Should We Destroy Industrial Civilization? (No)

Last week I came across the kind of person I had previously thought was the stuff of right-wing folklore. No, they’re real.

Evidently among my Facebook friends I have someone who converted from anarcho-capitalism to “green anarchism” or something.

Today I learned that “civilization” is to blame for pretty much everything, and that only “primitive cultures” are “sustainable.” Industrial civilization must be destroyed, she said.

At least she’s honest, unlike some of her peers.

(I’d love to reproduce our exchange word for word, but I learned a lesson: after switching over to Google Authenticator on my phone to get into my Mailchimp account, I couldn’t get back to our exchange because — surprise — she’d deleted it.)

I told her the destruction of industrial civilization meant the deaths of billions. She responded with a passage from a book, passed off as her own, about the evils of civilization and its offenses against human dignity.

Oh, right, I said. Human dignity. You mean like watching your kids die from curable diseases, not having anesthesia, spending your whole life within a ten-mile area, never even learning of the existence of the rest of the world — that sounds awesome.

After a few obscenities, she wished me luck following the collapse of industrial civilization.

I wished her luck in her mud hut.

At which point she called me a racist and colonialist. Surprise!

Yes, this really happened, and no, I am not being unfair to her.

Incidentally, she earlier scolded people calling themselves anarcho-capitalists, because anarchism means no rulers. But anarcho-capitalists’ private police, etc., are rulers, so they can’t be anarchists. Anarchism means no one in charge.

So I asked: an anarchist can’t favor a president of the chess club, even if everyone in the club prefers to arrange it that way? Instead, every single member has to be involved in every single decision? Who would want that?

Of course, that comment was deleted, too.

Why do I interact with people like this? Well, for fun. All work and no play, you know.

The fact that all I got was some copied and pasted leftist gobbledygook about the evils of civilization, followed by obscenities, accusations of racism, and finally deletion of my comments, is my reward. I’d made her anti-human positions look ridiculous, and she evidently knew it.

If I’d just been an idiot, she would have kept my comments as evidence of the stupidity of her opponents.

Now as an unabashed supporter of civilization, I intend to make this email as offensive to the enemies of civilization, who despise commerce, as I can. So I’ll include a pitch:

In The Tom Woods Show Elite Facebook group, we don’t delete your comments or call for the destruction of industrial civilization.

Instead, we have a high-quality group of smart and engaging people you’ll love getting to know.

I get plenty of show ideas from the group. I also enjoy learning from the good folks who join me there.

Want to be part of the cream of the crop? Entry is this way:

http://www.SupportingListeners.com

P.S. By the way, want to go on vacation with me? Warning: it will involve fossil fuels and a cruise ship, products of civilization. Details here: http://www.ContraCruise.com