From Peaceful Anarchism According to Wikipedia, The Broken Window Fallacy is defined as “why destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to society.” The basis for the name lies in a simple allegory. A vandal destroys something valuable, such as a window. The owner of the window must divert currency and resources to repair it or install a new window. The currency paid to the window repairman is used to buy goods or services from other merchants who use it to buy goods or services from other merchants and the ripple goes on ad infinitum. Therefore, the case is made, that destruction is actually economically beneficial. Given a cursory glance this may be a solid argument, however I would strongly caution one against making cursory glances the basis of one’s life. The truth is in the real world destruction equals anguish, turmoil, loss of wealth, loss of value, and loss of future possibilities. It does not stimulate the economy whatsoever. Instead it diverts capital towards repair and replacement that would have otherwise been used for the purposes of luxury and entertainment. If the Broken Window Fallacy was true all we would need to do to improve the economy would be to destroy homes, destroy factories, destroy computers, destroy cars etc. The list is exhaustive and nonsensical. Regarding this notion, two principles are of the utmost importance; the seen and the unseen. The seen are those consequences which are obvious because they have already manifested in the here and now. Their necessity is considered self-evident by the majority of the population since most people cannot consider theoretical alternative possibilities. This is one the main reason why the inertia of the status quo is maintained regardless of the proven ubiquity of atrocities, corruption, murder, and genocide. For the most part, human beings go along to get along because this is what is most comfortable. Only the intrepid are willing to stir the water. The unseen consequences are, for our purposes, the most important and the most frequently overlooked. They constitute the theoretical alternative possibilities of reality to which many do not pay much mind. They are more difficult to recognize because they must be conceived by creative intellects. Examples of the Broken Window Fallacy and its variations include; World War II brought the US out of the Great Depression, “government school” is effective because it occasionally produces successful individuals, “government” may tax its citizens into prosperity, “government” may print money, through its Central Bank, until prosperity is achieved, “government” controlled fascistic monopolies are the best possible use of limited resources etc. These all have varying applications of the mechanism but the underlying principle is the same. Only the industrious produce wealth. When one considers the effort and resources it takes to build something magnificent one will understand the remarkable ease that is necessary to break it down. True anarchists do not throw Molotov cocktails and destroy. True anarchists throw flowers and create. Understand the difference. - DC
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 17:12:46 +0000
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