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The Psychological Harm of Statism

January 29, 2011 10:27 am0 commentsViews: 33

Often when we consider the harm of statism we think in monetary costs or the costs of those whose lives it has destroyed or ended. This is justified but there are other costs worthy of mention too. Statism is responsible for great psychological disturbance and harm. Here I will offer an account of just some of the ways it does this.

Since the beginning of humanity creativity has been an important need , expressed variously through cave paintings or Shakespearian drama. Statism inhibits this important need and aspect of a fulfilled life. With creativity, there is the desire and ability to seek out the commonplace. Statism is obviously opposed to such kinds of thinking. The ideological apparatus of statism seeks to limit other thinking to how this or that problem can be solved by violent. Alternative options are taken out of the discourse in the way it is framed. We see this in the media in discussions of any policy. The debate rages on whether it should be decreased or increased but rarely ever touches on whether it should be abolished absolutely   and removed from government interference. Now thankfully anarchists do not suffer from this problem. However,  we do struggle at times with imagining how certain organizations would run in anarchy- Statism has brought down blinders on our capacity to imagine voluntary solutions. It is this tendency we must struggle against especially when we are asked how x, y, z will work under anarchy.

Working against state created limitations is also present in our actions throughout our lives. Statism is an artificial limit on autonomy –opposition to its aggression being one expression of this. Statism in creating barriers to entry reduces and limits options. Depending on how much you fall into the problem of the above mentioned this can mean living in the narrow confines of a state defined state approved reality. Your live is an artificially narrow path. Of course, state ‘democracy’ offers no solution since it is not truly making decisions on your life  , but selecting which slave master will hold the chains- the choices being carefully selected by the ruling class and media to prevent unorthodox thoughts. Maybe these limitations on autonomy could account for much of the crime which goes on today. Individuals are reacting again society (which they see) as entangled with the state. Not only that but it could be that an opposite reaction to frustration created by statism is depression.

Actual crime may be a reaction due to the frustration of being a puppet in the hands of the powers that be. Butler Shaffer writes about this saying “When our self-directed, self-serving undertakings are forcibly interfered with by others [e.g., the state], our purposes become frustrated, a consequence of which is often a resort to aggression. A number of contributors to the study of aggression tell us much of the dynamics regarding aggression. Two such commentators observe, “[a] person feels frustrated when a violation of his hopes or expectations occurs, and he may then try to solve the problem by attacking the presumed source of frustration”. So the old anarchist position that there will be little crime once the statist causes of it are gone may indeed be correct.

As a coercive institution, inevitably statism gets in the way of voluntary interaction especially those in which we aim to help the less fortunate. The State has been known to try to prosecute voluntary giving of food to the poor without licenses. With the welfare state, it crowded out mutual aid and friendly societies that could have aided the downtrodden without creating dependency on the state- a counter revolutionary tactic if ever there was one. Even indirectly, the state has a negative impact on benevolence. With the heavy burden of taxes, individuals are more reluctant to give to charity(The attitude of “the government took my money,now you want some too” and it becomes more costly especially for those who’d like to give but just can’t afford to. This can lead hearts to harden and smash social solidarity in which we have situation something like the social atomism so often said to be at the heart of individualism or anarchism. In reality, it is the state not opponents of it which disconnects individual from individual and deters charity and quashes kindness.

As Roderick Long argues, statists seem to think of state intervention as incantational. It is made law and carried out .As if this means the problem truly is being solved. As if it’s sufficient for the state to be said  to be doing and the issue no longer matters .This  sort of dependency is linked to the lack of imagination I first mentioned and the limitations to action  above.

There are many ways that the state is like a drug- addictive, requiring bigger and bigger hits, creating a false sense of community and unity etc ,  but the most obvious is that it’s in some ways like an opiate. The state is in a difficult position. It must make individuals concerned enough about the bogeyman of anarchy and the false conflation of it with chaos to support statism yet it must avoid making them care enough to turn a critical eye on the state’s claims to be solving solutions which might bring criticisms of statism itself. As has been discussed before, there are a number of ways in which this is carried out:- tv,  sports, video games, flashy celebrity magazines, discussion of the latest celebrity hoo hah in the newspaper instead of a worthy discussion of an issue. Now,  granted there are exceptions but this seems to be a general tendency. I want to be clear also, that I’m not saying these forms of entertainment do not have a place –I’m not saying we must be all about the cause 24/7- just that balance between being sucked into them to the diminishing of serious issues and being  political 24/7 seems the right position. Unfortunately , it seems to me that the majority of people have fallen into the former. I guess you could call this hedonism. Within our culture, we can see it as an anti-intellectualism. Anarchism and like philosophies are seen as ‘abstract’. To those with this attitude, life  is for bodily experience and sensation alone with little to no concern for ideas. This narrow vision of life- in contrast to a balanced  life of bodily pleasure and concern for ideas too –  disconnects individuals from wider social problems. It serves statism well.

In this short piece, I have shown ways in which statism perverts human psychology. There are other ways it does this not mentioned. Also, it should not be forgotten the ways in which the state exploits natural tendencies to its own advantage .Examples of this would be its use of fear mongering which creates an environment of what psychologists call situtational ambiguity where individuals do not know what’s going on and so conform to those who appear to know or be in control of the situation or it’s exploitation of the human desire for community to promote nationalistic imperialistic and xenophobic agenda.

