THE
BOG
What I am about to
describe feeds on a pervasive character trait and worry among intelligent
people, particularly those in a profession that requires that they stay on
their toes. It goes like this: "I can't do anything or decide anything as
I don't yet have enough information" and "I can't be thought by my
colleagues not to be up on everything in my field".
Somewhere along the
line, most Anarchists alive today are going to bump up against what
is called "Post-Anarchism". It is a school of thought, founded by one
Saul Newman, which attempts to reconcile Anarchist theory with
poststructuralist thought.
And that's just the
point. It attempts to reconcile Anarchist theory with poststructuralist
thought. What for?
First, Anarchy is not
theory. It is practice.
Second, in order to
understand what "poststructuralist though" is, one has to understand
what structuralist though is.
In order to do that
one gets washed away in a sea of "social science". "Structuralism
as a term refers to various theories across the humanities, social sciences and economics many of which share the
assumption that structural relationships between concepts vary between
different cultures/languages and that these relationships can be usefully
exposed and explored. " That's a whole lotta yada yada.
But wait!
As is the case with
most "social science", their theories were soon found to be shot
through with holes.
So a new movement
arose, spearheaded by French psychoanalysts. "Post-structuralism refers to
the intellectual developments in continental
philosophy and critical theory that were outcomes of twentieth-century French
philosophy. The prefix "post" refers to the fact
that many contributors such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Julia Kristeva were
former structuralists
who, after abandoning structuralism, became quite critical of it. In direct
contrast to structuralism's claims of culturally independent meaning, post-structuralists typically view culture as inseparable from
meaning."
The list of
absolutely essential names to read in the Post-structuralist
school goes on...
Admittedly, they
weren't Anarchists. But, we are told, their thinking is very important, very important indeed, for the understanding of
Anarchist theory.
We couldn't possibly
understand Anarchy without plumbing the depths of the rumination of Galoise-puffing psychoanalysts.
And that, so I'm
told, is the reason why rather than spending the next few months, perhaps years,
helping the indigent; I should be reading the history of social (read that
pseudo-) science, and its refutation, which is equally full of shit.
FUCK OFF!
Everything I'll
ever need to know about Anarchy is this: Capitalism and the
government that is spawned of it works against the people and enslaves
them. It is pernicious and leads to what would be otherwise unimaginable
evils. The way to freedom is the eradication of Capitalism and Government.
Then one rolls up
one's sleeves and goes to work building a world without Government or
Capitalism - instead of reading some worthless shit.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel