Rules for Radicals

Lesson Two – Power and Its Manipulation

All war is deception. – Sun Tzu

RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.”  Power is derived from two main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood. Have a little but want mores – the middle classes – have both. And when they cooperate together their power exponentially increases.

The sight and sound of a large group of people is powerful. Every man, woman and child standing there, it may be supposed, represents a thousand more – which may or may not be true!

Of all the powers that be in this world, KNOWLEDGE is the chief. That is why the pen is mightier than the sword, and one individual with the means to disseminate words is formidable. With the internet individuals with a common cause can become ‘an army of Davids’.

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. – Mao Tse-Tung

If the power of words is misused – as it is in the case of lies, half truths and disinformation (propaganda) – it can cause tremendous damage. And this is precisely the manner in which our national media has betrayed us.

It’s time to get hip:

• Beware of any headline that ends with a question mark. It is not stating fact but presenting a hypothesis to trigger useless imaginings.
• Beware of any ‘anonymous’ source. Not credible.
• Beware of anyone foisted onto the broadcast called ‘an expert’. These people are often party hacks. (If you don’t know what hack means it’s time to look up that word.)
• Beware of anyone who says things like:

“The Obama people must feel that he didn’t do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because what they’re putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.”  – Andrea Mitchell, Meet the Press Aug 17, 2008

When you hear the expressions ‘may have’ ‘must not have’ and the like it indicates speculation. Notice the rumors in the above statement, indicating that people who don’t know the facts are speculating what the situation might be. And this rubbish is broadcast nationally!

What one needs to make decisions is facts. Tune out the rest – otherwise you’ll be overwhelmed. That is the best use of communication.

When we allow our minds to imagine dangers from every direction we become demoralized and eventually give up our cause. This is the statist’s objective. That’s why he spends so much money on it.

RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.”  Perception is reality. The state run media’s business is to create a false reality in the minds of the people. It is important to identify credible sources of information and to guard against unwarranted fear – which alone can dispirit and paralyze one to cease all efforts to resist.

Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists’ minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.[1]

Threats

• The threat of unwarranted arrest and detention in undisclosed re-education camps,
• of one’s family members being forcibly injected with unknown substances,
• of one’s property and possessions being appropriated by government officials,
• of one’s means of defense – firearms – being unlawfully confiscated,
• of unlawful acts being declared lawful by the stroke of a pen

These are but a few of the anticipated horrors lurking around the next corner. But life is what is actually happening six inches from your face – while you are busy imagining things which perhaps  do not exist. If you are worrying about uniformed officers coming to your door to drag you away for your last post on Facebook, you will not be looking at whether or not you should run for Precinct Chair in your neighborhood, or what town hall meetings are on this month.

It is very important to stick to facts, to understand the law and to abide by it. And the law includes the right of peaceful assembly (which means anything excluding the destruction of public or private property), to speak and write one’s own opinion, and to petition the government for redress of grievances. These are natural rights, and what God has given no man can take away. But it is up to the individual to make use of them and not be cowed into submission and apathy by vain imaginings.

In his summary analysis of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals John Perazzo writes:

“Before men can act,” [Alinsky] said, “an issue must be polarized. Men will act when they are convinced their cause is 100 percent on the side of the angels, and that the opposition are 100 percent on the side of the devil.” [2] Alinsky advised this course of action even though he well understood that the organizer “knows that when the time comes for negotiations it is really only a 10 percent difference.” But in Alinsky’s brand of social warfare, the ends (in this case, the transfer of power) justify virtually whatever means are required (in this case, lying). [3]

Read Perazzo’s excellent article in its entirety at:  http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2314#_edn39_edn39

 Lesson One of this series is here.

-         Hesperian Sibyl

[1]  Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals By Craig Miyamoto, APR, Fellow PRSA

[2] Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, p. 78.

[3] Ibid., p. 29.

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