By Pasquale Pulella
NATA-NY
Many times in the past we anarchists have heard the argument that human nature is what’s stopping humanity from being free, is this true? Could it be that maybe were asking the wrong question? Could it be that the statist are right in some sense? Could it be that our human nature is our strong point? Could we evolve past our human nature? Should we? Have we already?
Human Nature?
Human Nature is defined as the psychological physical and behavioral characteristics of humankind. Let’s examine what psychological characteristics are prevalent to mankind. What psychological condition that the “human nature” argument is addressing is the capacity for violence that each individual has. The common ground is that all humans are capable of violence; it is a basic survival characteristic to be able to use violence. This capacity for violence is necessary even today. The human capacity for violence is necessary not just for protection against other humans trying to govern them but also against other more violent species. So is the capacity for violence keeping us from achieving a free society? No. humans’ capacity for violence is what is needed to free humankind because when the state uses violence to govern others it is necessary for humans to defend themselves from such violence with other violence. But if we tried to evolve past violence what would happen is the ones who evolve more slowly will work for the government. Then their capacity for violence would become a dominant trait and then humanity would become even more enslaved. So is human nature keeping us from being free? Maybe it is true. Another factor in Human nature is the fact that the majority of humans allow themselves to be enslaved. In July of 1961 an experiment was done concerning the psychological condition of obedience to authority, the experiment was called the Milgram experiment. During the Milgram experiment an authority figure (the scientist) was present in the room. The volunteer would go into the room and be instructed to administer shocks to a person at the other side of the wall who pretended to be suffering extremely to the point of death. (For further information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment). The conclusion of the experiment was that most of the subjects would continue to administer the shocks. This concluded that the majority of humankind subjects itself to the will of authority without question. This is a sad truth about the human condition; the psychology of most humans is what makes people follow orders. The presence of an authority figure drives the human to do what he says because he has learned to obey the authority figure not necessarily to agree with him. I believe that this is due to the way us humans go through childhood. During childhood the human is taught right from wrong, good from bad, safe from not safe through violent force. The human child in today’s era is then taught to adapt to its surroundings by avoiding being punished by their parents, this is done by obeying the parents in some respect and hiding their activity in others. If we are to change the collective human psyche into a more disobedient one then we need to start raising our children with respect, NO PUNSHMENT, NO PROPAGANDA only reason with them. (For more information on peaceful parenting see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXMKRJyedmg). However peaceful parenting teaches respect it does not teach violence, this may be a problem. In order to adapt we must teach victimless violence, meaning we must teach the future generation to be peaceful unless in self-defense (even against the state). This can be done through martial arts which is a physical art form designed to train a practitioner for combat. Martial arts also train the person to activate what is known to some as killer instinct, or the activation of the urge to use violence. It is important if many people learn to control their Killer instinct (to turn it on or off).
Evolution
Human evolution is the one way we as humans are subject to nature. While you can destroy the product of nature you cannot destroy nature itself. Evolution is Nature itself, all microscopic living organisms have evolved from another species, always taking on characteristics that improve the spices survival. Mankind is no different from any other spices its intelligence is a survival characteristic. The gorilla has strength and size, the chimpanzee has agility, the buffalo has its strength in numbers. For all these characteristics none of them are like the human, the human has intelligence and the human is not dying off like the previous species. But like all living things it is subject to evolution. During the age when the eastern planes of Africa where going through constant geological changes a certain ape species began to develop an enlarged forehead which made room for an enlarged Neo-Cortex. The word Neo-Cortex means “New Brain” this is the part of the brain that is responsible for the reasoning, which is what makes the human so unique. This early ape was far from human but it certainly had many characteristics, such characteristics are walking upright, enlarged forehead, the use of tools, and a family structure. In this family structure is known as a tribe and it is believed that until man discovered fire the man who could pick up the biggest rock would be tribe leader. This is not government however it has implanted a certain psyche of authority in the early human because it will mean that future humans would learn to respond obediently to force. This is only a theory not necessarily fact however it provides a good framework for how human obedience to authority came to be. The first Homo Sapiens was also organized into tribes however these primates are the same species as us they have developed language, tools, hunting strategy, a human sized Neo cortex and a social structure; they are human. Since the Homo sapiens, we have developed government, money, and large organized religion in some ways we have evolved and in others we have devolved. The institutions that early civilizations developed were a survival mechanism to increase population and allow large amounts of humans to coexist. These were brutal dictatorships but there were also population growths. These were known as the five civilizations and they were similar in many ways. They all were located near a large river which allowed large agricultural development; they had a God king, a priest class, a political hierarchy, and a military. During the time of these five civilizations the God king was believed to be a god sent to earth to govern the people and everyone knows you can’t disobey the word of god so obedience was demanded and expected of you. Later in life during the rise and fall of empires and the death of god kings the lie of the god king was broken. Then the rise of the God Sent kings, the ruler who was human but was given the mandate from heaven and therefore had the divine right to rule. Further the mandate of heaven is broken so the lie of the king being a flawed sinful but necessary takes its place and the Magna Charta was written to limit the power of the king. Later it was discovered that mankind ought to be free so the roman style republic was installed in the US, France, and later other places as well. The great lie there is that a government is a necessary evil and everyone should get the chance to exercise ownership of each other in order to maintain a “stable society”. And this is where we are now we are still ruling by force however we have come a long way in seeing through the lie. And the final lie has begun to break. Since the French revolution and the writings of Proudhon more and more people are realizing that there is NO justification for the state and all religions and financial institutions who support the state are STEALING from and enslaving us. What will come next anarchy? Hopefully. It definitely seems that the direction humankind is heading in IS in fact anarchy. It may be 100 years it may be 1000 years but surely enough anarchy must take place. The only question is how soon? How many people will have to die at the hands of the state before we can evolve past this barbaric system we call government.
