Wednesday, February 10, 2021

How to Choke the Woke


There is an idea floating around that the way to battle the current woke movement is via something called "Irish democracy."

Zero Hedge informs:

More regimes have been brought, piecemeal, to their knees by what was once called “Irish Democracy”—the silent, dogged resistance, withdrawal, and truculence of millions of ordinary people—than by revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs.

The premise behind “Irish Democracy” is that the State lacks the enforcement power to have its way with millions upon millions of rebels. It’s Mohandas Gandhi’s strategy, albeit without his overt confrontations with the institutions of government. “You can ignore the State and do as you please, as long as you keep your head down.”

Removing the overt confrontations makes “Irish Democracy” much safer than any other form of rebellion. The State needs conspicuous, targetable rebels. It cannot use terror of its forces without someone to turn into an “example.” No conspicuous rebels means nothing for the State to crucify for the edification of the public.

There is something in this that clearly hits a nerve especially after the disaster that January 6 was.

But it misses the mark just a bit.

As Becky Akers writes at LRC:

[A]n article Monnie Matthews forwarded to me argues for passive resistance as more effective than outright defiance. It includes the enticing claim, “More regimes have been brought, piecemeal, to their knees by what was once called ‘Irish Democracy’—the silent, dogged resistance, withdrawal, and truculence of millions of ordinary people—than by revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs.” It also lists the steps by which we can implement such intransigence: drop out, chill, live independently and autonomously while ignoring the political and chattering classes.

But in the end, the Marxists, globalists, and other totalitarians will force us to fight because they do not co-exist: you’re either with them or they try to exterminate you.

And she has a point, there is just no way you are going to fight the woke crowd head-on, even with Irish Democracy.

Instead, one has to understand why it is always so difficult to take over a foreign land, be it Vietnam or  Afghanistan. The big problem is that occupiers really never know who is a friend and who is a foe. The resistance is within the population.

This is the Achilles heel of the woke crowd. There are more of us than them and if done properly, they won't be able to easily detect most of us within the crowd.

This means, for the most part, keeping our heads down should be our modus operandi--in Viet Cong tunnels so to speak

Massing, as was done on January 6, was a stupid idea.

The next most important thing is to never break the law. To paraphrase General Patton, let the other poor dumb bastard break the law.

There is plenty of things that can be done with these two simple guidelines. 

I am really thinking about the kind of resistance program that could even be executed by grandmothers in a way that they would want to do it and have fun. (To do it and have fun: That's Saul Alinsky and Gene Sharp)

I don't want anyone, on our side, to go to jail, or even lose a job.

This can be done without exposure for most by simply doing everyday routines.

I have obviously thought about this in detail but this is as far as I want to go right now, right here.

Email me (rw@epjmail.com) if you have any thoughts. I have a lot. 

-RW

25 comments:

  1. I am very interested in this approach and eager to hear more from you about this. Seems to be the way forward.

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  2. The Remora

    The Echeneis exercises an attraction on ships that could best be compared with the influence of a magnet on iron. The attraction, so the historical tradition says, emanates from the fish and brings the vessel, whether powered by sail or oarsmen, to a standstill ~Carl Jung

    “and storms may rage, and yet the Echeneis controls their fury, restrains their mighty force, and bids ships stand still in their career.” As two famous Romans found to their cost: Mark Antony, his flagship halted at a crucial moment of the Battle of Actium, handing victory to Octavius Caesar; and the mad Emperor Caius Caligula, forced back to port

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  3. Replies
    1. It starts with choking the money flow.

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    2. Well, ok. In the list of action items, that one is the biggest, and most difficult?...On a person to person level, ridicule+argue and ignore seems like its the most immediate. I've found, in tense confrontations, laughing at the other person and going about your business is pretty effective in getting them to break the law first...

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    3. On that difficult. Keep watching TL.

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    4. Captain and Mr. Wenzel,

      There is a great book, Constructing the Political Spectacle, by Murray Edelman. https://www.amazon.com/Constructing-Political-Spectacle-Murray-Edelman/dp/0226183998

      He lays out the how politicians created the problem, then create the solution, that creates its own problems...and so on. It's pretty much an American Politics 101 in a relatively short book.

      His last chapter concentrates on how to break the problematic politicians. It's through satire and ridicule. In that way, shows like "The Daily Show" and websites like Reddit have been extremely successful in nudging people away from traditional values and liberty.

      If the (at least nominally) pro-liberty types move away from angry mass activism and more towards effective mockery and marginalizing, there will likely be a yuge shift in the Overton Window. It would even be peaceful, overall. The masses love rhetoric, and yawn at dialectic.

      -Tommy

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    5. yeah, you make people feel good with humor while introducing a concept to them, like conditioning with positive reinforcement. I think Woods is already effective with this approach...we need 50 more like him...

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  4. Great article.

    That and your comment "It starts with choking the money flow." inspired a question I wanted to ask on EPJ. Regarding the horrible economic policy moves of those in power, is there a way to use it against them, or at least use the bad policies in a way to enrich the libertarians and the "Irish Democrats"?

    -Tommy

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  5. Soviet gulag prisoners overwhelmed the system with formal requests. It didn't end the system, but probably helped. How do we do our part?
    Agorism. Separate and parallel societies that are not obvious to the masses. Although, digital surveillance will see it.
    Freedom cells is currently building this.

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    Replies
    1. What roll in local budget meetings can the unelected lay person play? Is there a common budget review request that a constituent can lob that will clog things?

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  6. These are some resistance ideas I've been kicking around.

