I followed a link from an anti-WTO page to a chat room where a bunch of people were talking politics, specifically anarchist politics. I found out what an idiot I am about anarchy. No, they said, anarchy is all about organization. It's definitely not about disorder. You can never believe a dictionary definition.
Dictionaries are businesses .
I have a copy of that recent Harper's on my to-read pile, the one where David Foster Wallace explores the politics of dictionaries, so okay, I get that dictionary definitions should be taken with a grain of context. That's why it's important for you to define your terms up front, someone said. Okay, cool, but I still don't get this thing about anarchy and organization. It's organizing without hierarchy, someone explained. I guess if no single person's in charge, you could see that as an absence of government.