A boot on your neck hurts no matter who puts it there
Hey folks, Dan here. Interesting quote on power and its uses via The Anarchist Flamethrower:
“A boot on your neck hurts no less when it’s held there by a soldier or cop because of some governmental conflict or by the same soldier or cop acting on behalf some private interest who has convinced the state to enforce it’s own notions of proper conduct. The boot is the same, the cop is the same, and the gun to your head is the same. Being sued by the IRS is really no different in cause or effect than being sued by the RIAA, Microsoft, the Brady Campaign or any number of other private entities that use their privileged position with the state to dominate you for their own gain or benefit. And yet many alleged libertarians see some moral distinction between the two forms of oppression. Well I don’t. “
4 Responses to “A boot on your neck hurts no matter who puts it there”
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There’s a huge distinction. Government is allowed to use physical force to oppress me. Businesses are not. If businesses ARE allowed to use unjust physical force against me, then it is government that is allowing it. This must be the case, because the very definition of government is an entity that holds a monopoly of physical force over a given geographic region.
Calion,
I’m unclear on your position. I slept poorly last night and my head is foggy, but I think you’re saying that it ok to have a government opress you. Please tell me that I will read that differently after some rest or explain why it is ok for any entity to opress a human.
There is, at least some nominal difference. I can tell because every day of my life the government has something to say about how I live my life. OTOH, I’ve never gotten sued by Bill Gates.
It’s not about whether it’s okay or not, it’s about whether “oppression” by corporations, etc. ranks on the same moral level as oppression by government. It’s my position that people cannot be truly oppressed by corporations or other private entities (on a wholesale level at least) without government assistance.
Note the key phrase in the original post: “that use their privileged position with the state to dominate you for their own gain or benefit.” This is oppression by gov’t just as surely as if the IRS agents were knocking down your door, because it would be impossible without gov’t force.