A year ago now, I did a post explaining how the Occupy Wall Street movement was essentially anarchist in spirit. I said that one of the markers of this would be their belief that a giant crisis in society could only bring good:
Now the folks at Twitchy think that the occupiers are celebrating the destruction but it's important to see that that is not the case. They are celebrating something that most of us would also celebrate—the way people tend to pull together in a crisis like this and help one another out.
The difference is, though, that they think that is real community. They think everything else, the way we live when the power isn't out, is a perverted distortion of community. A guy I knew in college once inspired his girlfriend to dump him by saying that FROSH week was the only part of college he really liked and that he wished it could be like that all the time. He owned a Shark class sailboat, worked in a bar and dreamed of combining his love of sailing and drugs to make a living running dope across Lake Ontario. The Occupy people think a lot like that, they are essentially college party boys.
In the past, anarchism has always descended into acts of terror such as the Wall Street bombing. It's hard to imagine the Frat-boy anarchism of the Occupy movement descending into such a thing but I wouldn't discount the possibility.
Why do they think this would be a good thing? Well, think of what happens when systems fail. A few years ago we had giant ice storm up here that closed roads, shut power off (sometimes for days) and generally brought everything to a stop. In the aftermath, people helped one another. They shared food and comfort, they formed little groups to help dig out the little old ladies, they made sure that anyone who needed to get to the hospital did. Anarchists imagine that widespread social collapse will produce the same sort of cooperation on a much larger scale.Well, told you so, look how they have responded to tropical storm Sandy (courtesy of Twitchy):
Now the folks at Twitchy think that the occupiers are celebrating the destruction but it's important to see that that is not the case. They are celebrating something that most of us would also celebrate—the way people tend to pull together in a crisis like this and help one another out.
The difference is, though, that they think that is real community. They think everything else, the way we live when the power isn't out, is a perverted distortion of community. A guy I knew in college once inspired his girlfriend to dump him by saying that FROSH week was the only part of college he really liked and that he wished it could be like that all the time. He owned a Shark class sailboat, worked in a bar and dreamed of combining his love of sailing and drugs to make a living running dope across Lake Ontario. The Occupy people think a lot like that, they are essentially college party boys.
In the past, anarchism has always descended into acts of terror such as the Wall Street bombing. It's hard to imagine the Frat-boy anarchism of the Occupy movement descending into such a thing but I wouldn't discount the possibility.
You're right, its not real community. The only time people reach out to others (most people) is when they need something. The rest of the time the attitude is hurray for me and the hell with you.
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