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Title: Anarchism and Chaos
Author: Jennifer Iguana
Date: February 28th 2022
Language: en
Topics: culture, organization, fun
Source: https://medium.com/@interpoliguana/anarchism-and-chaos-3f6b72f8bb4

Jennifer Iguana

Anarchism and Chaos

One of the earliest things I heard upon learning what anarchism was that

there was a strong difference between Anarchism — a set of ideologies

around societal organization — and Chaos! — the go-to word to describe

eclectic societal strife and confusion. (For this essay, I am writing

about collectivist branches of Anarchism and not their individualist

counterparts). One of the main emphases of Anarchist goals and praxis

are the specifics of direct democracy, maybe by syndicates or by

communal municipalities. The “Anarchist A” represents Order in Anarchy

and contrasts the disordered reputation that bourgeois society hurls at

Anarchy. The point is hammered home that Anarchism is ordered, to the

point where class society is seen as the real disorder/chaos

I have no disagreements with the ideals and actioning out of direct

democracy, municipal divisions of people, or any organized communitarian

framework (gift economy, usufruct, etc.). Yet I feel there is a missed

opportunity with the distancing of chaos, which in Greek mythology as

χάος was the beginning of the universe, from modern attitudes and

lifestyles. ‘Chaos’ can be reconsidered from an evil but always vague

nightmare of societal descent, or as a rhetorical trump card. The best

way to understand chaos is through it’s antonyms: Stasis, stillness,

sameness…, all of these being values that Anarchists either oppose or

should oppose

And on a rudimentary level, most Anarchists, at least the young ones,

have already embraced the seduction of chaos, unpredictability, a

différence (I see you Deleuze stans in the back!) gone off the rails.

This is very often highly informal, manifesting through Instagram meme

accounts (with the most bizarre in-jokes at times), listening to music

that is as distasteful as possible AND LIKING IT, having an abrasive

sense of humor like dynamite, or the messy thoughts from getting high.

What I just described most strongly suits a specific set of Anarchists,

very often trans, but if one were to look into their own lives, they

would find at least a few examples of how they relish in ‘disorder,’ not

to deconstruct values necessarily but for one’s own amusement.

I am not writing this for activists to rebel against a state which has

developed social parasites from being stationary like still-water:

People know this already! What I want to get across is the non-academic

and universal appreciation for chaos, confusion, nonsense, and blissful

spontaneity. I would propose that ‘Order from Anarchy’ be rewritten to

‘Order from Anarchy with an accompaniment of as much bullshit as you can

muster’ if it rolled off the tongue better.

One of my personal examples is that I am very positive of fights

breaking out on my school campus, despite the either neutrally

dumbfounded or negative reactions to them from my peers. Is it to fight

against the banality of modernity, or to deconstruct the looming

ideology of a capitalist schooling system? Nope (Well yes but not in

this case). I just want to have fun watching fights, especially when

they are one-and-done and with few repercussions because I’m still an

altruist at heart. I do not want to see the world burn, but I want to

see people light firecrackers to scare each other.

School in general is most direct with the attitudes of its students.

While some students develop adherence to their institution early on,

most will cherish every prank on teachers, a rapidly changing schedule

to leave out school days, for exciting sports games and shallow drama

between students. There are a lot of stupid and annoying people in every

grade of school that make the time vapid and taxing, but there always

has been a thread along it that I want to romanticize. Spontaneity

appeared in elementary and middle school as pre-developed worms

(counting myself) running around, playing games on the pavement and

whispering “Fuck” to each other. High school is more ordered, with a

firmer ossification of ‘the Mask’ (a term coined by Ashanti Alston to

describe the acceptance of societal order and the suffocation of the

authentic and liberated individual) taking itself on with its piling on

of capitalistic “bullshit” busywork. Yet there are the few times were

light breaks through and there can be a laugh at a silly string prank on

a teacher or the absurd property destruction and theft from the “devious

lick” trend(which I found immediately gratifying). College is where the

barrier to adulthood is closest, and I don’t have any blanket

statements, but I do have advice: Live with spontaneity because it’s all

we’ve got

I'd compare my thoughts to an impressionist piano work, ornamented with

brash tone clusters and delightful polyrhythms, is part of what I want.

There would be organization to the notes, of course, but the execution

of the ideas is free-flowing and the mystifying Random creates some of

the most delicate and authentic romantic gestures of music.

For direct persuasive purposes if things have not come indirectly, the

incorporation of ‘chaos’ and spontaneity into daily life and attitudes

is primary in contrasting the death of liveliness that is characterized

as capitalist realism and the spectacle. In addition, it breaks down

oppressive values, for those rely on rigidity, to form a recognition and

emotional repulsion against class society and rulership. Finally, a

healthy dose of dumb and sometimes edgy fun shares the goals an

Anarchist wishes to achieve with their organization: human happiness and

wellbeing. Our entire existence as a species, as well as our

evolutionary cousins and ancestors, is filled with mocking each other

and circumstances for juvenile yet appreciated humor. Ridicule and

nonsense has been a uniting factor between humans for millennia, and

that should never be forgotten. We were never meant to take ourselves

seriously and stay proper and “classy,” and in the most simple sense,

the constriction that comes from clamping down our desire for arbitrary

standards makes us less happy.

In conclusion, fuck it! A liberatory political future is still

top-priority, and this is a goal of organized efforts against tyranny

(probably through Libertarian Municipalism à la Bookchin). For something

so serious, we should all have a laugh and do something stupid. Whoever

is reading this, chant out loud "I love stupid! I love stupid!"a couple

of times, peace out bitches Ⓐ ඞ (っ＾▿＾)۶🍸🌟🍺٩(˘◡˘ ) [drinking pilk]