Disinformation



What's wrong with this picture? It depends of course on your personal preferences. O my god, hooligans have smeared slogans in our beautiful park, you might say. Bloody anarchists, they should be imprisoned/decapitated/burned at the stake somebody else might say.

My initial reaction was a smile. I like the idea of using public spaces for public communication, but something was wrong. It could have read as well: Bold people don't need hairdressers. Unless I consider this writing as purely dadaistic expression, it turns into something sinister.

The symbol suggests a statement about anarchism, yet it fails to convey anything else but public misconceptions about this way of life. Strong people don't need government. So anarchy is no good for weak people? Only the strong survive? What a lot of cow dung.

Indeed, strong people don't need government. Quite often 'strong' people govern already, or at least network sufficiently to get away with whatever nefarious scheme they came up with. I don't mind calling nepotism and corruption in politics real existing anarchy, even though it will make the expression probably even more unpopular.

A minor edit turns bullshit into a tidy slogan: People don't need government. No more neo-darwinism, no more us against them, no hierarchy of strong and weak, no implicit moral judgements. People don't need government, people need community. would even offer an answer to the panicking question about what we'd do without government.

The best way to perpetrate myths of limitations is to use unwitting helpers. Someone acted as governmental agent, and probably enjoyed the kick of doing something 'illegal'. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Who cares?