Re:The death of the private citizen?
by dragonwriter on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @10:27PM
(#23623284)
> It is however anarchy
No, it's ochlocracy; there's a reason the same people who named anarchy made a separate word for it.
Ochlocracy is mob rule.
Anarchy is lack of rule - not the same as anarchism (the ideology and ideal for self-government), as several oppressors can and are still at play in a state of anarchy, or everybody might be fighting each other and there can be constant power shifts...
Ancient Greeks used the term with this meaning, not to describe some anarchist utopia.
So ochlocracy is like the people turning into a mob carrying pitchforks. They are the law...
Anarchy - in the ancient Greek sense - is like there's no state and no all-encompassing rule of law to turn to. It's the "law of the jungle".
It is however anarchy (the term), which is much older, and used to convey precisely lack of order and mob rule.