TACTIC: Undermining

December 19, 2011 Leave a comment

TACTIC: Undermining (Meta Tactic)

Common uses: Where individuals and communities are disconnected from the world outside the industrial civilized culture (a.k.a. The Real World), Undermining will be in operation where impediments to connection with The Real World are removed.

Body: Undermining is a Meta Tactic, in other words is describes a set of principles under which a number of tactics are located. The key principle on which Undermining is based is that humans living within the culture called Industrial Civilization are kept from rebelling or otherwise choosing their own way of living through the existence and operation of a large number of Tools of Disconnection. “Connection” in this sense is awareness, respect for and connections with the world that is not part of Industrial Civilization, i.e. it was not created by Industrial Civilization. One may feel “connected” within the paradigm of Industrial Civilization but this is probably just an illusion, created in order to suppress rebellion. The Tools of Disconnection include such things as “Pretend We Have A Choice” (e.g. consumer “choice”, voting), “Sell Us A Dream” (e.g. advertising), “School Us”, “Steal Our Time”, “Abuse Us” and “Give Us Hope”. These are listed in full in the book Underminers (Chapter 2).

Undermining is any tactic that succeeds in countering any Tool of Disconnection, thus it can be any of a vast range of tactics and variations on tactics. Undermining has a set of rules that ensure appropriate use of time and energy, and also minimise harm to both the Underminer (a person who carries out Undermining) and anyone against whom the tactic may affect. The rules can be summarised as: (1) Concentrate on the Tools of Disconnection; (2) Take Responsibility for your Actions; (3) Plan Ahead; (4) Don’t Get Caught. Again, more detail is available in the book Underminers (Chapter 5).

The reason for using Undermining above any tactic that could not be considered a form of Undermining is that all other tactics play into the hands of the system. Anything that does not Undermine Industrial Civilization either makes Industrial Civilization stronger or simply has no impact upon its grip on our behaviour. We thus remain victims of the Culture of Maximum Harm , and equally culpable for the destructive actions of civilization as any other person operating within the industrial system.

Potential pitfalls: Many tactics that fall under the Undermining banner may be potentially dangerous to both the actor and the any people directly related to the target of Undermining. Risk must always be borne in mind in all cases. Undermining may be considered by some activists to involve “violence”, although violence in its untainted definition can only take place against a living creature; this is a point of definition. Undermining may also, in some cases, involve illegal activities, though in very few cases will they be unlawful (as defined by Common Law or Natural Law) and in most cases Undermining acts to prevent unlawful actions, even as the Undermining itself may be illegal.

This was originally submitted for the book Beautiful Trouble, but was not accepted.

Filed under General Thoughts

The Bubble of Indifference

December 7, 2011 Leave a comment

So, here we go again. Another almighty chapter finished, another (slightly less almighty) under way. I probably should have written more but I’ve taken on a few extra responsibilities recently and had to work harder in others, at the expense of writing which, to be honest at least in the case of essays and blogs, is no bad thing. It just so happens that the first big wodge of Chapter 8 is, in part, attacking the self-referential nature of the “environmental movement” (it has to be in quotes as there’s nothing really moving about it that I can see). This encompasses a few things, but one key aspect is the way people hang onto everything that other, apparently more worthy, people write and say to the extent that they don’t have an original thought of the their own, and spend so much time congratulating the Gurus, that they don’t do anything themselves.

Rather like blogging (something I try to keep thankfully minimal), the world the mainstream environmentalists occupy is a bubble of words and ideas that have little relevance to the real world, and have even less chance of changing it. I would take one person outside of my circle of friends and fellow mind-travellers saying, “You know what, I really agree with you!” over a dozen of the aforementioned, if it was a case of working out if what I did, said or wrote had the potential to make a difference. Of course, it is lovely to have the approval of your peers, but the problem is: they are your peers. Of course they are going to agree with you otherwise you wouldn’t be connected to them. This is endemic in the mainstream environmental “community” (for want of a better word), to the extent that no NGO or advocacy group I have ever contacted has any desire to look beyond the civilized paradigm and into a world of other possibilities.

Time to pop the bubble.

Filed under General Thoughts, Writing