On Sat, 21 Jul 2001, Faustine wrote:
"all power flows from the barrel of a gun?" Maybe so. But most people who sign contracts are more motivated by the threat of lawsuits, jail and fines than the direct threat of violence.
What you are missing here is that the threat of jail and fines are only a threat *beacuse* of the threat of the gun which stands as the alternative, i.e., submit to our sentence of jail, or we will shoot you.
Legitimate protest is one thing, but the problem is, people who are out to "fuck shit up" aren't too discriminate about their targets. If your business was in the middle of a riot zone, would you just choose the "roll over and die" option? Somehow I think not.
Agreed, 100% Paradoxically, I also agree that the "fucking shit up" is often necessary to generate suffucient public recognition of the issues at hand. No, I don't have an answer to this paradox. -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------