ABSTRACT
The process of technical reasoning and the mythology Ellul describes lie at the roots of one of the most pervasive reasons for people’s uncritical acceptance of state violence in contrast with their denunciation of petty anarchist violence. Anarchism became synonymous, despite its anti-military and anti-war stances and its desire for a peaceable society, with violence. Anarchists of various stripes have offered critiques of state violence and the myths that underlie it, and have offered another way. All modes of organizing communal life are eliminated in favor of the state, which because it has a monopoly on legitimate violence is a peacemaker. Anarchist violence will always be co-opted by the state's myth-makers. The surveillance, the violence, the repressive technologies it employs, are necessary; and, the state's advocates suppose, it is irresponsible and reckless to use every tool at the state's disposal to effect security and therefore peace in the face of threats of irrational violence.
