The evil of inaction

[Bald Eagle]

As often happens, my mind follows the tangents of thoughts, formed by the gradual accumulation of facts and observations, and I find myself having a few things to say.

I was watching Dada Orwell's video concerning the arrest of four Ed and Elaine Brown supporters, and his comment that "Most of the people working in the federal building are good people, and none of this is personal," created friction with my value system.  Ayn Rand once used the example of a large boulder rolling toward a village to illustrate the ultimate embodiment of evil.  The boulder is inanimate, incapable of thought or reason, and will roll down the hill due to the equally thoughtless and unreasoning force of gravity - to crush the village and it's inhabitants.  The boulder cannot be communicated with, it cannot be aware of what it is doing or of the consequences of its actions.  It cannot be reasoned with, pleaded with, bribed, or given a different choice of action to take.  It is unstoppable.

In the same way, I view these men who stand by and watch as good people's lives are being destroyed by the impersonal machinery of government bureaucracy as evil.  There may indeed be people who personally think that the Browns are wrong and so are acting upon their own personal beliefs (however ill-conceived and erroneous they are) in an effort to do what they think is right.  I can understand and accept that people make mistakes and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future of humankind.  However, it is the people who ought to, and very well may, know better but just stand by and watch as wrongs are perpetrated against their fellow Americans and human beings that I find especially offensive and despicable.  They are human men and fellow Americans who ought to be capable of thought and reason and compassion and action, but they choose to not think, they ignore logical arguments based on fact, they shut themselves off from the pain and destruction that they cause to others, and they ... do nothing.  "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing [to stop it]."

These are not men acting upon their (erroneous) principles, these are non-men, un-Americans, sub-humans that watch the systematic extermination of not only the people that they swore to serve, but to the principles that they swore to uphold.  They clothe themselves in the logos of the machinery, the metal insignia of illegitimate authority, they do not lift a finger or even speak out, they willfully refuse to do their jobs - in the name of doing their jobs.  They abandon American principles in the name of protecting those principles.  They neglect and abandon - they mislead, deceive, entrap, betray, and destroy people who have caused no harm to anyone because some Pharisee claims divine privilege to cause "rules" to be scribbled onto paper and to "interpret" these scribblings as they see fit.

They have no conscience, and they have no shame.  They are nothing, and no one.  They are cogs.  Yet they enable the machine to grind forward, consuming our substance, and grinding our lives and our souls and our dreams beneath itself.  They collectively form the stone that is rolling, rolling - always without claim of malice, always impersonal, yet always forward no matter what.  Always forward to crush America, driven forward only by equally impersonal and inhuman orders from above that they "must" follow.  They are the thoughtless boulder, intentionally inanimate and unreasoning, inhumanly driven forward by the thoughtless and unreasoning dictates of a faceless, nameless, impersonal machine.

Yes, it's not personal, and that's the problem.  These machine men with machine minds make me violently sick deep inside my soul.

What should we do?  Vast numbers of Americans ask this child's question, and find no answer.  They can no longer formulate an answer, their own answer, because they are incapable of engaging in critical thought, of asking related but pertinent questions whose answers frame the bigger answer.  Perhaps they do not feel the need to ask any questions.  The big people have made a decision and that's that.  The big people are always right - they must be right - they're big people.

Which brings me to another comment that doesn't sit well with me.  There are thousands of Americans who are stirring from their long mindless slumber, who are troubled by things in our society and what the media and the government attempt to offer as explanations.  There are many things, and fantastically large buildings in New York City crumbling into dust are one of them.  We all know it happened, and many of us watched while it happened, and some of us were there when it happened.  The thing we don't know is why or how it happened.

Ian Bernard makes the claim that it doesn't matter why or how.  Yes, yes, a major disaster that destroyed the center of a city and killed thousands surely happened, but that was so 2001, it's in the past, let's spread the message of liberty.  "Even if we eventually do find out, it's not like anything will change."  That winds up being translated in my mind to, "Evil people did something that is enabling more evil people to hurt us, so all you good people should ... do nothing."

