If tyrannical leaders are so few, and the people over which they rule so many - then why do the masses so often take it on the proverbial chin? What prevents the vast numbers of the oppressed from refusing to submit to the relatively small numbers of individuals who are doing all the oppressing? It's a good question that many are asking today - and that French political essayist Étienne de La Boétie asked more than 450 years ago in his now classic treatise
The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. Seeing injustice all around him, and while still an idealistic student of law, La Boétie's questions provided the groundwork for political thought and action for centuries to come - influencing thinkers of the calibre of Tolstoy and Gandhi - and form a point of departure from which many sought to reasonably act without calling hell upon their heads.
This week on MindMatters we examine
The Politics Of Obedience and what it seems to be saying about power structures, the nature of servitude and the conditioning that citizens are largely subject to - and need to be rid of. Analyzing its virtues and flaws, we ask how we can apply the writer's answers to today (short of taking out the pitchforks), and what it means to be truly free in a world of nameless technocrats and their rules and agendas.
Running Time: 00:57:11
Download: MP3 — 52.4 MB
Harrison Koehli
Harrison Koehli co-hosts SOTT Radio Network's MindMatters, and is an editor for Red Pill Press. He has been interviewed on several North American radio shows about his writings on the study of ponerology. In addition to music and books, Harrison enjoys tobacco and bacon (often at the same time) and dislikes cell phones, vegetables, and fascists (commies too).
Elan Martin
Born and raised in New York City, Elan has been an editor for SOTT.net since 2014 and is a co-host for MindMatters. He enjoys seeing and sharing what's true about our profoundly and rapidly changing world.
Corey Schink
Corey Schink was born and raised in the Midwestern United States, where he worked on farms and as a welder, musician, and social worker. His interests in government, philosophy and history led to his writing for SOTT in 2012 and to becoming a SOTT editor and SOTT Radio co-host in 2014. He now resides in North Carolina, where he enjoys the magnificent views of the Appalachian Mountains.
James Corbett recently brought some attention about Lysander Spooner in his video: 'The Life and Thought of Lysander Spooner' Where we travel back on Corbett's way back machine... FROM 2013 : Today we’re joined by Gary Chartier of GaryChartier.net for a discussion about the life and work of Lysander Spooner. We talk about Spooner’s American Letter Mail Company, his abolitionist activism, and the development of his anarchist philosophy and his arguments against the state.[Link] Or can be viewed on Utube [Link]