Monkeywrenching

[Nomen Nescio]

Tim May writes:
> Several of us were in the Sierras this past weekend for a training 
> session on weapons use, explosives, terrorism measures, and methods for 
> monkeywrenching the U.S. government so as to paralyze its police state 
> moves.

First, this is probably not true.  Tim May often uses hyperbole,
exaggeration and satire to make his points.  There may or may not have
been a gathering but it is unlikely to have been for the purpose of
learning how to be a terrorist.

Second, training in such matters would be useless and counterproductive.
There is no point in patriotic Americans learning to use weapons and
explosives for the purpose of terrorism.  Any attempt to use such tools
would injure or kill people and lead to an even greater loss of our
remaining civil libertires.  It would weaken the position of those who
are fighting to preserve our rights, bring more military occupation of
American cities, and produce more government surveillance.

Third, "monkeywrenching" may actually be a positive strategy, if employed
intelligently.  The idea would be to make the government occupation more
expensive and difficult, and to promote public distrust and resentment of
the government's efforts to expand its control.  It is however important
that the provocation doesn't go too far and trigger a public relations
backlash.  Small steps must be taken at this point while people still
overwhelmingly support government actions.

Of course subtlety is not exactly a Tim May trademark.  (At least, not
the bloodthirsty blowhard of today.  Where is the man who came up with
the idea of Big Brother Inside stickers?).  Let us hope that cooler
heads are involved in the planning of any such effort.

An earlier version of this message was sent but has not yet appeared.
Here are some additional thoughts.

A good example of monkeywrenching can be found at the article posted
earlier, http://www.keepandbeararms.com/angel/articles/consterrorist.htm.
This shows an apparently legitimate flyer from the "Phoenix FBI Joint
Terrorism Task Force" telling people whom they should watch out for.
It includes people who "make numerous references to the US constitution",
people who are "'defenders' of the US constitution against federal
government and the UN", people who attempt to "police the police" and
so on.

These will already raise red flags even among mainstream Americans.
How easy it would be to make an altered version of this flyer which
shades just a bit more into questionable territory.  People who object
to surveillance by the government; people who oppose stationing soldiers
in public places; people who refuse to pledge allegiance to the flag;
people who won't show their identity papers on request; there are all
kinds of dangerous individuals out there.  The slope is slippery, and
it would be easy to slide just a little ways farther down.

Printing copies of such a flyer and leaving them in public places would
be a good way to get people thinking about how much they are giving up.
It might even be possible to get a know-nothing police officer to join
in the distribution, someone whose authoritarian political perspective
will make him blind to the satire.