Psychology of the state
The state is made up of people and if those people decide that the state should not exist it will not exist. The state is not a physical tangible entity it is a system in which everyone has a functional job to feed the tyranny. Once the idea is broken people will resist the government workers will go on strike, and the police will take off their badges. But will the idea ever break in that manner? Yes it happened that way during the Spanish civil war. If enough people in the right places decide to resist both inside the government and outside the government the state CANNOT exist. Without the police to force taxation the politicians, their secretary’s, the tax collectors, will find other employment. If the state continues to print money all that is needed is to not accept it as money, if money is not acknowledged as money than it immediately loses value. All power structures are psychological in nature weather that is an organized religion, a state, a monarchy, a bank, a money system, a school, or a prison. Once they psychology changes the power structure changes with it. And in this regard human nature determines the freedom of human kind the question posed is human nature stopping us from being free. The short answer is YES!!!
Since the state is a power structure and all power structures are psychological in nature, it is the job of the propaganda to enslave the mind and it is the job of counter propaganda to free the mind. Human Psychology is human nature, ideas are what drive humans; the state is an idea therefore human nature IS what is stopping us from being free. However Human nature is NOT constant and the psyche of each human are determined by the ideas they are exposed to, and so is the behavior. If a thief from a bad neighborhood puts a knife against someone to steal their money it is the place they grew up in that showed him a different survival characteristic than anyone from a peaceful neighborhood it is his violent upbringing that taught him violence a violent past usually leads to a violent future. However nobody can become who they do not choose to be. Should you take a thief and teach him to sell drugs instead of steal would he not serve the world instead of act as a parasite? Who loses? One man sells a drug that another man wants, is there a victim? No. if you teach someone to change the philosophy they live by or the ideas the hold close to their hearts they will likely not respond kindly. However people can convince others of changing their behavior and it is done constantly. Sending someone to jail does the opposite of improve society, it only leads to more violence. The psychology of freedom is simple many people must go through some behavioral training to question authority, this behavioral training does not have to come in the form of forceful indoctrination but should begin with the youth in free schooling. Free schooling is an idea that the teacher of the class is not an authority to be trusted but a guide in one’s ability to seek the truth. In short it does not teach people what to think but how to think. Once a large enough portion of the human population is successfully trained in questioning authority then the idea of the state is weakened. This was one of the many successes we can learn from in the Spanish civil war.
Counter Propaganda
Counter propaganda is propaganda designed to break the paradigm of the establishment in any power structure. It is designed to show the lies of the state and its propaganda arm specifically. Here in the US there are many people who engage in counter propaganda, not necessarily anarchists but they do ok. These people are Alex Jones of Infowars; Com Democracy Now; Matt Drugde of the Drudgereport; Adam Kokesh (Anarcho-Capitalist); Keith Preston of attackthesystem.com (Pan-Anarchist); these were just a few. These people’s jobs are to weaken the propaganda of the particular power structure or to break the idea of Statism altogether. And thus the big lie of the state being necessary will be broken. During the Catalonia revolution of the 30’s there were many such counter propagandists who printed newsletters promoting anarchy and they began printing long before the revolution even started, eventually the paradigm changed and Catalonia was liberated if only for a short time.
My conclusion is that human nature is stopping us from being free. We must change human nature to break the idea of Authority, it has been done before and it can be done again. Through free schooling, Counter propaganda, and peaceful parenting the world will learn to be free. And the psychology of the state will be erased, a revolution will begin and It will be up to the people of that time to decide how the state will be overthrown.
