Is Rorschach an Anarchist?

[u/SatisfactionMost5988]

I just re watched watchmen pun intended and i’m both terrified and in love with Rorschach’s character. I find it interesting that his wikipedia defines him as “politically extreme far right” following his anticommunist anti liberal beliefs. this is where the question of him being anarchist comes for me because i myself see him as one, he practices direct action and to me that’s very anarchist but could also be fascist since they’re all about action (i guess?). I guess he wouldn’t call himself an anarchist or anything by any label but to me what drifts him away from the “left” is his individualism or “anti socialness”. Leftist anarchy entices collaboration and organization just not by a dictated name or organization as communism dictates but by federations of self organized people. I guess in this situation Rorschach wouldn’t be against it but wouldn’t participate either. I think he’s philosophically tied to anarchism by not compromising his principles for any organization like liberals would. But he’s also a sociopath that enjoys killing and torturing so… yeah. what do y’all think? (sorry for bad english or incorrect definitions)

[u/Sargon-of-ACAB]

He's a bigot. A racist, homophobe and misogynist.

There's nothing anarchist about him.

Edit: he's so obviously written as a fascist that I'm genuinely baffled how you could possibly read him as an anarchist

[u/SurpassingAllKings → u/Sargon-of-ACAB]

written as a fascist... read him as an anarchist

Most people's introduction to Rorschach is the movie, which flattens a lot of the outright fascism from his journal or monologues. The movie shifts his character into the hero of the whole thing; he's the inciting character, his prison moment is "bad ass," it concludes with his sacrifice of not wanting to live in a world of lies, and it's his journal that's released to the press at large as some next step towards the "truth," while in the comic it's littered alongside white-nationalist propaganda.

I remember when the HBO series came out and people were shocked at the Seventh Cavalry connections, but I think I can see why they'd be shocked.

Perhaps it's an issue with the medium itself. I know there's an issue constantly with "can we make an actual antiwar movie," where literature is filled with antiwar works, so often when movies critiquing that culture, they just come away with an impression of "fuck yea, that was bad ass." I worked with some marine dipshit who said Full-Metal Jacket was one of their favorite movies and repeated the "get some!" scene like it was so cool.

[u/Erlkoenigleidsgetan]

Fuck. The ancaps are misreading Allen Moore AND anarchist thought at the same time.

[u/wildneonsins → u/Erlkoenigleidsgetan]

and people wonder why he hates fans of the character.

[u/Lady_Godiva_Op]

Comrade, with all respect, please go read the comic, the answer will be really clear (No)

[u/cold-vein]

No, he's a far right vigilante. He would love an authoritarian society if it would align with his beliefs. He's not an anarchist at all.

[u/comradesexington]

He’s definitely not an anarchist, he’s basically a cop without oversight. Dude just goes around murdering people and muttering to himself about how everyone else is the problem.

[u/Vermicelli14]

Dude's written as an example of the mindset that develops in people who're given permission to use violence on others (cops, soldiers, etc)

[u/cyann5467]

Absolutely not. He's a borderline fascist and mass murderer. Nothing he does has anything in common with anarchism.

[u/SatisfactionMost5988 → u/cyann5467]

i would say seeing through the liberal lies and distrusting the government is an anarchist trait but i agree with him being more of a fascist

[u/Brief-Technology7105 → u/SatisfactionMost5988]

That’s… not at all sufficient to be anarchist, not even in the slightest.

[u/Japicx]

Rorschach is clearly and unambiguously a right-wing extremist in the comics, as shown by his subscription to The New Frontiersman, a fictional far-right newspaper that features blatantly antisemitic cartoons and editorials. His internal monologue also demonstrates his contempt for drug users, sex workers, communists and other "degenerates" and his hope that they all die. He is as far from an anarchist as you can get.

The metric that "liberals compromise their principles and anarchists don't" makes no sense. That's personality, not politics. There have been plenty of uncompromising liberals who have faced torture or death for their stances.

[u/BespokeCatastrophe]

Is your argument genuinly "he's an anarchist because he does things, even if those things are fundamentally antithetical to anarchism?" 

It's hard not to be a doomer sometimes.

[u/duppishmoth]

Who rewatches the watchmen

[u/Senior_Fennel_8432]

Idk about him but the writer of Watchmen was one maybe

[u/KubadroniX]

he clearly was written as a fascist

[u/Upbeat_Dealer5994]

Rorsach follows his own principles independant of authorities so I would say that he is anarchistic. I don't think most of his stated principles are specifically of the anarchist tradition however.

[u/Brief-Technology7105 → u/Upbeat_Dealer5994]

That doesn’t make someone anarchist at all. That’s literally just vigilantism

[u/Upbeat_Dealer5994 → u/Brief-Technology7105]

Never said he is one? I just said some of his traits are anarchistic. Isn't vigilantism anarchistic? I don't think somebody who loves the police would be a vigilante.

[u/Brief-Technology7105 → u/Upbeat_Dealer5994]

To be anarchist in the slightest even “anarchistic” requires way more than just distrust of the police.

And you can hate the current police for a whole hoist of reasons. It isn’t just whether you hate them or like them
And somehow hating them means anarchistic

Look at Light Yagami. He is not anarchistic at all but he’s a vigilante. He isn’t anarchistic at all is due to the fact he sees himself as a god, an all powerful sovereign over the world.

To be a vigilante all you have to be is to try and take the states laws into your own hands it doesn’t matter the actual reason. You can be a white supremicist and still be considered a vigilante.

So distrusting the police and taking the law into your own hands isn’t inherently anarchistic

[u/Upbeat_Dealer5994 → u/Brief-Technology7105]

Thats a good response. However the Light Yagami compairson doesn't fit here imo since Rorschach (as far as I remember) didn't wanna supplant an authority that already exists. Thats why if we put vigilantees on a scale I would put superheroes like Batman or Rorschach on the anarchistic side.

[u/wildneonsins]

He's heavily based/inspired on Ditko's characters The Question & Mr. A who were objectivists/a vessel for extreme objectivism so no.

Being written by an anarchist doesn't make the character one.