If Your Homeland Were Invaded

A Very Poor Kid Came Up To Me After A Talk And Said 'i Want To Go Blow Up A Factory.' I Asked How Old He Was And He Said 17. I Said 'have You Ever Had Sex?' He Said 'no.' I Said 'just Remember If You Get Caught You Aren't Going To Have Sex For Twenty Years At Least.' That's Not Saying That One Person Having Sex Is Worth The Salmon. I'm Not Saying It's A Reason Not To Act, I'm Saying Don't Be Stupid.

Civilization Is Based On A Clearly Defined And Widely Accepted Yet Often Unarticulated Hierarchy. Violence Done By Those Higher On The Hierarchy To Those Lower Is Nearly Always Invisible, That Is, Unnoticed. When It Is Noticed, It Is Fully Rationalized. Violence Done By Those Lower On The Hierarchy To Those Higher Is Unthinkable, And When It Does Occur Is Regarded With Shock, Horror, And The Fetishization Of The Victims.

Violence, And Evil, Doesn't Always Come Dressed In Black, And It Doesn't Always Look Like Charles Manson. Nor Does It Always Come To Us As Obvious And Arrogant[...]. Often It Comes To Us With The Simple Plea To Be Reasonable.

The Big Dividing Line Is Not And Has Never Been Between Those Who Advocate More Or Less Militant Forms Of Resistance, Or Between Mainstream And Grassroots Activists. The Dividing Line Is Between Those Who Do Something And Those Who Do Nothing.

I've Since Come To Understand The Reason School Lasts Thirteen Years. It Takes That Long To Sufficiently Break A Child's Will. It Is Not Easy To Disconnect Children's Wills, To Disconnect Them From Their Own Experiences Of The World In Preparation For The Lives Of Painful Employment They Will Have To Endure.