# Do away with borders
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 11, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238 "2014-09-11T21:15:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MrQwertyasd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrQwertyasd)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/1 "2014-09-11T21:15:29Z")
Why not do away with borders in favour of anarchy zones ? Let the anarchists finally do away with states by letting them live in the space between states and act as intermediaries ?
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/2 "2014-09-11T21:19:32Z")
Very few people want to live next door to anarchy, it’s unhealthy. And very few people want to live in an anarchy, especially once they have an idea what one is really like.
To turn it around, why would any nation want such an arrangement?
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/3 "2014-09-11T21:43:46Z")
You first
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/4 "2014-09-11T21:46:00Z")
Yep. Tell the anarchists where they can live and what their new jobs are.
That’ll work.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/5 "2014-09-11T21:56:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> To turn it around, why would any nation want such an arrangement?
Morbid curiosity.
I actually think an anarchy zone would be an interesting social experiment.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/6 "2014-09-11T22:02:05Z")
We did away with Borders in 2011.
Now we’ve got our eye on Barnes and Noble.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/7 "2014-09-11T22:03:47Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> I actually think an anarchy zone would be an interesting social experiment.
How about we ease into it with one Purge night every year?
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### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/8 "2014-09-11T22:08:53Z")
What if they all just lived peacefully in little teepees and had vegetable gardens and all got along? I for one would be very disappointed, I want to see some Mad Max stuff myself. Frankly if at least half the anarchists aren’t wearing assless chaps after the first week the whole experiment is just a big waste as far as I’m concerned.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/9 "2014-09-11T22:19:15Z")
All chaps are assless, that’s what makes them chaps and not pants.
In order to replace the current borders with anarchic neutral zones, you’d have to cede territory along the borders to form the new neutral zones. How many countries are going to want to do that? Who’s going to pay to relocate the citizens who live in the neutral zones? What if they don’t want to move, but don’t want to live in the new zone?
Here it is in 2014, and we’ve got a lot fewer zones than I thought we’d have when I was a kid. Forget your flying car, I was promised zones. Forbidden zones, neutral zones, phantom zones, danger zones, dead zones. And all we got are some crappy time zones and free trade zones.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/10 "2014-09-11T22:23:51Z")
The other point is, you want to start an anarchy zone? Go right the fuck ahead. Oh, the cops won’t let you? Because they’re fascists? Yeah, that’s right. The reason you can’t have anarchy is because of all the assholes who fuck it up and keep hassling the people. You don’t get rid of the assholes by declaring an anarchy zone. If your anarchy zone doesn’t have some way of dealing with assholes who want to ruin your vibe, then your anarchy zone isn’t going to last very long. Note that a government-declared anarchy zone is kind of a contradiction in terms, innit? If you need the government to tell you that you’ve got an anarchy zone, you’re doing it wrong. They don’t tell you, YOU tell THEM.
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/11 "2014-09-11T22:24:58Z")
Who the hell wears assed-chaps? What the hell kind of half-assed anarchy is this?
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### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/12 "2014-09-11T22:34:27Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> All chaps are assless, that’s what makes them chaps and not pants.
I actually did not know that:o I’ve heard the term assless chaps used, but you are right, the term makes no sense. Well, it’s not really one of the pressing issues of the day, but you have successfully fought ignorance today.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/13 "2014-09-11T22:37:04Z")
> [@MrQwertyasd](#):
>
> Why not do away with borders in favour of anarchy zones ? Let the anarchists finally do away with states by letting them live in the space between states and act as intermediaries ?
What, you mean like live _in_ the Rio Grande?
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### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/14 "2014-09-11T22:37:41Z")
But then again there’s [this](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_kw=assless+chaps) and for just a little more, you can get a matching t-shirt!!
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/15 "2014-09-11T22:39:09Z")
Not seeing a real debate here. Off to IMHO.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/16 "2014-09-11T22:43:45Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> Morbid curiosity.
> I actually think an anarchy zone would be an interesting social experiment.
[Maybe you should read this first](http://www.larryniven.net/stories/cloak_of_anarchy.shtml).
That’s what _he_ thought.
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/17 "2014-09-11T22:59:15Z")
> [@MrQwertyasd](#):
>
> Why not do away with borders in favour of anarchy zones ?
Never been to Tijuana on a Saturday night, haven’t you?
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/18 "2014-09-12T00:24:27Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> Morbid curiosity.
> I actually think an anarchy zone would be an interesting social experiment.
You could just hang out in Somalia.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/19 "2014-09-12T00:30:55Z")
people would just end up dumping garbage in the zone.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-away-with-borders/698238/20 "2014-09-12T01:49:05Z")
Too late now. There are already people settled in those areas, who would be forced to abandon their homes and interests and move to their recognized country, or have to endure living in the anarchy zone.
There is an interesting illustration in the world today of how such a thing might turn out. It’s called Gaza. There was another one a few years ago in Ulster. Do you think the partition of India would have been any less bloody if there was a neutral zone between India and Pakistan?
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