Reddit reviews No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism

It's possible to be an anarchist and still hold some religious convictions. However, religion depends on hierarchical social relations to propagate. To have faith, you have to be told something and then treat it as fact without question. It's a form of obedience.

Please keep in mind, this is my opinion, there are a lot of anarchists who are religious, and they believe religion is compatible with anarchism.

I would recommend No Gods No Masters for a greater understanding.

I'm assuming you've never read any anarchist literature because you don't appear to understand what anarchism is. It's not about a "disagreement."

I've read the parable. If you seriously believe that ancaps wouldn't invade after a simple bit of forecasting then you're just proving what I've already said.

You. Need. To. Actually. Read. Books. Plural. Or listen to them on tape. Or have them summarized for you. Your belief that ancap is "anti-authoritarian" or in any way anarchistic illustrates that your understanding of anarchism is nil. This isn't just a disagreement over political minutiae, this is you not actually understanding what you're claiming to be.

You do not understand what capitalism or anarchism are, full stop.

You have no idea how infuriating it is to sit here, after years of activism and study, to see liberals claiming they're anarchists and outright refusing to learn even the very basics.

go to r/anarchy101. Ask questions. this is the perfect primer. It is the only book you will need for a basic understanding. I suggest a lifetime of reading, but if you only read one book, this is it. For more information on capitalism from a modern perspective, I recommend anything by Graeber. Youtube is not a substitute and ancap ideas are not anarchist.

if you want to call yourself an anarchist and not annoy every anarchist around you then you will actually need to educate yourself on the subject.

To quote Christopher Hitchens (when asked if he was a neo-conservative) "I am no kind of conservative."

I am no kind of capitalist.

BTW, I'd highly recommend this anthology for anyone learning about or interested in Anarchism.

>This sounds bad but I don't see how it's much worse than our current system. Right now taxes are mandatory

So you are comparing having to pay taxes (or not, depending on your age and income level) to watching you house burn down, or watching someone get stabbed (or blown up with an RPG because there would be no regulation over who could or couldn't own one) while private security guards stand-by watching because you weren't one of their clients? Your priorities are so far away from mine that I don't really know what to say.

>What if all the police officers in your town quit or something?

The difference is that 60% of businesses go out of business within their first 5 years, and your example happens... never.

>they can set up welfare systems to take care of them, much like current society has, except the welfare system would be voluntary instead of mandated by a government

Look to the Ozarks prior to the New Deal and you will see that is never going to happen. The standards of living were what we would consider third world today; extremely high rates of malnutrition and infant mortality for example. It is only after the government came in with the Tennessee Valley Authority that roads and electricity were pushed through to many rural southern towns. Why? Because it wasn't cost effective for a private entity to do it. The same theory applies today. How do UPS and other private couriers get their goods to where I live? On USPS (government) planes and trucks, because it isn't cost effective for them to do it themselves, and wherever USPS pulls out of, stops getting service. Post Offices are a life line to small towns.

>A court will only be in business so long as it has clients, and a court that does something like accept bribes from people it's judging won't like have clients.

Really? Thats the exact type of court I'd be looking for if I was in trouble, and had the money

Basically your philosophy affects me thusly; pay more for a lower quality product so don't have to pay a pittance in taxes. No thank you.

I am in no way trying to discourage you from exploring different ideologies. Read this book for a bunch of different anarcho ideas).