I must admit, sometimes Ian can be persuasive, but there's something deep inside my soul, a nagging gut feeling that says it does matter, and even though it's in the past, it's essential to spreading the message of liberty that America knows why and how.   To turn away from a tragic experience that is used to manipulate Americans and deceive them into supporting a government that wants endless war, invasion of all privacy, and an end to private property and Constitutional Rights seems too much like walking away while whistling "Hakuna Matata."

   (Rafiki hits Simba on the head)
Simba:    "What was that for?"
Rafiki:    "It doesn't matter - it's in the past!"
Simba:    "Yeah, but it still hurts."
Rafiki:    "Yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you either run from it, or learn from it.
   (swings his stick at Simba again who ducks out of the way)
   Ah! You See? So, what are you going to do?"

Hakuna Matata means "no worries," right?  It's in the past, so let it go.  But we can learn from the past, we can learn that evil exists and should be resisted, that tyrants should be overthrown, and that we should own up to our mistakes in the end.

Perhaps we may never know exactly who was responsible for the shocking attacks on New York and DC that essentially stopped the United States in its tracks.  But it hurt us, and a police state is growing in the wound.  It is an event that is used to justify and rationalize an accelerated program of increased government power and control, a germ that is spreading fear and confusion throughout America.  Perhaps in today's world we forget about certain aspects of life that let us grow and make us strong.  Teleporting from Georgia to Maine as a means of traveling the Appalachian trail defeats the entire purpose.  The purpose is not so much to reach the destination, but to experience the Appalachian Trail itself, to live your life hiking it over the months it takes to make the journey.  Some people never complete the entire journey, but they carry the experience with them for the rest of their lives, and the experience itself changes some people's lives.

Perhaps one does not need to reach the destination of knowing everything about 9/11 and bringing those responsible to justice, such as it might be.  Perhaps all that is necessary is to let people make their own journey towards the truth and let them discover important things and valuable lessons along the way.  Things like the government won't and can't protect you, that people in authority really do lie, and sometimes they really will even hurt or kill innocent human beings for nothing but their own petty benefit.  Maybe once they leave the big city of mainstream media and government propaganda, they will find their own things on the Appalachian Trail to 9/11 truth.  Things like other news sources, other points of view, other presidential candidates, other radio stations, and other political parties and movements.  Things that will make minds grow, things that will build confidence and resolve, things that will help make America - and Americans strong.

In order to effect change and usher in the Second American Revolution, it is necessary to gain the support of the people - the society you are changing.  Anyone who has worked to change society - to save America - has learned that what is needed is not to actually try to change the people, since that is tremendously difficult if not impossible, but to help them change themselves and the beliefs that they hold, through education and the search for truth.  If a journey to find the truth about 9/11 is the path someone chooses, I would not be surprised if they find far more than they were expecting while "getting lost in the woods."  They may get an unexpected education and for the first time learn things about life, and society and government and "news" - and most importantly, about themselves.  They may find that the big people aren't right, that the big people aren't so big, and that a lot of those people be they greater or lesser are EVIL.  They may never reach their original goal, but they may use what they've learned on the journey to pursue new goals - like moving to a society dedicated to binding government with the chains of the Constitution and spreading the message of Liberty.

So, having raised these concerns and voiced my present opinion, let me say that both Dada and Ian are fine folk, each working in their own talented way to acheive the goal of Liberty in Our Lifetime and I consider them both to be friends, well met.  Thomas Jefferson said, "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friend."  And so shall it be with me.

[David]

<As often happens, my mind follows the tangents of thoughts, formed by the gradual accumulation of facts and observations, and I find myself having a few things to say.>
<These machine men with machine minds make me violently sick deep inside my soul.>
I'm familiar with that 'sickness'.  I usually get it when I read too much bad news, or when I am suddenly struck with the seeming hopelessness of the situations I witness.  I find myself unable to understand how someone can do something so obviously evil.  What usually bothers me is the willingness and desire of many people to control others.  I agree with Dada that people do things because they believe them to be the right thing to do.  That is why it is so hard to stop them. 
I find myself in limbo because I don't know how to stop people who are convinced that what they are doing is right.  It is hard to stand by and watch because what they are doing is causing harm to others.  I moved to nh because I have long seen the futility of stopping the machine of righteous intentions elsewhere.  And while it is true that this state is freer than other places, it still suffers from the mental disease of gov't supremacy and righteous intentions.  I don't have the answers, and I feel your frustration. 

