| 1-27-01 Anarchy is an attractive idea. Why wouldn't it be? You're basically telling the establishment - The Man, if you will - to f___ off. And anyway, since the government is purely for entertainment purposes nowadays, anarchy is a viable alternative. Right? Who needs the government and its restrictions? Religion and its confines? Religion and resulting prejudices have led to centuries-long wars tearing countries, cultures, even families apart. So it seems that the world might be a better place if we could collectively rid our minds of the shackles society has forced upon us. Anarchy, at least superficially, calls for a godless, structureless "society" in which our minds are so free they become brigh tpink balloons floating above our heads. Sounds titillating. But. Once we are emancipated from The Man's sweaty grip, we will still all be the same, there will still be some semblance of structure. "If it's not one thing it's another," for one man's chaos is another's conformity. Just as they once, I'm sure, sought foundations in religious teachings, misguided youth now find solace in the credances of anarchy. A blaringly obvious contradiction lies in the fact that anarchist punks often willingly follow a strict code of attitude and overall appeareance - "We don't believe in the established order of things; we are fed up with the world and will show that through our torn clothes, pierced nasal passages, and blue hair." It's an endless cycle. Fed up with the world, the lone anarchist distances himself from the In Crowd, inevitably joining ranks with the sprawling, ever-morphing world of anarchy. This leads simply to another conformity, no more or less obscure than the one he just left. Forfeit religion? Ineffective. Anarchy is the religion, followed by anarchists, disciples of their god Chaos. It becomes apparent - truly inevitable - that the confines of conformity can never be escaped. The circuitous creed of anarchy leads not to a Utopia, however disfunctional, but right back to the beginning. The closest we can come to the nonconformist "f___ you" attitude of anarchy is utter and complete unself-consciousness and the ability not to notice or care what the world thinks of us. It is, after all, society's preexisting notions of what is "correct" that frustrate us, is it not? Once we free ourselves of the unnecessary self-awareness that pervades our daily lives, we can become true individuals. And that is freedom. |