Varrin Swearingen is a republican candidate for state house, (Keene at-large) and also  the former president of the Free State Project.  Varrin has recently re-launched his blog. One of his first new posts is an excellent essay about the chalking and associated violence in Keene:
A few weeks ago, I wrote on my facebook wall:
There’s a hate group in Keene trashing the FSP because they don’t like Free Keene (or Robin Hooding, or something like that).
My status update included more, but the part above about the group called Stop Free Keene (SFK) got considerable attention. Some SFK members were openly hateful towards Free State Project (FSP) participants on the basis of group affiliation. Some were even promoting violence. My message and some of the comment thread was copied into the Stop Free Keene group and generally met with negative responses from SFK members.
In the comment thread on my status message, I noted,
Of course, I’m concerned someone’s going to get hurt…
My concern was informed by the apparent escalation of the conflict and the hateful rhetoric of some SFK members. Subsequently, I wrote a letter to the Keene Sentinel, suggesting we,
… refocus attention on reasonable evaluation of the role of government in our lives. I urge you not to be distracted by the theatrics.
In the mean time, the conflict grew despite my cautionary words. Neither the Free Keene nor Stop Free Keene activists participating in the conflict changed their behavior in response to what I wrote.
Last night, the ongoing conflict resulted in serious injury. Between Sentinel reports and various comments from Free Keene and Stop Free Keene members, it seems an assault resulted in a man being hospitalized with head injuries.
The most proximate conflict last night was about chalk.
I don’t know how chalk got to be so important, nor do I really care. Quite obviously, both sides are too immature to refocus their attention anywhere else. The chalkers are so committed to their chalking that they’ll stop at nothing to keep it up. Likewise with the anti-chalkers. Or maybe it’s more about Free Keene and Stop Free Keene. Whatever it is, it turned violent.
Based on what I’ve read so far, it sounds like neither the perpetrator nor the victim (who may also have acted violently) were active participants in either group. If true, it’s rather ironic given the context of the conflict. I’m sure the facts of association, when revealed, will be spun in various ways by both sides. Regardless of the spin, it is heartbreaking that chalking turned to serious injury.
Responsibility for the act lies primarily with the individual people involved, and I believe it’s best if we keep that in the front of our minds. But, if their actions were directed by some group, then that group does share blame. In this case, both Free Keene and Stop Free Keene have made it clear they don’t support the initiation of violence (more on the latter shortly). Consequently, I don’t think it’s fair to blame either of those respective groups for the actions of the individuals involved.
However, individuals and groups can be a catalyst for others’ actions, even when they’re not engaged in the behavior in question. Provocative activism can incite resistance. Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does. Likewise, strong rhetoric in defense of the status quo can and does incite resistance. Even while refraining from throwing the first blow, or actively engaging in conflict, people on both sides have very clearly contributed to this escalation in those specific ways, among others. I sincerely hope both sides reconsider their contributions to the incident last night, even if they aren’t directly to blame.
What does encourage me is Stop Free Keene’s sudden adoption of reasonable positions with respect to what they promote and how they generally view group responsibility.
First, SFK’s longstanding official stance, and the practice of some of its most vocal members, has been one of guilt by association (i.e. bigotry). Because some bad-behaving person is a Free Keene member, and because some Free Keene members are FSP participants, and because Free Keene’s founder is a FSP participant, therefore some Stop Free Keene members think the FSP and its participants are guilty of the same bad behavior and worthy of hatred. By hatred I mean hateful name calling, violent rhetoric, and the desire for all such people to go away (move out of state or befall some calamity). This ire is earned simply by virtue of being a FSP participant. It’s bigotry, and is dishonest, or at least ignorant.
In order to avoid the obvious hypocrisy and feign some semblance of honesty, SFK members and group leaders have articulated and supported the view that SFK members represent the group as a whole. That is, until today. Today, an admin suddenly and radically changed the group’s stated stance:
SFK is not responsible for the actions of anyone in the public…
This admin suddenly disclaimed everything all at once. I suspect this was a knee jerk reaction to last night, but I’m actually happy to see it. It’s unclear whether that means SFK disclaims all peoples’ actions, including those ostensibly organized by SFK, or only everything not specifically endorsed by SFK. Either way, this appears to be a complete refutation of their former position where membership in a group made the member representative of the whole group. That’s encouraging to me for two reasons. First, it places the blame where it rightly belongs: individuals for their own behavior. Second, it makes it crystal clear that they can no longer blame the FSP for the actions of individual FSP participants, simply because they’re FSP participants.
I’ll note here that I don’t mean to imply that groups or group leaders are never responsible for any behavior whatsoever (though the SFK admin cited above seems to be saying that). When someone follows the direction of another person, the person giving the direction does share responsibility in as much as they asked someone else to do something. Thus it may be fair to say that a business owner shares responsibility when their employee does a job as assigned but something bad happens. But when an anti-violent group member commits violence, they are clearly not under the direction of the group or its leaders. (Note: I presume sincerity and I am aware of that presumption)
Second, SFK has never before so clearly opposed the promotion of violence. SFK admins have removed violent messages on occasion in the past. However, today, they took a major step forward in asserting a serious refutation of violence. A SFK admin said:
I think it’s time to reiterate that this group DOES NOT condone violence. Not calls to violence, violent rhetoric, hyperbole, nor jokes.
This is important and timely because of the violence just last night. It’s also important because of violent rhetoric made by some SFK members within the few hours that followed last night’s incident. While it’s disappointing to read that some SFK members want to show what aggression means and make “them eat through a feeding tube,” it’s encouraging to see that admins are deleting those posts. I would hope that their authors can be successfully encouraged to change their views. Failing that, I would hope they would be removed. That kind of violent rhetoric is disgusting and it may well qualify as criminal threatening.
I continue to be concerned and disappointed at the hostile environment. This doesn’t appear to me to be progress towards a society where the maximum role of government is the protection of individuals’ rights to life, liberty, and property. If anything, this conflict brings the very real risk of encouraging further government encroachment and limitation of freedom. That’s not what I want. Perpetuating that trajectory is contrary to the stated intent of anyone involved who happens to be a FSP participant.
So, as I said before, I really do think it would be better for everyone to turn away from the drama and focus on freedom. I think we can and should work to make life better, not worse. But we’ll first have to put down the sword, or chalk, or fist, or whatever other instrument of agitation and anger we may have. Instead, each of us should do our best to honor each others’ rights, show each other reasonable respect, work together in as much as we can find common ground, and otherwise pursue our own visions in peace.
Notes and disclaimers: Though I am a current FSP board member (and twice former President), I speak herein for myself. As far as I know, my wife and I are the longest-time Keene resident FSP participants, having lived in Keene for nearly 10 years. I am not a Free Keene member and do not participate in Free Keene-branded activism. I do not object to Free Keene or Stop Free Keene reposting my writing in part or in whole, provided it is done honestly. I kindly request that objections to my words or actions be made to me directly so I can evaluate them honestly and adjust accordingly.
