alister air writes:
> Martin William Smith wrote:
>
> >I've tried to explain in previous thread, and again in this one.  (a)
> >I think most activists protest dishonestly;
>
> Which is a cop-out.

Protesting dishonestly?  Yes, that is a cop-out.  I don't protest
dishonestly.  Not protesting because of my belief that most protestors
protest dishonestly?  It would be a cop-out if it were *the* reason
for not protesting, or the primary one.  It is neither.  I think my
actions should match my beliefs consistently.  I'm not as successful
as I would like to be.

> >(b) I think such protests validate the system that generates bombing
> >situations,
>
> How?

In a way, it is like the effect of overusing antibiotics.  The
bacteria mutate to defeat them.  Milutin's Chomsky quote about the
government's fear of domestic dissent is the example.  The government
has mutated to be "resistent" to domestic dissent.  It has done this
by establishing an extensive PR system, used effectively during the
NATO bombing.  Public support for the bombing, or lack of public
dissent, overwhelmed protest.  NATO governments successfully
"resisted" domestic dissent.  They completed their action.  Yes, over
the years, especially during the Vietnam era, protest has forced the
institutions to mutate, but is the use of violence diminishing?

> >(c) I think I should spend my time trying to change the fundamental rules.
>
> By doing what exactly?  By not protesting, presumably.

I'm doing one step now.  I'm raising the issue.  Like it or not, the
idea has been suggested to you.  You will think about.  It will come
up again and again.  You will see patterns differently.  Or maybe you
won't.  I can't do anything more about that than I already have.  Some
people will take this idea on and work with it.  If it has any
Darwinian value, it will survive as a meme and begin to have an
effect.  I don't mean that all activist activities are dishonest and
negative, but the futile protest is.

> >Redesigning the UN for a start.  Remove the veto power for one thing.
>
> And how exactly do you seriously expect to accomplish this?

I don't know.  Talking about it a first step.  Pointing to the
problem.

> >I'm not hiding them.  I've been very blunt.
>
> No, you're still hiding them.  You claim "most" protesters are dishonest,
> yet you refuse to say which ones.  You say that protesting is a waste of
> time, yet you do not say how you would accomplish your goals.  You're not
> going to redesign the UN by asking nicely.

I don't know what else to tell you.

martin