Viktyr, could you expand on that last bit? I'm curious exaclty what you mean and what experiences have lead you to that conclusion.
I mean fascism and anarchism have in common the disdain of democracy, of being ruled by the common man-- people with views and values that differ from our own, people who do not understand the way we wish to live our lives. The anarchist replies by saying "no rules", while the fascist replies by saying "my rules" but at heart they are both saying "these rules are wrong". You find a lot of people swinging drastically from authoritarianism to libertarianism or vice versa-- I am one such example-- and a lot of people who unironically express both views at the same time, people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. I think a lot of so-called "libertarians" are people who merely want the freedom to live their life their way, and who secretly don't care all that much for whether or not their neighbors can do the same.
Everyone wants power. Everyone. The only difference is how much power people want, and what they want to do with it.
Libertarians, especially Objectivists. Their worldview is completely antithetical to mine-- they talk about "society" the same way I talk about "rights", as a potentially useful social construct to be discarded if it interferes with our ultimate goals-- and our ultimate goals for government and society are completely opposed. The Objectivists make it even worse, by treating our differences of political opinion like a holy crusade, and who whole heartedly believe that everything they learn from Ayn Rand's books is gospel truth.
It's surprising how often you can scratch an anarchist and find a frustrated dictator underneath, though. Perhaps part of the problem is that we have more in common than either of us is comfortable with.
I don't have enough time to expand upon this right now, but without a doubt I oppose communism in all of its forms more so than any other ideology. Especially anarcho-communism. I believe it would be the complete unraveling of the human progress and world society as we know it. And it would not ever organize into something better.
I do think your theory could apply to some libertarians I've run across. I've seen some libertarians who want to go beyond just being free in the legal sense. I've seen some folks wish for a society nothing was even condemned, or looked down upon. Where nearly all actions were equally embraced as acceptable alternatives. But I disagee. Even though society may tolerate certain unsavory actions, it doesn't mean we need to accept or condone them.
I'll end my rant there and move on. I'm curious about you. What pushed you from one extreme to the other? I've never met someone who openly embraced fascism and I've certainly never met a former libertarian turned fascist. What exactly made you make such a radical switch?
I am of the opinion that most or all who embrace the idea of fascism wish to either be the dictator, or else be the dictator's right-hand-man and policy-advisor.
Its a bit off and ironic I guess. I dislike social darwinism, not necessarily because I see it as bad, but because I don't think it realistically applies to our current situation due to the many inefficiencies that society currently imposes on us individually.
I don't know if I can wrap it up in any sort of label, as my biggest philosophical issue is with those who advocate any form of social darwinism. While I believe that people do, in a sense, have some control over their destiny, I think many people overemphasize how much control a person has over their own life in the face of things like plain luck, birth and childhood circumstance, the idiocy of other people, the economy, political reality, available resources, etc.
Because of all of those things a person has no control over, I believe a very large amount of a person's success or failure has nothing to do with them personally, so I advocate some leveling of the playing field so a meritocracy can actually form and work properly.
Its a bit off and ironic I guess. I dislike social darwinism, not necessarily because I see it as bad, but because I don't think it realistically applies to our current situation due to the many inefficiencies that society currently imposes on us individually.
Pretty much anything that espouses that, if you believe in it, you are automatically superior to others. Definitely one of the big deterrences for me and organized religion.
The feeling of "I believe the right thing, I'm going to heaven instead of all these guys"
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?