Gone are the days of barbarism and rudeness. We are all proud members of an advanced civilization, we are civilized people. That's a good thing, right? Well, maybe not.
source: YouTube
You'll recall the standard story of how civilizations came to be from high school, and it goes something like this: the state (and civilization) came into existence when a group of people agreed to create it for their own protection. And upon seeing the success of the civilizations within these early city-states, others were attracted to join and be assimilated by these societies. This rather rosy idea about civilization's birth is widespread, but maybe it's not entirely accurate, complete or true. Maybe the truth is not that we're participating in civilized society, but rather that we're captured by it. You see, in exchange for civilization's apparent benefits, we've given up quite a lot. When we look up Wikipedia's definition of civilization, we get this:
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a political state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system).
Civilizations are intimately associated with additional characteristics such as centralization, the domestication of plant and animal species (including humans), specialization of labour, culturally-ingrained ideologies of progress, monumental architecture, taxation, societal dependence upon farming, and expansionism.
source: Wikipedia
You'll have noticed some words in there that might raise alarm, as they're opposed to our freedom. "Social stratification" is indeed a key feature of any civilization that has ever existed, as is "centralization" (of power) and expansionism; all of this means that there's a structure that comes with civilized societies, and that structure promotes the freedoms and powers of some at the expense of others. And we live in a time when this is abundantly apparent. What I mean is this: when a civilized society has progressed to the point where not a single individual should have to go hungry, like ours has, it must be something in this structure that prevents everyone getting enough food and drink. If we are so civilized, why are there still hungry, homeless and desperate people, and why is it getting worse instead of better?
The entire concept if civilization has its roots in our ability to produce more food than we need. That's the single most important precondition for civilization to exist and progress. Only when people don't have to spend all their time to feed themselves can they start developing other skills, and can they become specialists. If you're a regular visitor, you'll know that with this surplus of food social stratification began, and an owner class appeared whose property and lofty status needed protection, which is why and how the state was erected. So, if the basis of it all is a surplus of food and water (which is why all great ancient civilizations began near river valleys), why then are there hungry people still?
I wont insult your intelligence by explaining; you know why hunger and homelessness still exist in our advanced civilized societies. That basic structure of society may not have been that attractive after all. At least not to all people. Not to the peoples of Zomia, a swath of Asia stretching from the highlands of Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan down through the Tibetan plateau all the way to the highlands of Vietnam. Zomia is filled with people whose cultures seem designed to avoid state control, and these people are offered up by many historians and anthropologists as a counterexample to the conventional narrative about civilization's origins. I would like to draw your attention to an article titled Why not all uncivilized people are barbarians to learn more about the highlanders from Zomia, and the below linked accompanying video. Especially if you're an anarchist you may like what's contained within. But I recommend it to anyone who wants to keep an open mind on this idea of civilization, and maybe reconsider some of the things you've always assumed to be true about it.
Rethinking Civilization - Crash Course World History 201
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