Timothy McVeigh and Osama Bin Laden had something in common.
Each was a stunning tactical success, but a miserable strategic
failure.
My late ex-husband used to have a little saying for that.
On occasions where he put out a lot of effort and got little
benefit out of it, he would say, "Well, I sure kicked a fat
hog in the ass." He was usually referring to something a lot
less dramatic, but that saying would describe what McVeigh and
Bin Laden did perfectly.
Now why would anybody want to kick a fat hog in the
ass? Perhaps its just because they happen to know how.
The underlying principle of training at the police academy
is that when you get into any situation that requires action,
the action you take will be one that you know how to do.
Therefore you undertake training so that when the time comes,
you will know how to do something that may actually help you
solve the problem at hand.
There are plenty of different tactics out there to choose
from, though different activists tend to get in a rut with only
one or two kinds of actions. ELF uses arson. ALF liberates other
peoples' animals. Black Bloc assaults police (maybe they didn't
notice what the Black Panthers got for doing that) and destroys
property. NAACP used marches. Klansmen shout insults into a
microphone and then light a cross. ARA's shout insults at
Klansmen and then have a party. NFPA activists sit in trees.
Indian activists occupy places where they can be in the way.
Pro-lifers hang around abortion clinics and preach at the
clients. Unions picket. SOAWatchers tresspass on federal
property. Earth First! spikes trees and sabotages machinery.
There is a bit of a trap here. Once people get angry and
decide its time to take action, they seem to choose something
based on what they already know how to do. After that they tend
to repeat the same kind of actions over and over because:
1) Its still the main thing they know how to do, and now
with experience they know how to do it even better.
2) It got some results the first time and they assume it
will the next time. And the next. And the next.
3) They already have the gear and the tools they need
because that's what they used last time.
4) All the new people being recruited have seen the
actions on t.v. and think that's what they're supposed to do.


You have to decide what you are going to put in your own
head. You can find plenty of instructions for building bombs,
burning down buildings, picking locks, sabotaging expensive
equipment and destroying property. You might notice that
plenty of people have tried these tactics already and most of
them are either dead or rotting in prison. Meanwhile, the only
changes brought about by these things are more police, tighter
restrictions and more oppression.
If bringing down the towers failed to topple the government,
what do you think YOU can destroy that will do the trick? Are
you willing to do worse than that? And if you are, why would
the rest of us want YOU to be running the country?
There's a lot more to resistance than destroying things.
There's a lot more to put in your head than know-how on bombs
and bullets.
If you want that hog to do more than grunt, you're going
to have to do more than kick it. If you can't outsmart a hog,
that ain't the hog's fault.