If we refuse to examine ALL our behaviours, we are setting ourselves up for tyranny and centralized control of our lives and this blockchain, just like what we have with our current forms of government all around the world. I am a staunch proponent of non-violence and peace, which often causes a lot of discomfort for those who engage in violence, fraud and war.
Yesterday I asked some pointed questions to some individuals who fight fraud, spam and other problems on the blockchain. Yes, they engage in flagging and other activities to help clean up the blockchain. I get the sense that they truly believe their actions are justified and that they are indeed engaged in altruistic service to the community as a whole. But are their methods justified and do they fit in with the principles of anarchy and non-violence?
I asked the individuals if they were claiming to be the police force for this blockchain. The response I received:
"... there is no police force. Just community supported project that fights abuse ..."
I looked up the etymology of the word 'police'.
1530s, "the regulation and control of a community," at first essentially the same word as policy (n.1); - www.etymonline.com
Let's be honest with ourselves here for a moment. If there is a group of self appointed people setting up 'community supported projects' to engage with other individuals who don't fit their standards and then engage in activities to punish those individuals, how does that not fit the definition of 'police'? Let's not delude ourselves with misleading conversations. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and tastes like duck, it is most likely a duck!
The Steem blockchain has several self appointed police forces actively engaging in activities to regulate and control this community. The problem is that those self appointed police forces engage in violence and have no checks and balances. Even in the realm of the Queens Government, courts are established to balance the executive power (police) with the judicial (courts) and administrative (legislative) powers. The separation of power within the state is supposed to ensure that one group of people does not have all the power.
Having a police force without the administrative and judicial branches to balance that power is inherently dangerous and results in a police state. Anybody feeling like we are headed towards a police state here on this blockchain? No? Well I do and this trend is very dangerous.
The self appointed police of the blockchain also passed judicial orders. When I asked them what the sentence was and how long will it be carried out for, their response:
"This particular user has been proved to own at least 16 accounts. He has used them to plagiarize photography and poetry. This user is currently permanently blacklisted by us ..."
Okay, so a judicial judgement has been passed and the sentence is life. The Queen's court sets a standard for 'proof'.
"confirmation of a fact by evidence. In a trial, proof is what the trier of the fact (jury or judge without a jury) needs to become satisfied that there is "a preponderance of the evidence" in civil (non-criminal) cases and the defendant is guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt" in criminal prosecutions." - dictionary.law.com
Who was the jury or judge in this matter? Where is the confirmation of the facts? Did the defendant have an opportunity to defend themselves, or was it a drum-head court, justice summarily passed on the battle field? By who's authority are these people acting under? Let's be clear, a group of people passing judgement over others fits this definition better:
Mob (v) "to attack in a mob, crowd round and annoy or beset," - www.etymonline.com
To be fair, I also feel that democracy functions in the same way, so if we are accustomed to behaving in this way, what will it take to change behaviours? Hopefully conversations like this is will help plant the seeds of change.
In order to counter these issues, there is a tendency to fix the situation by engaging in administrative protocols to establish the standards of the community and judicial institutions to pass judgements. For some reason, people love to codify the rules of engagement with one another. Before we know it, we have duplicated the bloated weight of government within an anarchy community and we once again head down the road to tyranny.
We really do need to break this cycle and now!
If we are really interested in addressing the violence on this blockchain, whether it is in regards to plagiarism, fraud, flag wars, etc, we will need a completely different approach to governance. Without this shift in consciousness, we end up with the polarized wars being played out here, just as they are played out in the battle fields around the world.
So how does a community of people govern themselves without engaging in violence? It is important to first acknowledge that each individual is responsible to self-govern. That means that we all have a duty to work through the process to figure out what self-governance means and then fully integrate that into our lives. Self-governance means that we will voluntarily self restrict ourselves so that we do not engage in harm against another. This requires a balanced and healthy relationship with self, Creator and Mother Earth on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level.
When each individual has found that internal peace, then they are ready to build external peace by building healthy, balanced and self-governing relationships with other people. These new tribes will form their own protocols to manage the expectations of all the participants within the tribe. These protocols are dynamic and flexible to meet the needs of the tribe and is negotiated through consensus. We see some of that unfolding on this blockchain now and it is a beautiful manifestation of what I'm talking about.
So how do the individuals or tribes deal with those who engage in violence, fraud and other abusive behaviours without engaging in violence, fraud or abusive behaviours themselves?
This is where volunteerism comes into its own. In the past, tribes have often engaged in specific ceremonies to help those who resort to violent and abusive behaviours. There are many ceremonies tied to healing individuals within the tribe, while other tribes may even banish the individual. Banishment's were often a deterrent as Mother Earth can be harsh and banishment could end up being very dangerous, even life threatening. There is comfort, safety and security within a tribe that benefits all members of that tribe. However, this requires work and that each of us fully engage with others, especially if they are struggling, hurting or in deep trouble. No more passing troubles off to the state or ignoring people.
If we are truly interested in peace, then establishing protocols for healing would be a paramount activity for the tribe to work on. After all, if we can help people heal, we strengthen our tribe and make it more resilient, which benefits everyone. If people change their behaviour and start to contribute to the tribe rather than take from it, then the tribe gets strong and stronger.
For this reason I deeply engage in healing retreats. In fact, we are running retreats this weekend if people want to start on that level of healing journey.
That does not mean that the tribe cannot setup their own court if they want. If they do, it must be absolutely voluntary. No force. No Coercion. The court is there to provide a service to help mediate disputes between individuals or groups. The court will pass their opinion and the parties are then able to accept or reject those opinions. The consequences of rejecting the opinion may result in being banished from the tribe. It would also impact ones reputation, honour and integrity with those inside and outside of that tribe. All these are natural consequences of not being honourable to begin with, but having these situations unfold in a public forum may go a long ways towards resolving disputes on a blockchain.
If this blockchain is to entertain the idea of setting up a court, perhaps it can be done in the same manor as how the witnesses are elected. Perhaps the top 24 witnesses are the court. However it is done, the point is: there are no police to enforce decisions. We must find non-violent, voluntary self-governance models if we want to continue down this path of anarchy. Just because there is a community of self appointed individuals acting as the police of the blockchain for years does not legitimize or justify the behaviours and actions of that force, no matter how much they justify their actions or behaviours. It also does not matter if it has the support of hundreds of other users or of a single whale.
The alternative is that we slide into tyranny as people continue to justify violence against one another.
There is an interesting dispute resolution process that was taught to us all long ago. It goes something like this:
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell [it] unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. - Mat 18:15-17
To be clear, the church is defined as:
a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly
Heathen man and publican are defined as:
Heathen: foreigners, strange, foreign
Publican: The tax collectors were as a class, detested not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, both on account of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they did their job.
We have a public place, an assembly right here. No where in that passage did it say that we were to pass judgements, engage in police actions, violence or flag the shit out of people. But it does say that we are allowed to set boundaries and banish people from our lives if they refuse to act in honour and engage in violent behaviours. How many people chose to use this model for resolving disputes with one another? Not many. Perhaps this is an important discussion to have on this blockchain as what I currently see is a whole group of people utilizing authoritarian police state methodologies to control the content and behaviour of people on this blockchain. I did not come here to engage in that type of violence and I will confront those who engage in violence, whether it is justified or not.
Let's make sure this equation always remains true! For those that don't follow the symbols, it reads "Steem not equal to Schutzstaffel" (SS is a paramilitary organization of Nazi Germany 1925-1945)
