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Miscellaneous Rambling

Perhaps the most interesting "Today I Learned" at Reddit that I've ever seen: "TIL, in 1981, a man who had been bullying residents of a small Missouri town was murdered in broad daylight when 46 townspeople rose up against him, in an act of vigilante justice. No charges were ever filed despite their being 30 - 40 witness to the shooting." Here's the Wikipedia link. This story could be a snapshot poster boy of the merits of anarchy. * * * * * * * Just like the Wild West is the snapshot poster boy of the merits of government. Except for one major problem: the wild west wasn't that wild. And it wasn't that violent. And people cooperated out there quite well. Google "violent wild west" and you'll find all sorts of links and papers on this topic, including this 9 Crazy Truths about the Wild West at Listverse. "Turns out the popular image of the Old West as a place where manly men solved their differences by shooting those differences in the face simply isn't true. People were more likely to cooperate than fight–in a harsh and lawless world, it was better to side with your neighbor for mutual benefit than start shooting. Bank robberies, too, were virtually unheard of. One estimate places the number at about a dozen for the entire frontier period." * * * * * * * So yes, the Wild West was lawless, but the Wild West wasn't violent. It makes you wonder what cultural forces would have it in their interests to make everyone think otherwise. Probably just entertainers trying to make a cheap buck, but I can't help but wonder if there was a larger, more sinister, force behind it. Anarchist thinkers have long pointed out that government consistently propagandizes to convince the public to believe in the necessity of its services . . . and the perils of anarchy, even though most pure anarchists are driven more by peace and non-violence than any other political philosophers. Even the "bomb throwing" anarchists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were more often socialists or communists than anarchists. * * * * * * * Please remember that it's the vacation season, so if you're thinking to yourself, "Boy, TDE seems even lamer than usual," be reminded that I might be blogging remotely or otherwise struggling to adhere to the "daily" part of the blog name.

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