"Human Nature" Why can't we have an Anarchist society? This is the question I most often ask people who oppose my views. While occasionally, I get an intelligent answer, I usually get this: "It's human nature to kill others and steal and be greedy." Well, then I usually ask them if they think those things are bad. They always say yes, unless they try to be difficult, and it's REALLY easy to prove them wrong. But anyway... when then finally say "yes, those are bad things," I ask them "So the whole world besides you and I can't control their "human nature?" And they go "of course not!" Now, when asked who wouldn't obey this, often I am met with the answer 'psycho killers' and 'bad people.' Well, we can dismiss psycho killers immediately - just because a society is Anarchist, it doesn't mean it's helpless. If society was good in general, and educated so it could take care of itself, then it could take care of these 'psycho killers' in a just and good way. But the 'bad people' would still ruin it! Well, isn't it interesting that the worst "offenders" in society are those in the lower classes, or those oppressed in other ways? Isn't it interesting how those in the middle classes and upper classes have significantly lower crime rates? Then perhaps it's not "human nature" to steal, kill, use drugs - perhaps it's a result of other psychological factors. So maybe if these people were raised in a healthy environment, they wouldn't do these things? And even if humans have a tendency to be self-centered and greedy, training can overcome anything. I mean, look at the military- it's human nature to run from danger, but soldiers kill themselves every day for stupid reasons, like oil, simply because they're trained to, and they "want" to. So perhaps we could "train" ourselves NOT to follow our "human nature?" After all, a dog might steal food from it's starving friend, but would a human? Perhaps our ability to ignore instinct and work together is what brings us on a higher level than common animals. And by that logic, the more you need a "leash" - such as a government, or police, the closer you are to a badly trained animals. So perhaps it's not just human nature, just plain laziness that prevents us from living in Anarchy... Train yourself. -Education is Liberation, Mike Alfoni