Neo-Anarchist Philosophy Options

[Zev]

What (in general) does a neo-anarchist believe? Are there any book references that talk about it, or is all we know discerned from their actions/behaviors/patterns of speech and what not? Thanks in advance. :)

[Phaeton]

I think it's basically as normal anarchy, but directed mainly against the corporations. I might be wrong, though.

[toturi]

Four words, "Chaos good, order bad."

[Phaeton]

Isn't that just normal anarchist, though, Toturi?

[Siege]

"Neo" is a coinage for SR rather than any official designation. Insofar as I am aware.

-Siege

[Phaeton]

*shrug*

[Kagetenshi]

Neo probably designates that they accept the order of technology and the Matrix to facilitate the disorder of governmental systems.

~J

[Cheops]

I think Kagetenshi is right...neo-anarchists are basically shadowrunners. They work with and around the system to the detriment of the system. Basically they rationalize helping one agency by bringing down another.

[Frag-o Delux]

In the beginning of the Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America they have a few pages spouting off about what the Neo-Anarchists are all about. Unfortunately when I saw this thread I looked on my shelf and appearently my GM has pilfered that also. Neo-Anarchists would do runs but are not runners in the sense that I think most here run their characters. I forget exactly what it says, it has been a very long time since I read it. They are the same type of Anarchists today with "Neo" meaning new in front of Anarchist, just like the "Neo-Luddites" they are the same as the old "Luddites" just new. So if someone with that book handy could look it up in the front few pages they could tell us all what a Neo-Anarchist is.

[RedmondLarry]

You who read these postings have a chance to know the truth, and to set about in making the changes that will set you free.

The society we live in is filled with coercion. Corporate coercion, economic coercion, government coercion, majority coercion, minority coercion. No one can escape it, not the squatters, not the sararimen, not the corporate executives, not even the vaunted shadowrunners. Coercion dooms SINners and SINless alike to sterile and empty lives, years of no hope, no goals, and no end.

Neo-anarchism is the means by which we humans can throw off our chains and live rich, fulfilling lives. Only through neo-anarchism can humanity transcend its current, degenerated state and rise up from the mire.

Economics have driven society since humans first began to trade with one another. For centuries this economics has been coercive, as kingdoms, republics, dictatorships, bureaucracies, and megacorp boards all coerce the people. The only non-coercive economic system is where producers and consumers are freely able to set prices between themselves without outside influence. The theory governing this non-coercive economic system describes a maximum state, called Pareto optimality, where the greatest good comes to the greatest number of people without intruding upon the rights or benefits of any.

There have been four obstacles to Pareto optimality. Instant worldwide communication, available as early as 2009, overcame the first obstacle. The preponderance of natural monopolies, the second obstacle, was overcome with the creation of the robotic factories. Big government, as a controller of natural monopolies, is no longer needed for that purpose but still exists as an obstacle to Pareto optimality. Education is needed to overcome this third obstacle. And finally, big government as the provider of public services, such as roads, sanitation, and national defense, is still an obstacle to Pareto optimality because it taxes all people regardless of their usage of these public services. Technology is now available to overcome this fourth obstacle.

Over the last 200 years, mankind has moved inexorably toward a decentralized and Neo-Anarchist society, a society in which no member is ever coerced. The only thing delaying this movement toward its inevitable conclusion with an optimal society are the megacorporations. It is not the governments -- those are just the tools of the megacorporations. The megacorporations twist and warp society in order to keep their power and delay the creation of an optimum economic environment.

Neo-Anarchists must break this hold that the corporations have on humanity. But in breaking this hold we must not destroy the very technology that will give us the Neo-Anarchist state. Rather than bombs and bullets, Neo-Anarchists must use the far more subtle yet powerful tool of information. By exposing the lies and corruption of the corporations to the masses, we will show that the social contract between the governed and the governors is invalid. When the masses are fully informed, when the current feudal capitalistic society has ground to a halt, then will a Neo-Anarchist paradise surely arise.

Spread the word. Study the theories. Think for yourself. Do not insist on what is Canon, as that is the old ways. Instead educate yourself and the masses around you, for that is truely the way of freedom.

