Kim du Toit says, “I’m starting to feel just like I used to feel back in South Africa.” and says he will stop blogging until further notice. Og wonders if it’s time to press the reset button (see this also). And Kevin at Smallest Minority has similar opinions about our current political situation. My blogging about gun rights resulted in me getting fired (PNNL refused to say exactly why but examination of my web logs indicates that was a big component). So is it time for the villains to acquire acute cases of “lead poisoning”? Francis at Eternity Road says no. If you haven’t read it yet then read my essay on this topic from (I think) 1997. Basically I’m on the no side as well.
That does not mean that I think one should just “take it”. In fact I am of the opinion you should never just “take it”. You must always make the enemies of freedom pay a price for their transgressions or you embolden them. When Hitler took Poland without consequences the stage was set for further evil to occur. That doesn’t mean you need to fight your battles immediately or on their turf. The Russian took a terrible initial blow from Germany but then defeated the aggression by using the harsh Russian winters to their advantage. As one of the comments to Og’s post explains, use cunning. And we have lots of legal means at our disposal to inflict damage on our enemies.
Many years ago Symantec and I had a disagreement about a contract. According to their filings with the SEC a company they just bought out (Zortech) owed me between $20K and $50K. I requested an audit as per the terms of my contract. They said, literally, “It’s too much work. We refuse. Go ahead and sue. You cannot win because we will drag out in court ‘forever’.” My lawyer said, “It will cost you a minimum of $100K to see this through to the end with no guarantees that even if you do win you will get attorneys fees awarded. Think long and hard before going down that path.” Of course I didn’t go down that path. But I didn’t let it stand either. In the end I legally (barely) helped (they made lots of enemies) inflict about $30 MILLION in damages on them by doing battle on turf (in time and space) of my chosing. I had sources inside Symantec that said discussions went to the ‘highest level’ about what to do about me and they did nothing because any action they would have taken would have increased their losses. I paid a price for fighting that battle but they paid a much, much, heavier price than if they had honored the contract.
The racist laws of the South were overcome primarily via non-violent actions. The British were thrown out of India through non-violent actions. Compare our present situation to the situations of those people! What is our status compared to what theirs was? And some people think it’s time to start shooting? If you think so then you are someone only has a hammer in you toolbox and thinks every problem to be solved is a nail. Think a little smarter. You are much smarter than a sucide bomber so don’t act like one. And especially remember these words from Abby Hoffman, “The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.”
