When a machine or system gets more complicated it often develops more problems, more flaws and more inconvenient hiccups.

As these problems develop, they often affect anybody attached to the machine in a variety of ways, and that is when the custodians of that machine need more training and education in order to address those problems. Currently, the most complicated system in existence is society.

Modern day capitalist society has led to unjust business practices, dooming the majority of the human race to squalor in third world nations, exploited for their resources. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to most of you, but an overview was necessary to arrive at my point: the irrationality and nonsense of anarchism.

I got to thinking about anarchism just around the end of the last federal election, when a letter that appeared in The Uniter referred to the content of a certain article as pro-statist something or other for having the gall to suggest that we perhaps vote on election day if it’s not too much trouble. It went on to discuss how instead of voting, rioting in the streets and dismantling the government would perhaps be a preferable solution to the political and social ills of our nation.

Back to the machine analogy for a second. When your computer system is faulty due to its complicated nature, perhaps generating some complicated flaws in the intended programming, what would you consider a more rational response? Would you attempt to repair the system, perhaps shopping around for the best person to accomplish this task? Or perhaps you would “elect” (pardon the pun) to change the system, and purchase a new system to replace the ineffective old one. Or would you, as anarchism suggests, fix the computer by smashing it with a sledgehammer and not bothering to install anything to replace that deceased system?

The myth that humanity could accomplish anything without our combined efforts supporting one another is a farce. True anarchism lies in the belief that human beings can work with one another without any kind of leadership structure in place to organize said work. I wonder how exactly anarchists believe civilizations and modern structures of society evolved in the first place? Humanity pooling its efforts and working towards a common goal is the ultimate foundation of all civilizations, and to believe that we could effectively accomplish anything without that organized structure is in complete ignorance of the entire history of civilization and human society.

I honestly don’t know why I’m so fired up about this lately, maybe it has to do with some newfound awareness of the vast complexity of human life, or something. But I hope that any anarchists that may be reading this see the irony that modern media outlets developed through years of organized research and labour are probably the only way they get their message out.

Will Dumont is a University of Winnipeg student and blogs at dumontnation.blogspot.com.

Published in Volume 63, Number 16 of The Uniter (January 15, 2009)