q: How would morally bankrupt people be effectively punished under a stateless society?
Read part one of this answer here.
a: Before I address this question, I would like to descend into a larger discussion of responsibility and punitive justice. Punitive justice is often taken for granted - you do something bad, you must go through a harsh experience to recognize your actions. But… why?
I’m not going to waste my time consulting various ethical frameworks here. As a whole I think society places far too much emphasis on labeling and segregating beliefs into discrete categories. Let’s start with one very basic axiom here: it is bad for human beings to experience pain.
What is punitive justice? The true believers in it might say it’s pain in the name of reformation. However, most of the masses are blindly following ideals that have been drilled into them. Most children learn at a very young age that if they do something “bad,” then they will be punished. Often there is very little conscious analysis of what is most useful.
Think about my aside in the previous question about why people commit violent crimes again. Everything is psychologically motivated by some reason. We may not know what that reason is, but there is a catalyst for every action. Think back to your early experiences of punitive justice. For most people that is something as simple as being put into time-out because they wouldn’t do their homework. What does this really teach anyone? It conveys an understanding of right and wrong through hierarchy, not through genuine understanding. Something “is wrong” because “my parents told me so,” or “that’s just the law.” Becoming apathetic ethical automatons of society is extremely dangerous.
But Noam, is there even a better solution? Yes, and I’ve already talked about it above, so read back because I’m not going to regurgitate the same information. While you are not responsible for the way society forces its ideals on you, you are responsible for your own journey of unlearning them.I won’t spoon feed you. If you want, you can read back or check out other sources and/or ponder this to yourself. Self discovery and discussion are often far more valuable than reading theory.
Have you seen where this is going? Morally bankrupt people will not be effectively punished under a stateless society because the idea of punitive justice will become obsolete, only relevant in the context of what we must fight and become aware of in the name of liberation. Either way, I suppose we can ask the question: How will morally bankrupt people be dealt with in a stateless society?
Care and reform. Even for murderers. There is a difference between emphasizing accountability and punishment. No society will ever be perfect. Nevertheless, the idea of moral bankruptcy is fundamentally formed out of hierarchy. Morals are subjective - they are a human construct. Historically morals were just a way of justifying various actions. Anarchy means reclaiming morality as something we can forge and understand as a community.
And to repeat, I think the rest of this question was already explained by the previous question I answered. Extrapolate yourself. Discuss with peers. Reflect inwards and reexamine the world around you. You’ll find there’s a lot you take for granted.