Competition V Cooperation

  Competition is the Law of the Jungle

  Cooperation is the Law of Civilization

~ Peter Kropotkin

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I have tried to figure out what kind of Facebook user I am. I am active, mindlessly active sometimes, oftentimes. I am always searching for that next poignant Meme or really kick ass video. I don't lurk, I try to participate as much as I am comfortable with. I leave comments as well as likes, hates, and whatever that huggy emoji is; but mostly I look for meme's to pick up my day or feed my mind.

I have a love / hate relationship with Facebook and all the other forums and newsgroups I have been part of these past 30 years. I love interacting with folks, but sometimes I hate myself for liking it so much. I often mindlessly pass along whatever clever and insightful meme's that come my way. It's as if I feel if I don't include some substance into the inane and mundane that makes up the major portion of online interactions, the whole network, culture, and infrastructure will collapse. We will be thrust into a Social Media Dark Age where all there is online are bad dad jokes, thoughts and prayers, and really sketchy videos in 3 parts on how to perform brain surgery. My sharp and incisive participation is the only thing keeping a balance out here in the Internet ether.

Take for instance Peter Kropotkin at the top. I knew nothing of Peter when this quote meme crossed my page. I did not even know if the quote attached was his or just some shit someone made up.

At the time I read this quote and really looked at the photo, I didn't care if Peter and his purported quote were real or not. The quote was salient and the pic was a wonderful black and white portrait from back in the day. So, I shared it before I had authenticated it's truth.

As it turns out, Peter was real and this quote is attributed to him. Several sources confirmed that. I would toss in some links, but I figure I looked it up, so can you.

Peter it seems, was an OG Anarchist whose life bridged the turn of the last century. The seductive notion of Anarchy was a favorite of the coffee house intelligentsia throughout the Western World. In a nutshell, this is his overall opinion on the state, power and the working class:

Kropotkin believed that the mechanisms of the state were deeply rooted in maintaining the power of one class over another, and thus could not be used to emancipate the working class. Instead, Kropotkin insisted that both private property and the state needed to be abolished together.

I blasted through my "Anarchist Period" years ago. I still believe that of all the political and social constructs, in its purist form, Anarchy would be a wonderful way to live. Like so many high minded ideals that do not rely on Reality for support, the pure unadulterated forms of any of our invented forms of society are a fool's paradise. 

Humans can be assholes, selfish, abusive, and will most likely exploit any situation they can to their own ends. For this reason, the idyllic tenets of the "What ifs" will not come to pass any time soon. And I wonder if we did indeed find nirvana and everyone loved everyone as they loved themselves, would this make us happy?

That question is what slapped me back into the real world. A major part of our human endeavors are our efforts to find happiness. For Humanity it seems, seeking the goal is more important than finding it.

Later Gators .....................................

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Some audiophiles consider "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols as the greatest  anarchist tune ever. I don't know about that. Frankly, I thought the Sex pistols sucked when they were all loud and proud and Johnny Rotten was at his snarling best. Listening to them again, I still think they suck.

So instead, here is a cover of "I am the Walrus" by Spooky Tooth, an awesome band from across the pond back in the day.