The State is so deep within society that it even warps human psychology.It is true enough,that the first weapon of statism is our own minds.

On your mat, get set, contort

The Independent (London, England) July 7, 1995 | Peter Guttridge Perspiring heavily, Sarah balances on her hands, her legs threaded back under her armpits, her ankles crossed behind her neck. Anne, a marketing executive for a London-based bank, slides into the splits on a drenched exercise mat. In one movement, Rob, an Oxford management consultant, drops from a standing position into a kind of press-up, makes his back concave, then swings his butt up to hold himself in an inverted V. Phew. this web site prana power yoga

It’s just another morning of astanga vinyasa yoga at the Practice Place in Crete. The popular perception of yoga is gurus, meditation and gentle stretching exercises. Not astanga vinyasa yoga. No dogmas, no meditation – just a lot of sweat. Regarded by its proponents as the truer yoga of which other hatha yogas retain mere fragments, it uses standard yoga postures (asanas) but puts them together into 90-minute flowing sequences that are very vigorous and very chic – celebrity practitioners include Sting, Kris Kristofferson, Koo Stark and the US basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

This aerobic yoga, which comes on like a gymnastic dance, was rediscovered by the yoga master Pattabhi Jois in the Thirties. It has been growing in popularity in America and Australia since the Seventies as a “work- out” yoga. It’s the Nineties now, and the new, muscular moniker is power yoga. A very catchy tag – adherents claim that in combining the raw energy of the modern aerobic fitness craze with a New Age interest in ancient, alternative approaches to well-being, power yoga’s time hascome. For the past 10 years Derek Ireland, 46, a former professional footballer, and his long-time partner, Radha Warrell, 47, once a Roedean sports coach, have run astanga vinyasa sessions throughout Europe. “We began in New York in the mid-Eighties,” Mr Ireland says. “We’d been teaching traditional yoga, but I took to this immediately because of its dynamism.” Living testimony to their calling, Mr Ireland and Ms Warrell have taught power yoga for the past six years at their centre in southern Crete. Sarah, Rob and Anne have all done the yoga before. They are “self-practising” under Mr Ireland’s watchful eye. “Most people we get are professional,” he says. “They spent 15 years getting their careers together but forgot about fitness.

“We used to teach two classes a day. By the third day, nobody could move. We go easier now. ” During a 90-minute practice, the postures are arranged in a sequence that allows the skeletal system to go back into correct alignment and the muscles to open out. Performing the basic moves, known as the primary series, exercises the whole body – detoxifying, stretching and strengthening. It’s tough going. Everything depends on matching breath to movement. The breath (the vinyasa bit) releases the energy to complete the series and the heat generated allows the student to do advanced stretching exercises safely.

In another room, a dozen beginners are finding everything a bit of a shock. They include a personal fitness trainer and a group of yoga practitioners who study a more traditional form – iyenga.

Yoga students always find astanga difficult at first; it seems contrary to good yoga practice. “I was expecting something . . . gentler,” gasps one red-faced woman. But the personal fitness trainer thinks it’s “brilliant. There’s been nothing new in aerobics for years. I can see this taking over because you get the suppleness as well as the aerobic movement.” Those who like it love it. Anne, for instance, is going to India to study with Pattabhi Jois. Jois, now aged 80, is a hands-on teacher. His approach includes, on occasion, lying on top of people to get them into a posture. In a article in the US Yoga Joumal, some criticised him for his “risky or even violent” methods. Mr Ireland and Ms Warrell have a much gentler approach. Even so, there are one or two drop-outs on every course at the Practice Place who aren’t fit enough to persevere. People who aren’t particularly supple (most of us) can suffer niggling knee injuries and strains.Recently, in a UK yoga magazine, one yoga teacher told of a serious injury she had done to herself at the Practice Place. in our site prana power yoga

Mr Ireland says: “It’s important to be focusing on what you’re doing all the time. But we’ve developed a way of teaching so that most people have made remarkable progress by the end of two weeks. If they take it home and carry on with self-practice, it will keep them fitter, more energised. You won’t need any other exercise.” Still, he knows it’s not for everyone, certainly not those who want to do less than the recommended six times a week for a full 90 minutes. He laughs and shrugs: “It’s never easy. I’ve been doing the primary series for 15 years. . . and it still kills me.” Details of the Practice Place from 12 Beatty Avenue, Coldean, Brighton BNI 9ED, 01273 687071. ‘Power Yoga’, by Beryl Bender Birch (Prion Books, pounds 8.99). The Practice Place Peter Guttridge

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Scott F. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland and soon to return. I try to think through achievable alternatives to Capitalism using Pragmatist philosophy and Analytical( aka 'No-bullshit') Marxism. I attempt to scrip away the bullshit from Marxism and the dogmatism of politics to reveal what can be done. My thinking exemplifies the unease,uncertainty, lack of clarity and problematic nature of this postmodern age. I think what's called for is a pragmatist inspired democratic socialism. .I've long been a dabbler in many political philosophies so I seek to incorporate any ideas into my politics that is useful and oppose all dogmatism as much as is humanely possible. I am a passionate advocate of Scottish Independence, a poet and have also been active in Occupy.

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