Dying vs Typing

More often than not, I find this author to be an articulate but irritable asshat because, most often, he chooses to write otherwise insightful observations in the most unnecessarily irritating and vulgar, manner. But every now and then he hits one right out of the park....

It's good to be zealous about a noble cause. It's also good to be intelligent. In "The Art of War," at no time does Sun Tzu say, "Just get really, really mad and start killing people!" In the movies, really believing in something, and being in the right, makes you magically win. In reality, it has pretty much no bearing on
whether you will be successful. Contrary to what Hollywood implies, being one of the "good guys" doesn't make you bulletproof.

I totally sympathize with people who are outraged at the myriad of injustices perpetrated by "government" agents on a regular basis. And if your goal is to martyr yourself by righteously dying for what you believe in, have at it. But you might want to ponder whether what you are doing, or suggesting doing, would actually accomplish anything positive in the long run. I regularly get pro-freedom people bitching at me because I'm not "doing anything," and by that they mean that I'm not currently engaged in mortal combat with state mercenaries. According to them, the "brave" thing to do--and what I would do if I was a "real" anarchist--would be to have a shootout the next time a cop pulls me over for an expired registration sticker. But I'm not going to. Why not? Because while might does NOT make right, might DOES make results. And who has the "might" depends upon what people BELIEVE. If there is one slave who believes in freedom, and 99 who don't, standing up to the slavemaster is not going to turn out well for that one "uppity" slave. Sure, he would be in the right; he would be the good guy. He would also be the dead guy, and then slavery would continue.

Yes, there are some situations in which, regardless of outcome, I will forcibly resist state thugs. And I would probably die in the process. But my goal is not to "fight the good fight"; my goal is to WIN the good fight, permanently. And that requires changing MINDS. While it's 100% moral and righteous for people to defend themselves against aggressors, including those with badges, the real problem is people's belief systems, and you can't shoot a belief system. Violent conflict, even when totally justified and necessary, only deals with the SYMPTOMS of authoritarianism. Eradicating the underlying problem requires WORDS, not bullets. So when someone asks me, "Are you just going to sit there typing words, or are you going to go out and start shooting cops?!" For now, my answer is, I'm going to sit here typing words. The thousands of people who now believe in self-ownership and non-aggression got that way because other people SAID STUFF, not because other people shot at cops. When those thousands become millions, the state will die with a whimper, not with a bang.

- Larken Rose