The Grave Dangers of Self-Defense

I get scads of emails about two positions I hold.

The principle of self-defense is relatively unimportant, and
You live a peaceful life, therefore you are proof that a stateless society can work.

A communicator must always take responsibility for misunderstandings, so, as a clarification, here is a more detailed description of what I mean.

Self-defense is a red herring

I talk about this in a podcast called "Forget about Self-Defense," which has led many people to believe that I am a radical pacifist, who would not lift a finger to oppose a home invasion.

I perfectly support the principle of self-defense, but view it to be a relatively unimportant – and, frankly, mostly dangerous – principle in practice.

People who support "self-defense" usually view it as a very important principle, central to life in society and crucial to questions of ethics.

I could not disagree more – and my disagreement is fundamental, since it deals more with methodology than conclusions.

To develop effective theories, I think it is important to work empirically, from our own life to the lives of those we know, to general evidence, and then on up to the logical abstract world of concepts and principles. This is a more scientific (and anti-Platonic) approach, more grounded in observation, which eschews abstractions not derived from "real world" examples.

So when I think of the "right to self-defense," I think: "OK, when has this right been useful in my life? How many times have I had to stare down 12 ninjas and found this moral principle to be valuable? When have I been in situations of imminent violence and worried about the principle of self-defense?"

And I have to say: well, never!

I grew up in a rough neighborhood, with lots of bullies, and let me tell you something – the principle of self-defense never really comes up with bullies, since they never attack anyone really able or willing to defend himself. (For more on this, see Bush’s approach to Iraq versus North Korea.)

I was only bullied a few times in my life, and each time the bully was approximately 12 times my size, or I was outnumbered approximately 12-1. "My lunch money? Absolutely, here you go, would you like a kidney too, sir?"

No possibility for self-defense. A nice idea in principle, but in reality…

I was also sent to boarding school, where children got caned for disobedience. Self-defense? Impossible. Your best hope was self-protection – i.e., put a comic book down your pants and hope for the best!

Now I have to pay 50% of my money in taxes. Self-defense against the state? Impossible!

When I look at my life, I find that I have never been in a single solitary situation where self-defense was even a remotely viable strategy. I could be an anomaly, of course, but I also have never met anyone who was ever able to use personal self-defense as a viable strategy.

Of course, I recognize that such situations do exist – just as agonizing decisions exist regarding brain function and euthanasia – but they are scarcely the norm, and are surely not at – or even near – the top of most pressing moral issues.

Why is this issue even important? Why do I say that focusing on "self-defense" is so dangerous?

Well, because it’s so often used as a justification for the state. The argument runs something like this: "We all have the right to self-defense, but some people cannot defend themselves, so we need an agency that will defend them, which is the state."

The logical – and moral – problem with this is, of course, that if people exist who cannot defend themselves from mere individual criminals, how on earth can they possibly defend themselves against the state? In other words, if you’re afraid of being exploited by violent people, is armed might of the modern state somehow less dangerous than an individual mugger?

Of course not. Turning to the state for self-defense is like dodging a bee by running off a cliff.

Criminals exist, of course, and can be dangerous, and can do great harm – and it is the very fact that sociopaths exist that makes the state so deadly! Imagining that a monopolistic agency of pure violence will not automatically attract sociopaths to populate it is one of the greatest illusions of all time! The more that you fear criminals, the less you should ever support the existence of the state. If evil people are common, the state will be totally deadly. If evil people are rare, the state is unnecessary.

Thus in order to preserve the right to "self-defense," we arrive at the following absurdities:

In order to protect their persons, people submit to states that draft them, declare wars, provoke attacks, create drug gangs, control and deny life-saving medication, and arrest and imprison citizens for non-violent "crimes."
In order to protect their property, people submit to states that strip that property through taxes, subject them to endless regulations, destroy their currency, load them with public debts, and fail to protect them from the very crime the state creates.

Does that mean that we give up on the principle of self-defense? Of course not. But the real goal of "self-defense" should be the prevention of violence, rather than the affirmation of our right to shoot attackers. Moral philosophy is like nutrition and exercise – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – and currently, our doctors are on the verge of "healing us to death."

You live a peaceful life, so you are an example of a stateless society.

People also get confused about this one. I recently got an email from a woman who lived in a bad neighborhood telling me that I had no idea how violent society could be – and that without a government, society would dissolve into a death-match of endless warring gangs etc., etc., etc.

This is a very common argument. Of course, when I ask such people how the state is protecting them now, they tell me that it isn’t protecting them at all! What happens when she call the cops? Nothing! And are there welfare clans, drug gangs, public housing, government schools and so on in her neighborhood? Of course.

Thus her objection to a stateless society is fascinating, and speaks volumes about the effectiveness of state education.

Such people see no contradiction between these four positions:

There is too much violence in my neighborhood to get rid of the state.
The state is responsible for causing most of that violence.
The state is not protecting me from the violence it creates.
Therefore getting rid of the state is impossible!

This would be akin to a sick person saying:

I am too sick to get rid of my doctor.
My doctor is poisoning me.
My doctor is not giving me an antidote to that poison.
Therefore changing doctors is impossible!

Do you see what a "death spiral" this sort of logic represents?

Either violence is not common in your world, in which case you do not need a state, or violence is common in your world, in which case the state, as "educator" and "protector" is primarily responsible for the dangers you face.

Either way, we need a new doctor. And time is running out.

September 12, 2006

Stefan Molyneux [send him mail] has been an actor, comedian, gold-panner, graduate student, and software entrepreneur. His first novel, Revolutions was published in 2004, and he maintains a blog. Listen to his podcast, which you can get by clicking here – or, you like iTunes better, you can click here. For more on DROs, please see my archives. He is host of Freedomain Radio.

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