    Don't engage. We effectively killed a political debate board one time by a bunch of us conservative and libertarian types refusing to engage any longer. We started a different board and set up rules to engage with ideas not Personal Attacks. The new board didn't go anywhere, because the fun for the progs was the Personal Attack, they had no interest in engaging in ideas. If people don't engage with the nonsense, it loses power. Before that, we also selectively ignored the most outrageous posters and they became less and less interested in posting.

    When cornered, listen politely as if to someone who had dementia that deserved respect because they are human, don't agree or disagree, just listen, and then move on with your life. This takes advantage of the fact that humans want to be heard, and saying things out loud without feed back can force them to examine what they are saying. Lack of feedback doesn't give them anyway to understand how they are doing wrt their message.

    I really like the idea of just keeping one's head down and doing what you are going to do. People are so wrapped up in themselves, they aren't paying to much attention to what you are up to.

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    Replies
    1. Over engaging is a better solution.

      Stay tuned, you will see what I mean.

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  7. " don't want anyone, on our side, to go to jail, or even LOSE A JOB."

    Unless of course your job can be filled by an immigrant who will work for much lower wages than you will...

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  8. Two fronts. Yes in the topic in the piece and what everyone listed in the comments but also maintain the focus on incrementalism which as we has witnessed has worked quite well for the left over the years. That means accepting the “useful idiots” in our midst even while half of what they practice might not completely align with libertarianism or ancap ideology.
    And please for the love of god Hansen stop beating the dead horse of immigrants blah blah blah low wages. Kinda think there are few larger battles that need attention right about now.

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    Replies
    1. You're right. Once people are unemployed they'll have more free time to fight the overreaching power of the state and become Rothbardian ancaps. What better motivation is there to get people to study and embrace Austrian economics than by putting them on welfare?

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  9. You've probably heard the quote "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"? Maybe the solution is to reverse that - fight them, laugh at them, and then ignore them...? "Fighting" might get us into trouble, so perhaps we can pick it up with "Laugh at them and then ignore them".

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    Replies
    1. I don't think you understand the nature of the threat. It is here, now. And those launching the attack don't care if we laugh at them.

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  10. Very interesting. Looking forward to hearing more from you on this.

    David B.

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  11. Great ideas and fully support it. Start living it now. I do:

    1) Just had review of our website. I noticed a single image of a outdoor restaurant scene with masked server. I mentioned we show normal - do not put a masked person on our website. (unless expressly clinical situation)

    2) My new years resolution: tell everyone to be bold in not wearing masks. I tell my employees, family, and friends. Just do it. Don't be confrontational or go into obvious confrontational situations. I've had many mention to me "Thank you" and "you're the man" and "you know what, me too" (while ripping their masks off) I tell people, whom I know and meet out and about wearing masks - "sorry, who are you?" to obviously show them the anti-social aspect of masking.

    Just some simple resistance. I have much more to do.

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  12. Interested in RW’s input on how to choke the woke money flow. At first glance this seems to be an important part of a peaceful way for change. The woke are in control of the money flow. Governments, central banks, crony capitalists and the corporate media are all catering to the woke if not promoting the themes. If the woke will not leave us chokers alone, how do the chokers keep their money out of the hands of the woke? How do chokers keep the powers-that-should-not-be from using their apparatus to continue to comfort their useful idiots with currency creation, regulation and propaganda?

    There may be more of us than them but we are out gunned. Keeping our heads down when we are out gunned is good tactics for survival. But we don’t want to just survive. To get what we want we need the powers-that-should-not-be to leave us alone. If the predominate power will not leave us alone, isn’t violent conflict or our concession inevitable?

    The power of the powers-that-should-not-be has been based on violence; their capability and willingness to use it, the willingness of the masses to go along, and the unwillingness of enough of the masses to substantially object. I don’t see this changing anytime soon. I also do not see the masses altering their willingness anytime soon.

    Unless we can choke a majority the money flow, the un-woke will at best be a small clandestine community. Not great but not all bad either. Technology is a double edged sword that will make it harder and harder to avoid detection while useful to interact with like minded. What happened to Parlor and Gab should be instructional; we need our own networks. This is not just for social media but all important transactions.

    Artless brought up incrementalism. Maybe we can incrementally build a separate society in the mist of the woke. If that society is prosperous it will grow. The trick will be to keep the powers-that-should-not-be from tearing it down when they consider it a threat. That will require sufficient will of sufficient numbers to sufficiently object to the powers-that-should-not-be.

    The system of the powers-that-should-not-be is falling apart. Hence the plandemic, the great reset. How comfortable the masses are with what they “build back better” will be an important aspect to determine how people cooperate. The powers-that-should-not-be use massive debt and inflation to keep the herd comfy. This comfort has allowed the wokeness, something that no one would care about if they were not comfortable enough to waste time on it. The system of the powers-that-should-not-be is the cause of important inequalities. The woke are oblivious to this so they focus on equity. They are oblivious to the prosperity that freedom would allow; they have been propagandized to believe the opposite.

    The system may need to collapse to wake the woke out of their comfort zone. How many actually wake up and how many fall back into their dream will determine the next cycle of civilization.

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  13. One aspect of the left that I have noticed lately is that they easily turn on one another. They are a pit of vipers after all. From canceling other lefties who do not toe the line to a story I saw today where the San Fran school board did not allow a gay man to join a parents committee because he was white and would not “increase diversity”. I think we can find opportunities to help this pattern along by playing them against themselves.

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  14. I think it is too late to not break the law: Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate plus reading Snowden's book and knowing that the other side will only stand being ignored for so long can get a person down.

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