A Healthy Contempt for Activism?
Don't make people choose between a mob and a regime. A rant on my distaste for *protestors* and the need for Freeorder.
The Cybelian lynch mob is named after the Greek goddess Cybele, who falls in love with her castrated grandson Attis, whereupon she is forced to roam the world with an army of embittered, sexless eunuchs in tow, as a kind of apocalyptic zombies of antiquity. The Cybelian lynch mob is quite simply the price we humans pay for long periods of peace, stability, and growing surpluses.
—Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist, from Process and Event
On one side, uniformed goons say they’re just following orders. They’ll turn up when summoned by their government paymasters. On the other side, a pack of intersectional idiots with masks run around with Molotov Cocktails and rainbow flags to go with their Free, Free Palestine gear. Both sides brandish weapons of petty destruction (WPDs). Neither side is composed of the best humanity has to offer. Both sides serve powerful elites who use them like marionettes.
The activists will scream at you to wake up, but they’re sleepwalking in a meme machine somebody else designed.
Freedom, Order, and Freeorder (Synthesis)
There will always be a healthy tension between freedom and order. In this age-old dialectic, examples of integration are well demonstrated but not well appreciated.
Consider the following from the venerable
who asks:Who are your heroes?
“My heroes are people who have stood up for the underprivileged. The people I cannot stand are the people who are indifferent to the oppression of women, minorities, and the poor.”
“My heroes are people who have stood up for Western values. The people I cannot stand are the people who are indifferent to the assault on the moral virtues and traditions that are the foundation for our civilization.”
“My heroes are people who have stood up for individual rights. The people I cannot stand are the people who are indifferent to government taking away people’s ability to make their own choices.”
Few realize that all such values could be balanced or integrated without contradiction within the bounds of morality, justice, and law. But everyone turns to the Church of Politics in all its grotesque manifestations, instead of what my brilliant friend Leif Smith calls Freeorder.
Try telling that to the activists.
They’ll claim to be concerned for the disenfranchised, but you’ll find that they are selfish, entitled, and their protests are mostly performative. They care not a jot for your freedoms; they only care about their license. They despise civilization; they care about burning it down and replacing it with something they can’t articulate. They deface or destroy what they could never build.
I would bet $1,000 that more than half of all activists today are astroturfers or have a history of mental health issues. The rest are dime-store ideologues.
I would bet $1,000 that too many police harbor more sociopathy than intelligence. They’re just smart enough to put on a uniform for cover.
I have spent a lot of pixels explaining why it’s a good idea to develop a healthy skepticism of concentrated authority. This publication, after all, is dedicated to decentralization. One might think, therefore, that a decentralist like me would be warm to anyone who claims to be anti-authoritarian, or ehem, “antifascist.”
Goodness, no.
What I loathe most about activists is that they often make me sympathize with those we actively seek to underthrow.
Sure, there are non-violent activists, like those with Stop Oil t-shirts who lock arms along the highway, causing workers to miss work and women to give birth in a passenger’s seat. Even less obstructive activists, such as shouting spinsters waving placards on sidewalks, admittedly, make my bile duct secrete. Queers who heap scorn on the only country in the Middle East that would welcome them are walking contradictions singing the talking points of Tiktok terrorists.
I don’t like any of it, really, but I hold particular contempt for violent activism:
Torching, looting, or rioting that harms people or property.
Keffiyeh-wearing scum who harass or murder Jews simply for being Jewish.
Cheerleaders of vile assassins like Luigi Mangione.
Ghetto opportunists who show up to break windows and snatch items.
Those marching to butcher confused children due to trans gnosticism.
I can scarcely make a case for peaceful anarchism anymore because the most vile criminals and communists have twisted the word out of all proportion. Their MO:
Doxxing. Activists publicly expose adversaries’ personal information to deter their activities. Such is designed to encourage others to harass or harm those they disagree with.
Black Bloc. Activists wear uniform black clothing and masks for anonymity during confrontational protests. This enables vandalism or violence, which complicates accountability.
Property Damage. Activists target destruction via arson or vandalism. This crosses reasonable boundaries, alienating potential supporters and injuring innocent people.
Physical Confrontation. Activists engage in direct physical clashes with police and counterprotesters. Such creates public backlash against the offenders and is both criminal and immoral.
I have no time for rightwing activists, either. Currently, however, almost all of the above tactics originate on the radical left.
If you show up waving your American flag and a sign that says *Hands off Medicare,” but have nothing to say about spending $1 trillion on the military-industrial complex, you are Jeff Foxworthy joke fodder. If you show up looking for a fight with antifa, you’re just turning yourself into Must-See TV for Andy Ngo. If five minutes ago you were for DOGE but are singing Lee Greenwood against the backdrop of the Big Beautiful Boondoggle, you are a cult member who has outsourced his principles to the errant whims of Trump and a corrupt Congress.
