Anarchy or Authoritarianism: Which is Worse? - John Gray

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/05/24/John_Gray_in_Conversation

British philosopher John Gray argues that authoritarian dictatorships may in some cases be better for society than no government at all. As an example, Gray states that life for most Iraqis may have been better under Saddam Hussein than in the "mixture of anarchy and theocracy" that followed his downfall.

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Celebrated philosopher and critic John Gray is one of Britain's great thinkers. His books include Straw Dogs, Al-Qaeda and What It Means To Be Modern, and Heresies.

His new book is Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, a powerful and frightening argument about how apocalyptic religion has returned as a major force in global conflict. He speaks with Alan Saunders - Sydney Writers' Festival

John N. Gray is a prominent British political philosopher and author, formerly School Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics.Gray contributes regularly to The Guardian, New Statesman, and The Times Literary Supplement, and has written several influential books on political theory, including Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, an attack on humanism, a worldview which he sees as originating in religious ideologies.

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[welcometoskyvalley]

I dont think he is talking about anarchy as in Bakunin, Kropotkin, Malatesta, Proudhon, etc.

Its more like the common interpretation of the term, like chaos, lack of any order

Yeah, its anomie.

[mirikidd]

this guy needs to learn what anarchism actualy is rather than repeating the mainstream misconception and term meaning 'chaos'

[mattvansickle]

What's with all the disgruntled anarchists? Clearly Gray is using the word as in it's colloquial definition, which is correct. To view this as an attack on a political system of Anarchism is such an elementary error. That would mean that Gray has interpreted the chaos (anarchy) in Iraq as a highly organized, stateless society of voluntary association. I don't think I've heard such a point of view from him before, or from anyone else actually. Until now... Bizarre.

[TomthatiscalledTom]

@Barrettatsumaki Agreed...he's an absolute charlatan. The stuff he publishes in British political magazines and the op ed columns read like they were written by an ungraduate. His arguments are sloppy, contradictory and reactionary. He takes pot shots are more intellectually gifted people than himself and his predictions are regularly trounced by real events

[Barrettatsumaki]

This guy doesn't know what he's talking about...

[FrogmortonHotchkiss]

I thought philosophers were supposed to seek truth and goodness, not be apologists for what they deem to be the least-harmful lies and crimes. The field of Public Relations already performs this function for the media and the masses; perhaps philosophers are needed to extend this function out to the intellectual elite.

[FrogmortonHotchkiss]

They never believed any of this would help Iraq anyway.

The Roman Empire was preferable to anarchy for middle-class Romans - with whom I'm sure John Gray could have had many a polite and penetrating philosophical conversation. It was not preferable for the slaves and sword-fodder, who numbered in the millions, just like the dead, enslaved, oppressed and deceived all over America's vast global economic-military empire.

[wapsiwilly]

@welcometoskyvalley

They know the difference. He sounds like one of the jolly old chaps who who cheered for the embargo and blockades against the Spanish Republic, while the Italians invaded in force and the Nazis honed their war machine, and called it "neutrality." Fascist Corporatism threatened millions of other peoples lives and Anarchism threatened their money. It was an easy choice for the ol' empire. It's not from ignorance that they speak this way about "anarchy."

[Wilcofan1121]

The answer is authoritarianism

[LlortnA]

This guy has absolutely no idea what political anarchism is.

[greenday4455]

I hate it when people confuse anarchy with anomie.

[ryukXsayu27]

You guys have got to be kidding me. Do you really think that no government would be better when the government is the only thing keeping two religious sects from trying to cleanse out the other?