Interesting post @lukestokes, I'm not entirely sold on anarchism although I appreciate some of the ideas. I'm fairly pessimistic about society and I feel like it takes an optimist to be an anarchist, but I could be wrong there.
Don't have time to listen to the video right now but I will.
Thanks @jamtaylor! It's easy to be pessimistic with the onslaught of media thrown at us every day. "If it bleeds, it leads". Often, however, the true statistical facts are much more optimistic. I recently read The Better Angels of Our Nature and though Steven Pinker argues against anarchism (he's a fan of the Hobbesian Leviathan - basically a strong force needed to keep all the bad people in check), he does a really good job (IMO) of arguing the world is better now than it ever has been in terms of low human violence. He does a poor job (again, IMO) of arguing against anarchistic societies because the examples he uses (Aztecs, etc) clearly had rulers, and he doesn't factor in the change in what might be called human nature (for lack of a better term) over time. Humans used to take their children to public executions as a form entertainment. We've grown up since then. Also, when it comes to pessimism about society, give this video a watch (4 minutes):
We truly live in an amazingly prosperous time in human history!
Anarchy is for pessimists too! The more pessimistic you are about people, the worse it is to have a mechanism that allows some to legally use force against others.
Most people are followers. They'll follow the trend of what works. They don't need to consciously agree with anarchist philosophy, eventually it just becomes practical to use non-violent solutions because they work better, and the state is irrelevant.
You are absolutely right. It really is hard to be an anarchist unless you believe the masses will stay civilized. Honestly never thought of it that way.