Rationalizing Contempt
I probably shouldn’t write to register my contempt, especially as I frequently post articles where I admonish readers to practice ahimsa, the practice of non-violence in thought, word, and deed. Are contemptuous thoughts violent? Probably. But I am human. Sometimes it’s better to rant than to repress. I would have an easier time muting my disgust for a leper than for an authoritarian or an activist.
A leper, after all, can’t help it.
Still, as one who is committed to the practices of satyagraha and metta—both of which originate in ahimsa—I know I have to sit in the Space, align in centeredness, and determine whether my healthy contempt is warranted. My tentative but fragile conclusion is that if we can all learn to channel our contempt into healthy means of realizing Freeorder, we will all be better for it.
My wife and I are in the car this afternoon. I'm ranting about some aspect of the current sorrow of the world. My wife says, "Is this (she's referring to the rant) good for you." I pick up my phone, and there is your essay. I say, "Let me read to you what Max has to say." I read your conclusion to her. Ha! I'm in the spiritual trenches with you, buddy!
Thanks for this article, even though you are forced to admit you are a flawed human being. (grin)
First, all of the people I know who attend public protests are not mentally ill, not stupid, sincere in their beliefs, not prone to violence. Good people in their everyday lives. Some are devoted to one or more cause, some only publicly protest in response to what they consider an egregious event or in protest to the actions of elected and appointed leadership in political and business arenas.
What they share, in my opinion, is frustration. They feel powerless in the face of what appears to be their lack of control or even influence regarding the bad and unfair things that happen in the world. They want them to stop, and they want someone in power to listen.
My experience with causes is that rarely does marching, shouting slogans, waving signs, etc., make a difference. It's what happens behind the scenes, but it does not start in formal hearings, board rooms, and the votes of a legislative body after the headlines.
How does change happen? Here is a summary of the advice that I would give clients who had figured out that public protests might feel good at the time, but maybe are not effective politically except, perhaps, to bring capricious media attention to the cause; the equivalent of its fifteen minutes of fame.
1. Individually and as a group, you build influence by getting to know the people who have the power and authority to make change. And this can take years. Because the people you don't like have been making plans for years, usually in secret. You want to know who actually makes decisions that lead to action. Maybe not the people who stand in front microphones and pontificate - the power behind the throne. There is often one key player in charge.
2. This might mean rubbing shoulders by serving on boards, attending meetings, and volunteering for the same nonprofits that they support. You find out where they hang out, who are their buddies, and what is important to them, meaning their selling point. Meaning, are they concerned about money? Personal reputation? The support of a particular cohort? Their own cause?
3. Build your personal network of influence. Find people who agree with you about this issue, even if you don't agree on other issues. Build trust and respect by supporting their issues: donating time and money, serving on their committees, writing letters, etc. I think most cause-driven people have blinders on and don't actively look for possible partners outside of fellow travelers. Okay, you don't agree about A and B, but what about C and D? Your network should include honorable people who might be political opponents, but will tell you the truth.
4. Be known to the individuals in the professional media - reporters, editors, columnists, podcasters - as someone civil and trustworthy. You tell the truth, the whole truth, and you don't cherry pick the data to put your cause in a better light. You don't exaggerate. You don't dehumanize opponents or come up with nasty nicknames. You admit mistakes. You don't propagate false information, so you meticulously check sources and references before forwarding information. You know the difference between a fact and an interpretation or opinion. Media professionals will never be embarrassed if they print your news. If you lie, by intent or accident, to them, there goes your credibility and the credibility of your cause.
5. Do the grunt work - read widely - not just people you agree with - write letters, show up to testify.
6. Build connections with people before there is a crisis, when everyone is still speaking to each other.
7. This being Earth, and not Vulcan, people will often support you because they like you personally, not necessarily because of your logical arguments.
8. Show gratitude and thank people a lot - in the media, in politics, etc. Your name appearing on their phone should make them want to return the call, not delete. You should be known as being decent to everyone, if when you disagree strongly. And you have your act together regarding relationships with employees, coworkers, bosses, neighbors, etc.
I could go on, but this is the gist of it.
Two examples from my father's career in the Midwest, my first political mentor.
1. My father worked for Cook County government (Chicago) in the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s, when the mayor was one of the most powerful and corrupt politicians in the country. Dad stood up to him on an issue and won because his employees were loyal to him and the Chicago media liked and trusted him. Also, Dad had already planned on being fired, which included a family meeting, since if the situation blew up it would make headlines. So he could confidently go into the offices of the Machine, knowing that our family would survive the consequences.
2. We moved to Wisconsin. Dad wanted to build a free clinic in our new home, but the powers that be were at best indifferent. Took him twelve years to build the political base needed to make it happen. The clinic still exists.
Everyone has a different way of interacting with the world. Marching is the short game in my opinion; the long game is an investment that might take years to pay off.