a common argument against anarchism is the following thing: "yes, anarchist might put forward lofty ideals and theories, but the real life anarchist movements have been crippled by greed, egoism, narcissism. that's why we can't have anarchy. man might talk about ideals, but subconsciously he is ruled by motives like power hunger and greed".
western society is not the first to come up with an idea of the subconscious. you can find ideas about that in ancient indian culture and elsewhere too. but what is unique in western culture is the idea that the subconsciousness is somehow higher, more important thing, the true identity of man. a person talks anarchism but subconsciously he tries to impress others by it, narcissistic. "ah, now we got him! that's his true motive! he is a fool!" bullshit. you can as well see it the other way round. what he consciously does (embracing anarchism) is the real thing and his subconscious motives is of lesser importance. and that's how it is!
maybe the critics are right. there is no man or woman who really fully stuck up to his or her ideals, who did not do weak, nasty, debased and purely selfish things in his life. i'm not impressed by this argument. because you as well will find that noone lived his life without believing in an ideal or a higher intend in some in some circumstances. why should the former be the defining thing of a person and not the latter? i would say: even if someone lived the most vile, ugly, debased life - if he for one second believed in an ideal in his life, then that was his "true self" and everything else he did was of lesser importance.
the subconsciousness and primal drives and urges is never the "true nature" of man. consciousness, rationality and idealism is.
that radical movements are being crippled by greed and narcissism is a very real problem. but it's not a problem as big as people assume.
that man has subconscious motives of violence, selfishness and power hunger is the least worry for anarchism. because this is just subconscious. in the end, it can not overrule the power of the consciousness or rationality.
man doesn't have to be perfect to implement a perfect society.
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