I was torn between calling this post The Pacifism Straw Man and The Purism Straw Man because the two seem to go hand in hand. The audio below is typical of some of the tired old arguments I hear. I am among a group of motivated individuals who constantly repeat the mantra of peaceful activism in place of violence. Watch the video below and try not to get too distracted by disagreements you may have with his view of certain environmental problems. Try to focus on the core of the message in which he tries to sell people on the idea of using violence as a tool for social change. That’s what I intend to address.
On last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK, liberty activists called to talk to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition member Rick Van Wickler, who is also the superintendent of the Cheshire jail.
Please join us for our weekly listening, chat, and calling sessions on Saturday mornings from 9a-12p in the Free Keene Chat room. If you’re online, you can listen to Talkback streamed live via the Liberty Radio Network and if you’re in the Keene area you can tune in to WKBK 1290 AM or 104.1 FM. The Talkback discussion thread is here on the Free Keene Forum.
If you didn’t support George Bush’s polices, you were un-American and didn’t support the troops. If you don’t support Barack Obama’s policies, you’re against health care reform and don’t want people to have health care. There are so many creative tactics for ignoring what people are actually saying. Free Speech Zones are among them.
“Big Mike” arrived in New Hampshire this week and made good on his promise to bring Keene’s brand of civil disobedience activism to the Manchester area. My understanding of the story is as follows. After calling the police chief to announce his intentions, he walked around a Manchester park for a couple of hours asking people why marijuana is illegal, while holding a bud of it in his hands. No police showed themselves to enforce their statutes, so he proceeded to the police station and had a chat with the secretary, requesting an officer come talk to him about the issue, making it quite clear he was possessing the illicit plant material. After waiting in the lobby for over 30 minutes, he and the other activists decided to call it a day. No officers came over to talk to him, despite the fact that one was in visual range of him, as you can see in this low quality, raw video of the occasion. Hopefully better coverage will be released soon.
Welcome to NH, Big Mike – may civil disobedience begin sprouting up all across the state!
This was written by Andrew Carroll in response to recent discussion about in-the-system activism versus out-of-the-system activism, specifically in this thread.
People come to the “ideas of liberty” through different routes. These people think differently, grew up in different cultures, and have different values. Different things attract their attention, different things make them think, and different things change their minds.
Therefore, if we really want to spread our message to as many people as possible, it is important we market ourselves in as many ways as possible. Aside from certain actions which are bound to be utterly counter-productive (such as direct violence against the State, which leads to sympathy for the State, and is not worth even the small minority of people that may find it agreeable), all activism – political or otherwise – markets our ideas to different audiences.
Running for office, refusing to shut off your camera, gardening, holding marijuana, protesting in IRS offices, placing money in empty parking meters: all of these things market libertarian ideas to different people who believe different things. Each of these activities catch the attention of different individuals and expose them to the philosophy of freedom. (more…)
On last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK, liberty activists called to talk to 
