Baby, I'm an Anarchist!

A couple of things to add:

• anarcho-capitalists are an interesting bunch. And while it may seem to be an oxymoron it actually makes a lot of sense. Anyone who understands what capitalism is at it's core - in theory not practice can see similarities to anarchist sentiment. The idea being that demand and supply regulate one another. If people need something en masse it will be produced (in theory). And depending on the number of people wanting the item (and the time and effort with which it can be supplied) the cost of the item will vary. The cost. Not the price. Capitalism in theory does not involve money, taxes, tarriffs, ender, race, law or government. It conveniently does not suggest that only certain people (depending on social or economic class) can buy, produce or accumulate goods. There is no interference in the market - just people reacting to one another's needs.

If you've spent any time in an anarchist community you'll get the comparison. It's all about the people in the community reacting to one another's needs. Talents and weaknesses balancing out. Not saying anarcho-capitalism is something I agree with. I'm more a black flag kind of girl....but I can see other perspectives. Of course as an anarchist you'd have to.

• All of the folks who think that the statement "Whether the protest is from the sidewalk or from the streets it's effective" is reasonable should read Ward Churchill's "Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America". It might not change your mind and make you take to the streets but it might help you make a more informed decision about the role of anarchistic protest and the reasons why there is such a divide between so called liberals and their anarchist counterparts. The reasons are many and the differences possibly insurmountable.

• The song is NOT a love song. There is no boy. There is no girl. They're metaphores. Analogies. It's a song attempting to explain and explore ideological differences in the political left. I say the political left because despite numerous attempts by anarchists to exclude themselves from the political system as well as the political structure of our world, the general public deems us left if not criminal. In an attempt to make people consider these differences the ideas are put into the context of a relationship. Which is why if you look at alternative literature, film or music you'll find complex and difficult, often ignored issues at the forefront. People digest things they disagree with a lot easier - it seems less offensive through art. As can be illustrated with the people in this thread who like the music enough to consider the lyrics and post here. Even if their opinions are right-ish of the spectrum.

Point being that the song is not a love song and the gendering of the ideologies simply allows for the last line about marriage - "No I won't take your hand, and marry the state. Cuz..." The idea of marriage is built into our society...it's considered natural like so many other attributes of quote en quote human nature. but it's not. Marriage involves either state or religious intervention in a relationship between two people. Until recently in the western world, and still in many other places, those two people were required to be of the same ecolomic and social class in order to be married. So given that the idea of marriage is so embedded in state, religious and discriminatory ideologies the fact that an anarchist owuld be wholeheartedly against the idea is not untoward. Which isn't to say that anarchists can't or won't have healthy, committed relationships recognized by our communities. We do. We just don't feel right about making vows to institutions we don't believe in. We don't feel that we need to take our loved ones by the hand and "marry the state".

Might be good to know that the song was not initially menat to be an against me song to. Tom wrote it with some folks for a side project that fell apart. So he used it on Axl rather than having it go unheard. So it is no wonder that the song has slightly differnt sentiments toward anarchists than their others. They recorded it as a good song. Not as a manifesto. And they've never, to my knowledge claimed to be anarchists outside of this song.

Interesting side note on marriage: the words husband and wife. While we have a pretty idea of what it means to be a husband in today's western world, the historical meaning was that of a manager or steward. But another meaning for the word comes from animal husbandry - which is to say someone who breeds and breaks domestic animals. For example horse husbandry through which a horse is tamed or "broken" for somestic needs and riding. A wife until modern time was simply a woman, often in the sense of a midwife - a woman with knowledge of life and death, tobe respected. Or fishwife - a middle income independent woman. So basically in marriage, according to historical uses of the word - a man breaks and tames an independent or powerful woman in marriage. Just hought that was interesting enough to share.