[ethikaia]

Anarchy is a political theory which advocates the creation of anarchy, a society based on the maxim of "no rulers." To achieve this, "[i]n common with all socialists, the anarchists hold that the private ownership of land, capital, and machinery has had its time; that it is condemned to disappear: and that all requisites for production must, and will, become the common property of society, and be managed in common by the producers of wealth. And. . . they maintain that the ideal of the political organisation of society is a condition of things where the functions of government are reduced to minimum. . . [and] that the ultimate aim of society is the reduction of the functions of government to nil -- that is, to a society without government, to an-archy" [Peter Kropotkin, Op. Cit., p. 46]

The definition of anarchy has been distorted by the media to a large extent.

AnarchyFAQ.Org
Will explain what true anarchy is, like the system that is talked about in the Neo-Anarchists guide.

[Frag-o Delux]

That web site gave me so many more reasons not to like Anarchists, thanks for the link.

[Kagetenshi]

Anarchy, like Communism, is an idealistic system. Yes, it would work wonderfully if it could work on a scale larger than a few dozen, maybe a few hundred people, but it doesn't.

~J

[Phaeton]

Human ambition kills it, much as it kills communism.

...Still ain't gonna stop me from trying to turn Florida into a seceded Communist republic for the heck of it if I ever become governor of it, though. :D Just kidding...

EDIT: Added something so I wouldn't scare people...As much.

[Ancient History]

If you ever wish to understand Neo-Anarchist rambling, check out the first chapter of "The Neo Anarachist's Guide to North America"

The first-and last-true spiel in SR.

[Phaeton]

And if you want just rambling, check out the Neo-Anarchists Guide to Random Crap.

Ask Sahandrian. :D

[Siege]

The last time I floated by Bulldrek, there was some interesting discourse on the true meaning of anarchy.

-Siege

[Zev]

Cool, thanks guys. :)

[Mongoose]

My impression is that the "Neo-Anarchists" are in essence similar if not identical to todays Liberatarians. They seems to miss a lot of the "spirit" of traditional or modern anarchism; for example, a real anarchist would probably advocate for the elimination of currency, not its use as the fundamantal medium of social regulation! However, Libertarians are all about "money = indicator of social value".

Rob Boyle is a very well read student of Anarchism, and he's always been a bit peeved with the so called "neo-anarchists" using that name. IMO "the excahnge" from Target Matrix is a lot more like something real anarchists would try to set up, though I suppose it could be a side effort by the "neos".

[Ancient History]

The Neos-As died out pretty much by second edition.

[Glyph]

[nezumi]

I've done a tiny bit of research on anarchists now, and it seems like there are two major camps. Assumedly, neo-anarchists aren't too different.

1) People with too little knowledge. They have a very laissez faire view on politics, but fail to see the far reaching implications of pure free trade and few, if any laws. You also have people like Marilyn Manson, who are really just very smart capitalists.

2) People who want to have sex with animals and generally run amok (I wish I was kidding you, but I'm not. The "Anarchists education forum" is half about teaching children to respect things and develop their own moral code, and half about having sex with one's offspring.)

I'm sorry if I offend any real anarchists out there, but this is all I've encountered so far. In game, be sure to include a lot of anarchists who are just destructive simply because they can be (just like in the middle ages you got Christians who'd burn witches not because they understood the deep, moral implications of foreign religions, but because it seemed fun at the time). You'd also get plenty of people who are looking for a soap box.

[Phaeton]

I'm stuck between feeling communism and anarchism as being more useful in theory. And I know about the soap box type. Or at least a type who slaps Dropkick Murphy stickers all over themselves and randomly hits people half the time. Surprisingly, he ended up with me at a camp for gifted students. I guess it takes all stripes...

[Kagetenshi]

Oh yes, CTY and TIP (both gifted programs that I've been to) are rife with the type. It's a very popular philosophy for those with too much brainpower to be bothered to think their ideas all the way through.
Sad to say, that catagory once included me.

~J

[Phaeton]

Ahhhh, a fellow TIPster, eh? :D *salute*