Does calling the cops make one not an anarchist?

Question

So, like say a person just shot you or a woman is getting beat by her significant other and calls the cops on the person. Does that make the individual not an anarchist or does it depend?

I don't mean to boil it down to those two situations, just all I can think of at the moment. You can use whichever hypothetical situation where someone calls the police. In case someone misinterprets, it's not meant to be a question on whether or not you would call the police.

Comments

why do you ask?

---

Because this is a question and answer site. :P

Answer 1

no single event or action makes someone an anarchist or not-an-anarchist. (it doesn't even "depend," as you posit.)

we learn and figure shit out based on things that happen to us and those around us. (for example, we call the cops and the woman gets picked up instead because she has a warrant out for her. maybe that's still a "better" thing to happen because the significant other would've killed her if left alone. or maybe she is deeply miserable and wanted to die, so the person killing her was acceptable to her.) we can only ever do the best we can, given the information that we have or that seems reasonable. what seems reasonable is what is anarchist or not.  i realize this provides absolutely NO clarity.

we live in a world we don't want. there is no purity.

Comments

It seems to be part of the call out nonsense culture. If all they have on him is having fake stormfront and facebook accounts, I'm gonna laugh and grab some popcorn. Usually in call out culture, the individual has to explain themselves, regardless if the assertion against them have been proven or not, and they'll inadvertently say/write something that raises more questions, like this Schmidt fellow saying he's good friends with some woman that's with the National Intelligence Agency. That just sounds pretty sketchy. 

---

this leads me to another really live question (for me, anyway)... i'm on a roll today, i guess!

http://anarchy101.org/11813/what-is-a-good-way-for-anarchists-to-deal-with-accusations

---

I've thought about making a question a few times concerning the matter on why post-left is not liked, but yours is worded better and more broader than mine would've been. :)

---

I personally hate that word "post-left", my views are pretty much post-leftist but it just doesn't sound as appealing as "anarchism" or "nihilism"....i think people hate post-leftism because it only makes negative assertions, and people tend to have a thing for "rightous challenges" (like call out culture) or "pointing out hypocrisy"

---

http://anarchy101.org/11805/what-are-the-hostilities-between-different-kinds-anarchism

rs666: then help answer the above question!

Answer 2

It depends.  Anarchists of all people, should understand that involving the police is very likely to make a situation worse, not better.  For example by escalating the violence or by kidnapping someone and feeding them to the prison industrial complex, a system that is likely to make the person's behavior worse, enslave and/or torture them. There are also the practical considerations like the fact that, by the time police get there, the damage caused by the reason for the call will likely have already occurred.  In addition anarchists (and others who have major problems with the state) are likely to lose trust and respect for someone who calls the cops because they're rightly perceived as our enemies.  Ideally there would be always be alternatives to calling the police, unfortunately in a few cases, there aren't any good or reasonable ones, and each person has to judge for themselves whether or not some particular instance is one of those cases...

Here's a couple of thoughts about one of the examples you provided in your question.  So you see someone beating someone else.  Why not try yelling at them to stop?  If you feel able to, and especially if you have friends nearby, why not try physically intervening if that doesn't work?  If it is a domestic violence situation keep in mind that there is a good chance that the person being beaten wants it to stop but also doesn't want to involve the police.  From my POV there are both healthy and unhealthy reasons for this attitude.  Whatever the reasons, however, why would you do something that the person who is being harmed doesn't want?  You could try asking them at least...

As for Bob Black, yeah that dude is a snitch.  In his case he wrote a letter to the police in order to fuck over someone he didn't like.  He was not in the remotest danger, nor was he trying to help anyone else who was.  In addition, most people who snitch on others *at least* have the reason (but not the excuse) that they'll serve long prison sentences if they don't cooperate.  IOW they're not just doing it out of spite...http://www.seesharppress.com/black.html  BTW This doesn't necessarily mean that his ideas are bad...his ideas are bad on their own IMO.

Comments

I don't know about you, but having some dopefiend point a loaded M-1 at two individuals (Black and Hogshire's wife) indicates a real potential for danger and being shot. What ideas of Bob Black do you think are bad? I don't see the reason for adding that without elaborating.

Anyhoot, I'm going to take you're answer to mean no, it does not mean someone is not an anarchist for calling the police.

edit: took out quotation marks