It means that we are back where we started, just living. We are like Camus’ Sisyphus, living the absurd. If we are young and in need of pursuing ideals with direct action, we can be eco-warriors and chain ourselves to the top of a tree that they want to cut down to build a motorway. In England people mocked that kind of thing at first but because it was done in a peaceful good-humoured way, it reached people’s consciousness. And that is all that is needed. After that, when people wake up from their domesticated dream of the planet, as Don Miguel Ruiz puts it, then they’ll see there is a choice, and they’ll make it. And those who have made the choice not to be domesticated will be free, even if they are locked up on Death Row. (I was blown away by the story of Nick Yarris who appeared on a BBC radio programme yesterday and whose website is here.)

I agree. It does start with you. The only thing you can rebel against is yourself because they have changed YOU

I disagree. Not everything we choose to do helps them. Though the have shut out or nullified many avenues so it seems like everything aids them.

I agree. If you don’t care about yourself, then who will? The first step is to love yourself - to decide to be happy. Decide, like Skip, to not be or be treated like a victim. Then you can make happiness. I almost completely sure they don’t want you to be happy. Satiated, yes. Happy? No. Therefore, make happiness. Within yourself. Within your family. Within your Neighborhood. Within your cubicle isle. Within your lane of traffic. Within your check out lane. And on and on. You don’t even have to do it all of the time. Just more than half of the time for a stellar improvement. Choose happiness. One could just as easily choose violence or greed, or righteous revenge or domination. Me, I choose happiness.

Sometimes being caught is inevitable, depending on the goal(s) of a particular set of direct-actions. I can’t speak for anyone else, but if I were to do something illegal, I’d probably go down to the news station & explain in the clearest of details why I think such activity was perpetrated (even if I did it). That way they question me, and government enforcers get at me later. Of course, I’d probably only do this if I was sure there is no way to not get caught.

For instance, when Al-Qaeda flew planes into buildings, if other al-qaeda people went down to the news station to say exactly why they believed it was happening and what the demands were, it’d cut out the middleman government from “releasing” whatever BS motives they implied were in play for such illegal activity to be carried out. For instance, “they hate our freedom…”

For instance, The Miami Seven was a perfect example of getting caught and not being able to describe very clear reasons why such attacks were going to be perpetrated, other than being soldiers trained through the bible. What kind of vague nonsensical answer is that? The implied terror was probably used by the policing forces to justify more of our tax dollars for “tighter security.”

However, if someone can actually figure out how to build effective NNEMP in order to grind civilization to a halt, i’d think keeping quiet would be beneficial to the operation(s). But if its blowing up a corporate building, i’m not sure if keeping quiet afterwards is the most effective route, unless you plan to do it a bunch more times; at some point, a wager has to be made.

If someone gets on television (even if they weren’t involved), convinced them that they were part of the group, and make sure that every word that is uttered is ranting about slave-labor, toxification, climate-change, denuded land-base, problems of civilization, etc; it’d be harder for them to portray you as deranged non-sensical freedom-haters. People plot terrorism for reasons. The more sane the reasons portrayed, the more people will begin to accept that there really is a problem. Someone’s got to say that, or else the military could use rebellious threats as a means for final stages of martial law, …and get away with it

On the other hand, there’s a real possibility of sending information back up the hierarchy of power. For instance, all of this surveilance occuring through NSA, TIA, FBI & Pentagon information tapping. I wonder if a “media virus” could be developed with the right keywords to infiltrate & activate attention in security spy programs to bring certain information into awareness that they might not have had the pleasure to think of themselves in their seemingly wrapped-up terrorist-fearing frenzy. I have access to technology that can use any email address to send to any other email address. I could be osamabinladen@alqaida.us sending briefs to gw@bushco.gov. If we could pump information directly into the intelligence agencies, what would you say!?

I’ve tried using these email-spoofers (I can be anyone@anything.com) while using proxy-servers (make it seem as if I’m sending email from anywhere in the world) at any open unencrypted wireless internet connection. I have tried little tests like sending incredibly expressive critiques on human civilization to government agencies & white house officials, even threatening, in some cases, drastic action is necessary; and if they don’t respond then appropriate action will be taken from my side to bring down this overly-destructive civilization, conjuring up invisible armies of my own.

Now, either they didn’t take me seriously, or had an agenda all their own & my agenda fit into theirs, or they could have tracked me all the way through the proxy-servers & fake email-addresses laughing all the way to their own stupidity as they bumble about letting humanity destroy the very foundation of the ecosystem which supports all life including humans; as well as, might I add, all security officers within all surveilance systems!

In fact, NewScientist announced awhile back that the Pentagon’s National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping & code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks; especially myspace. So, just to clarify the obsurdity of their action(s), we’re living on a planet that could very well be destroyed by climate change, and the NSA means to tell me that harvesting myspace profiles are on their top priority? I hope they feel as silly & stupid as others perceive them to be, lol…

As Lierre Keith once said, “…there’s another group… sunk in despair, a rational, realistic despair. What can I do about it, any of it? It’s all going to hell, and nothing I personally do is going to make any real difference. Why bother to take down a cell phone tower when there’s thousands more across the country? They understand that personal action is ineffectual and often foolish. Again, I think a serious resistance movement would attract these people. It’s not useless to take down that cell phone tower if I know that tonight five hundred other people are doing the same thing. Now it’s worth the risk. Now my action has meaning, has impact.”

If it is true that the collapse is engineered by the elite, what should we do? What if the whole Rebellion is engineered by the elite? What if everything we think we’re doing to be rebellious against the elite is actually playing right into their hands?

elite: A small group of people with a disproportionate amount of authority
rebellion: A refusal to accept an authority
rebellion = an attempted elite, at first (no matter the intent)

A rebellion against an elite is sometimes met with more rebellion. A terror attack (which is a rebellion), is channeled through an elite collection of network news that often construes the original intent behind the terror attack (no matter the intent)

A rebellion can become conagious and grow/spread. An elite can never grow, because then an elite will cease to be elitist. A rebellion can become a majority, while an elite will always remain a minority. Rebellion is multiple people coming to fruition of an idea or set of ideas that becomes contagiously self-propelled. An elite can only construe the rebellious process by way of propaganda &/or demonization of the theoretical other, in order for the majority to see the rebellion as a percieved minority.

But what if we can’t not rebel either because that would play into their hands too? We don’t have the option of doing nothing either, but anything we choose to do would also help them.

I definitely ran that through my mind awhile back, and the only thing that comes to fruition, within me, is potential sacrifice by finding fulcrums and using those fulcrums to leave little/no room for the elite to construe the intended rebellion that is urging to become contagious.

Derrick Jensen has elaborated on some of these concepts, and definitely reccommend reading his relatively-new two-volume book: endgamethebook.org

the only thing one can “rebel” against is one’s self, which is also the only “elite.” The bell is ringing the bell.

It is pat to say “dont’ act like a victim” - although we certain do have some control is various areas - we certainly can screw things up in our lives - there are certain things which are beyond our control. Ergo when people say ‘it’s all about choices‘ or ’stop playing the victim‘ I get nutters.

So if I’m saying ‘rah rah’ for ‘victimhood’ so be it.

Of course it behooves us to try and change what we can - but this culture of ‘it’s all your responsibility’ and/or ‘everything is your choice’ is utter bollocks in this reader’s view.