Statism vs Privacy

Privacy and anonymity are the worst enemies of statism.

This week I read an interesting article that talked about Bitcoin vs Collectivism, and I thought: “Wow, this is also something for Privacy Chronicles.”

The author of the article writes:

“Bitcoin cultivates a culture of individualism and self-sufficiency, which resists the negative effects of collectivism.”

This is true, but the same can be said for the idea, sometimes philosophical, sometimes technical, of privacy. Throughout the article, I will refer specifically to the more sinister and dangerous version of collectivism: that of nation-states, which for more than two centuries have been trying to take away all privacy and anonymity from their citizens. A silent war that, unfortunately, has shaped our society from its foundations.

Before delving into the core, we need to start from the basics. What is (statist) collectivism, what is it based on, and why are privacy and collectivism/statism in complete opposition?

What is collectivism?

According to Wikipedia, collectivism is:

“a term to indicate a moral, political, or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human being within a collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists focus on the concepts of community and society.”

In practice, it is a moral scheme (and only then, political and social) characterized by an emphasis on cohesion among people and the priority of group objectives over the individual.

Collectivism could be summarized as the morality that imposes the subordination of the individual to the group, where the group can be a race, a social class, a gender, or even a nation-state. The actions of the individual within the group will therefore be considered virtuous to the extent they are directed toward the good of the group to which they belong.

Collectivism and Altruism

To better understand collectivist morality, one can be helped by the concept of Altruism. Wikipedia defines Altruism as:

“the attitude and behavior of those who have the (moral) quality of caring about the well-being of their fellow humans.”

In reality, the definition that best and most succinctly describes Altruism is precisely the original one by Auguste Comte: “to live for others.”

And since the nation-state poses as the representative of a qualified group of people (the citizens), we can then say that the statist version of collectivism forces on citizens a fake altruistic morality, pushing them to renounce their well-being and interests to benefit “others”, which are represented by the State itself. Thus, statism forces people to renounce to their weill being for the benefit of the State.

The Original Sacrifice: Anonymity

But what must the individual sacrifice in a collectivist society?

It is not said that everyone in a collectivist society must sacrifice themselves in the same way, and especially it is not said that everyone must come to sacrifice everything. However, before reaching the final sacrifice, life, there are various acts of devotion that the State ritually requires.

The first, and probably most important, is the sacrifice of anonymity.