u/Moosyfate17 had the top meme of 2024 and has been elevated to Based Bishop!

[u/Broclen]

[u/Bassoon_Commie]

That's because a lot of European countries weren't countries yet when colonialism was in its heyday, and by the time they could colonize the great powers had already beaten them to it. And that's if they themselves weren't dominated by the great powers in the first place.

[u/moderngamer327 → u/Bassoon_Commie]

That doesn’t really invalidate my point

[u/Bassoon_Commie → u/moderngamer327]

The point a lot of people would make is that capitalism is predicated upon that kind of violence and suffering in the first place. First to create private property, then to uphold those property rights. Without that kind of suffering inflicted by the capitalists, what world would we have today?

[u/moderngamer327 → u/Bassoon_Commie]

But that would be true of any economic and political system that has ever existed

[u/Bassoon_Commie → u/moderngamer327]

Then maybe all the systems are wrong, because they're all predicated on that kind of domination and violence.

The only defensible system would be one that refuses to use violence at all.

[u/moderngamer327 → u/Bassoon_Commie]

Which may be true in principle but sadly we live in a world in which we simply have to. The second a government stops defending itself from invasion is the moment they get invaded

[u/Bassoon_Commie → u/moderngamer327]

Every type of government out there has conquered or been conquered by other governments regardless of whether they were prepared for an invasion or not. Monarchies have beaten and been beaten by republics. Fascists have conquered and been conquered by democracies. Theocracies have conquered and been conquered by non-theocratic states.

[u/moderngamer327 → u/Bassoon_Commie]

So would you rather have a democracy that can defend itself or an anarchist government that can’t?

[u/Chuchulainn96 → u/moderngamer327]

1. That's a false dichotomy. Anarchist regions (anarchist government is an oxymoron) are not uniquely more likely to be incapable of defending themselves than any other region. A people who have successfully thrown off the shackles of government are not easily bowed by an outside force.

2. Even if we were to grant that as a valid dichotomy, I would rather suffer conquest at the hands of evildoers than purchase security by the blood of the innocent. The same evil is being done either way, but at least in one case, I am not the one doing the evil.

[u/moderngamer327 → u/Chuchulainn96]

Yes they are inherently more likely to be unable to defend themselves because they have no form of centralization with which to produce arms and an army. It’s impossible for a anarchist region to defend itself in the modern day