Sexual Assault, Society, and Anarchy

One of the more common arguments against anarchism or any form of less or smaller governmental power and control is the irrational declaration that more crimes will be committed and the weak and innocent will not be protected. On the contrary, it is my feeling that the weak and innocent will be if not equally, then quite possibly more cared for than they are in our so-called civilized modern society. I will use the crime of sexual assault as an example and compare the natural reaction to the "civilized" reaction and permit the reader to judge for their self which reaction is more efficient and satisfactory.

Before I do so though, let me state that I am well aware that our current civilized societies have programs that do aid the weak and innocent and which often can protect them, but these programs come with a trade-off. These programs are only possible because of law and order and social structures. The trade-off is that law and order and social structures bind the hands and the mind, and often create new problems, and many times make it so that cheap deceptive masks must be thrown into society so that the reality can be repressed rather than actually dealt with in an efficient, timely, and quite natural order.

Let us assume that in our example a young autistic girl has been sexually assaulted by a close relative or a friend of the family, as is most often the case. Let us assume that we know for a fact who the perpetrator is. The girl has been raised decently and knows the difference between "good touches" and "bad touches," and like many autistic children, is not particularly prone to lying.

Let us further assume that this young girl went directly to her mother after the incident occurred and told her what had happened, and that this young girl demanded that her father be called immediately because she was terrified of the perpetrator and she knew her father would not only protect her but that he would give her the justice he has always given her, because he loves her.

What in our example would occur in our so-called "civilized" society and what would likely occur if the consequences of the crime were dealt with in a more natural setting? By natural I mean with hands and mind unbound by law and order and social structures which are not fabricated but perhaps more natural social structures.

In the civilized setting the mother would call the father and she and/or him would call the police. Despite their natural feelings (which are very real) they would do nothing else but console the child, which itself, when looked at for face value, is pretty meaningless when no immediate corrective action is seen. They would then take the child to the hospital to be poked and prodded and interviewed. Then the child would sit in terror for days, weeks, or maybe even months as the perpetrator roamed free until enough evidence had been collected to lock them in a cell as they awaited a trial. Finally, perhaps a year or more after the crime occurred and the child had finally started to heal and get past the incident she would suddenly be forced to face her accuser in a big scary courthouse and re-live the incident all over again.

By this time thousands of dollars have been spent and lost, lives have been in constant turmoil, the child has lived in terror that the perpetrator may "get them", and really...absolutely nothing has been done. That is, nothing has been done except the child now feels less empowered, the child feels as if their parents, family, and friends are less capable of protecting them and rendering aid, and generally somewhere deep down inside the child has grown colder because of a lack of efficiency and action.

In the more natural setting the mother would call the father and she and/or him would call friends and family. They would console the child and attend to any medical needs, but they would immediately apprehend the perpetrator and deal with him. The child would not live in terror of the perpetrator because he was already dealt with and the child knows this and has been made quite aware that it has already been handled. Very little money was lost, it was handled quickly and efficiently, and the child feels empowered knowing that they can get justice and that their family, friends, and neighbors will always be there to render them aid and protection.

Certainly, the actual events of the more natural setting could have went quite differently and the perpetrator could have been too powerful for the family to gain justice (maybe the perpetrator could have been a warrior with a large and mighty family or something?), but at least the child would have seen that someone tried to do something!

I know my example is not perfect and I know such an example does not encompass all possibilities, and that it does not necessarily make a strong argument for or against anything on a truly rational and educated level, but it is an example which comes from the heart and the heart is very real.

Personally, everywhere I turn I see a failed society. Certainly our modern civilized society has accomplished many things, but each day I am more and more convinced that it has harmed, hindered, or hoodwinked more than it has helped, healed, and made whole. Our society is inefficient and empty, and it does little or nothing for the soul, which to me, means it does little or nothing at all.

I am not looking for perfection in society, but I am looking for balance and wholeness. Our world is out of whack because it is unbalanced, unfulfilling, untrustworthy, and unhappy. Bad things will always happen but those bad things must be met with equally swift goodness. I believe a short poem which I wrote sums up my feelings on the matter quite succinctly. It has no title which is fitting because the poem is about emptiness:

I am so tired.

Where is my world of butterflies,

where children laugh and no one cries?

Where is this place with steps ahead,

where dreams are made and plans are had?

Empty. Empty are the arms of angels...

Peace & Happiness,

Alraune