[KBCraig]

Brilliant, Bill.

I'll have to go back and re-read it when I have more time. And then probably read it again, just to enjoy it. But my (too-)brief skim made me smile.

+1 to you.

Kevin

[Kat Kanning]

Wow, really well said!  Can I put that in newspaper?  (I'd just want to change 'Dada Orwell' to his real name.)

[Ogre]

These are not men acting upon their (erroneous) principles, these are non-men, un-Americans, sub-humans that watch the systematic extermination of not only the people that they swore to serve, but to the principles that they swore to uphold.  They clothe themselves in the logos of the machinery, the metal insignia of illegitimate authority, they do not lift a finger or even speak out, they willfully refuse to do their jobs - in the name of doing their jobs.

So true.  It's amazing how many times I have heard recently, "But if I don't, I'll get fired" from government workers.  But it IS personal.  The machine is evil, but may be populated by the blind.  Indeed, these drone are specifically trained by the government (via government education) to work for the government and to NOT question.  They are trained to fear government and fear losing their jobs.

So I'm thinking that it's not as much as they are choosing to do nothing (yes, technically they are), but I think they honestly don't know there is another way.  With these examples, I keep thinking of The Matrix -- so many people going about their day, following orders, persecuting people, following government instructions -- because they simply do not realize there's any other choice or option.

The system is unquestionably evil.  But it is populated by people who can be shown another way.  As you mention, they cannot be forced to open their eyes -- but they can simply be shown that there is another world -- a world of freedom.  Many will refuse this freedom because freedom is dangerous.  Freedom is not "nice."  Freedom is powerful.  Any many, many people will never want this freedom because it's scary.  At the same time we're working to move freedom-lovers to New Hampshire, I'd love to see a way to encourage those who are scared of freedom to leave and seek their safety and security (and lack of freedom) elsewhere.

[error]

The only way you can ever be safe and secure is if you are free. Those people need to be shown that as well.

[ladyattis]

Bald, you seem like a person that probably has read Atlas Shrugged, so I know where you're coming from. All to often folks don't do anything, even for themselves, until it's too late. Inaction does not automatically imply an evil, but it does imply that one accepts evil, that one sanctions it. That's the kicker. It's not merely doing evil in ignorance. Or doing evil because of your failed epistemology. It's saying, "Okay, I give up, you win." It's laying down your life for another, accepting their whims as the standard of the day.

-- Brede

[shyfrog]

Well thought out and delivered. I am reminded of the following...


"The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailors, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens."
-Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience

[dalebert]

Very eloquently put, Bill. You really should write more. That talent mustn't be allowed to go to waste.

[ladyattis]

They are human men and fellow Americans who ought to be capable of thought and reason and compassion and action, but they choose to not think, they ignore logical arguments based on fact, they shut themselves off from the pain and destruction that they cause to others, and they ... do nothing.  "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing [to stop it]."

This part I like the most. Too bad there's no NH porc quotable book or wiki. This would be a good ending to a paper on ethics and politics.

-- Brede

[Mark001]

Ayn Rand analyzed the nature of evil better than anyone.  Ironically her alleged followers at the so-called Ayn Rand Institute are not only speechless in the face of an ever accelerating boulder, they egg it on.  See:
ARI Watch

[Insurgent]

Stunning, absolutely stunning, Bill...you've summed up very well where we are, how we got there, and where to go from here.

[Russell Kanning]

"just doing my job"

can be evil

the power is in each of our hands .... to do what is right ... we cannot do everything, but we can take the next step ... the step we know we should take

fed employees have options ... the can choose to not be part of the machine

[ladyattis]

Ayn Rand analyzed the nature of evil better than anyone.  Ironically her alleged followers at the so-called Ayn Rand Institute are not only speechless in the face of an ever accelerating boulder, they egg it on.  See:
ARI Watch

Not every Objectivist is an ARI member. I happen to be a member of no Oist organization, and I happen to be an Objectivist myself.

-- Brede

[srqrebel]

Wow Bill, very brilliantly stated!  Sorry I missed it before.

Have you read my latest thread, "A Stateless Society By 2020"?  I am seeking input from the best minds out there, and I count you among them.

http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=10944.0