly.

But they never say they would have a problem with a government not under the control of the templars. The government is only indirectly opposed by the brotherhood as long as it exists as a puppet for the templars. If the templars weren't around they probably wouldn't care what form of central power people used to organize laws. Meaning that if say, a democratic system came into being after the templars had been removed they don't have any reason to oppose it.

What I'm getting at is that the brotherhood can be opposed to the templars use of governmental control without being opposed to government itself, thus they aren't really anarchy.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

But they never say they would have a problem with a government not under the control of the templars. The government is only indirectly opposed by the brotherhood as long as it exists as a puppet for the templars. If the templars weren't around they probably wouldn't care what form of central power people used to organize laws. Meaning that if say, a democratic system came into being after the templars had been removed they don't have any reason to oppose it.

What I'm getting at is that the brotherhood can be opposed to the templars use of governmental control without being opposed to government itself, thus they aren't really anarchy.

I see what you're saying and.....I dunno. I mean, it's obvious that Fighting the Templars was always, is and will be the primary goal of the Assassin's. But I don't know if I believe that that's their ONLY goal. They always implied that they fight "for the people". And people can be controlled and manipulated by Governments even without the involvement of the Templars (proof: Our actual World). Why would the Assassin's not rise up "for the people" then? Just cause the Templars are not involved? That doesn't really fit with the whole idea of the Brotherhood that the games try to paint.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Tyler Durden's philosophy.

Basically, no central government and no laws. The people who advocate it are probably the hulking bodybuilders packing loads of guns.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Anarchism is a political belief where it's believed government rule is an oppressive evil by nature. Like other political beliefs, there are many sub-groups to anarchism, ranging from Philosophical Anarchism (which I believe in myself) to Revolutionary Anarchism.

Philosophical Anarchism is basically the belief that government rule was a necessary evil to prevent people from resorting to chaos and destruction. However, as time goes on, people have grown, while the government continues to tighten its strangle-hold (inverse to what should happen). It's not about abolishing the government, exactly, since people are by nature destructive, but it's about limiting the power the government has over it's people to just enough to maintain a balance of freedom and order. In time, it's possible that people will outgrow the need for a government, but we're not allowed the opportunity for this happen.

As is, the government is a self-perpetuating machine with infinite imagined power. This is not as it should be. It's just a concept that people are accustomed to accepting as all-powerful. The government should serve to protect people, this is it's purpose, but instead it rules with undeniable corruption, powerlust and a disconnection to humanity. To put it simply, it's like in V for Vendetta "People should not fear their government, it is the government that should fear its people."

 

[XHolySmokesX]

Anarchy is a lack of leadership, and this includes rules, gang leaders, parliament, royalty or anything else.

It's basically comunism without a government to enforce rules of equality. or put in a more simple way, all out social chaos.

 

[Riddle78]

Anarchy is "The State of Nature",or a society without rules,laws,and regulations. People who push for a world like this need to get their heads checked,because The State of Nature is a VERY bad place to live.

 

[RatRace123]

Anarchy is basically chaos as I understand it. No government, no rules, the only people who make it out alive are those who kill before they're killed.

Given that I would probably not survive through such a situation, can't say I'm a fan of it.

 

[vviki]

I've got a comparison for you. In recent years one could say that with so little regulation the banking system was running on anarchy - left to be "self regulated". They ran rampant for some time and it was good, until the holes in that premise became painfully obvious. To fix it, governments imposed new rules to limit that freedom. Will it work, only time will tell. ON the same notion with anarchy it provokes chaos and chaos is sort of self regulated. When the streets become too dirty, someone will clean them so he could move, which will benefit everyone else. Just like tribes times after a while, when most people have died because of the complete collapse of the system, it wouldn't matter anymore. Rules are there because we are too many. If we were separated into smaller groups we could agree on other rules.

Simply put if you have one person, he makes his own rules. If you have a tribe the leader makes the rules. If you have a small ancient Greek type of society - everyone votes and shape the rules. Today we have huge societies and so the power is more centered. Behind every few million people there is a Representative, behind every few of them there are other and so on till we reach that golden Greek number of people who are enough to make democracy (less than 300 and more than 30 people).

Every political system actually works, but for different kinds of societies. Anarchy won't work for our right now. Oh and having a coup doesn't mean Anarchy it means simply forcible changing of the system to another or simply changing the parts of said system, not having no system at all.