Peace Outreach on Election Day
October 24th, 2009
In many places, there will be an elaborate ritual known as an election which is used as a rather contrived justification for committing violence against innocent people. November 3rd is the date chosen by those who partake in this rather disturbing religious practice. If you’re apolitical like myself, you may feel like this day is nothing special. You’re right, but knowing that many people will be using this day to reinforce their deadly delusions, I think it’s an excellent opportunity to present them with a peaceful and rational alternative that they’ve been sheltered from for most of their lives.
I’ll be handing out fliers at one of my local polling places and I encourage others to do the same. Please feel free to download and print them out using the links provided. Also feel free to modify them to suit your particular message. There is a list of websites on the last page to go to for more information. You may have a different list in mind. I like to say “Peaceful alternatives to politics” to people as they approach and I try not to shove the flier at them in an aggressive way but rather hold it up to inspire their curiosity. Your methods may differ.
I’ve also added a new design to the Anarchy In Your Head store if you’d like to have a shirt to wear for the occasion. Just click the “Peace Not Politics” image in this post to visit the store.
The Peaceful Evolution for Word (Windows / Mac)
Six Innocents Arrested at 420 Rally
October 19th, 2009
I’ve posted another video to the Anarchy In Your Head YouTube channel. Go there and click “Subscrib”. Embedded videos seem to break the RSS feed or at least they used to. I’m not sure if that has been remedied in a more recent version of Wordpress. For now, I’m playing it safe so feed readers will need to view it at the site or on YouTube. I will be updating to a newer version of Wordpress soon which might fix this. I apologize for the trouble.
I wasn’t actually thrilled with the idea of having the rally during the Pumpkin Fest. I suggested we carve some creative Jack-O-Lanterns having a 420 rally and place them in the square as a quiet alternative. Well, others chose to continue, which is their right, so I did what I could to support them and at least make sure as many people as possible can witness police victimizing innocent people who own their own bodies with the tired excuse of “just doing my job”. If my job required me to victimize innocents, I would quit. I’d sooner flip burgers or become a two-bit whore or something.
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Rejecting the Religion of Statism
October 14th, 2009
In the video below I explain my motives for not going along quietly with a simple citation and paying the fine. Statism is a religion that I simply do not have faith in and those of us who feel that way need to come out of the closet and stop pretending that we do in order to fit in and avoid conflict.
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Principles Versus Pragmatism
October 9th, 2009
I was recently accused of hiding behind my principles. The implication was that I was making a poor decision pragmatically speaking in order to adhere to some lofty and impractical principle. But principles are pragmatic. At least they ought to be. Otherwise what good are they? If your goals are noble, what better way to determine principles than based on whether they help you achieve your goals?
We often confuse expediency with pragmatism. You can make a choice that provides immediate return and seems the pragmatic choice only to pay a higher price later. A person who commits a crime is getting some immediate reward but has an ever-increasing risk of being caught each time. He’s gambling. He’s also shitting where he eats by destroying the sense of trust in his community. Lying is similar. When you get caught in a lie, which is likely just a matter of time depending on how often you attempt it, you seriously undermine your reputation. Worse yet, if you lie now expecting some immediate gain from it, even if you correct yourself in the future, anything you say thereafter will be suspect. Even when you get away with it, every lie you tell for some immediate benefit undermines your veracity because you know you’re a liar. Conversely, knowing in your heart that you are consistently honest and sincere shows through in the power of your convictions. It’s a rare talent to be able to lie convincingly.
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Evolving Beyond Retribution
September 29th, 2009
An open letter to activists espousing violence as a form of activism against statism.
A shepherd had a nice flock of sheep but he was endlessly frustrated because his neighbor had more sheep than him. One day he had just birthed a new lamb only to discover that his neighbor had birthed two and was even further ahead of him. He’d had it. That night and every night thereafter, he began to complain about it in his prayers.
“Lord, Manuel now has five more sheep than me. I work just as hard as him and take good care of my sheep and it’s just not fair!”
After many nights of prayers full of whining and complaining about what he perceived as a terrible injustice, he heard a clear voice in his head.
“Alright! Alright! Just stop complaining and I will help you, but only this once. Then you are on your own. I don’t want to hear another word about it!” answered the Lord.
“Oh, thank you Lord! You are truly just! So… you are going to kill five of Manuel’s sheep?”
I believe the story was meant as an analogy about far left politics and what seems like a desire to drag everyone down to an equal level of misery. It may not seem to relate to retribution, but it does address a flaw in our thinking that fuels what I see as a pointless desire for retribution.