Infiltration: How would Gandhi handle it?

[Dave Ridley]

About an hour after an activist took the stage to announce that he suspected a specific PorcFest visitor of being a Fed.... I sent the accused this message.  He had given me his e-mail addie in a card he was handing out.

In the interest of transparency and because it's referenced in my vids I'm displaying this e-mail here.  I will probably display other similar communication here as well.


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(sent from pda)

Infiltration, how would Gandhi hadle it??
From:    Dave Ridley
Sent:    Sat 6/26/10 9:53 PM

Hi (Name deleted):

Am informed you are suspected govt operative surveiling porcfest .   If so , your  assistance marketing our endeavor might be less appropriate than originally imagined.
We shouldn' use  tax dollars, right?! 

If your purposes here are peaceful , welcome.  If aimed against victimless 'offenders,' please reconsider the morality of your mission. 

If  allegation is false, you may clear your name by meeting me at bingo hall to be photgraphed and interviewd 12pm sunday. 

Best wishes regardless. It is our duty to make you feel phsically safe, whoever you are.  It's our responsibility to win in your conscience  a degree of sympathy for our goals...and means.

Yours,

Dave Ridley
RidleyReport.com
(Phone number)

[Dave Ridley]

On June 29 I received another e-mail from the accused.  I responded  June 30 with this:

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Hi (name deleted).  I hope you will not think it condescending if I take this opportunity to introduce you to an ethic which drives good liberty activists in their interactions with the authorities.  Bear with me here; I realize you may or may not be "the authorities," but I think we can agree that you are strongly suspected of being a representative thereof.   I realize you may already be aware of this moral code, but don't know for sure.

This ethic is called the "Non-Aggression Principle."  Basically "Thou shalt not initiate force, nor help others initiate it."

For me to take actions or make statements which educate suspected government persons about liberty....That's generally consistent with the NAP.
For me to take actions or make statements which aim to address safety concerns such as those you expressed; that's generally consistent with the NAP.
For me to take actions or make statements which aim to increase your level of information-collecting efficiency...that may violate the NAP. 

If in fact you are an operative of the powers that be, there is a high probability that your purpose in this context is to facilitate the initiation of force.   Perhaps the caging of a harmless drug offender, perhaps a financial penalty against a   harmless poker player....who knows.  unfortunately that's a large part of what the "powers" do these days.   For me to knowingly provide a suspected agent with convenience links...means knowingly increasing the amount of time that person has to harm the harmless.  If such a person's target were the violent, then they would be among the violent, gathering intel on the violent.

So, although it's borderline, sending you the links you requested would probably not be entirely ethical.  Of course, no human is entirely ethical, but we must each make a start from where we are. 

Whatever your origin, I am not happy to hear that you feel threatened.   But I ask you to place yourself in the shoes of those around you this week.   Imagine you have been placed on a list, that your friends have been tortured and a possible intel-gathering agent of the torturing Power is asking you for assistance.  Would it be wrong for you to refuse?

I am planning to treat your last e-mail as private for now, excepting maybe the "for the record" part.  But I want to be up front with you that your next e-mail and others thereafter may appear or be quoted on my channel.

Dave

[Lloyd Danforth]

Ghandi probably would have wanted proof.

[davehollis]

Suspicion does not equal guilt.
Considering Ghandi was a commercial lawyer before his non violent protest and civil disobedience he would require some burden of proof.I would like to know what the evidence is and who pointed the finger.It seems to me the real fed would be the one inciting mobs to violence.

[Russell Kanning]

yea .... unless the guy is hurting anyone or talking about it, then I will not treat them like a cop

[Tom Sawyer]

Did anyone threaten violence?

Sounds like to me if instead of saying "I think that guys a fed." Someone could have said "Watch out for that guy he is uncool." that would have been accurate.

Going up to strangers and asking "Do you know anyone selling drugs for cash?" is the height of uncool. Under conspiracy laws telling someone where to buy drugs is the same as selling them those same drugs.

The paranoia can be damaging, perhaps it could have been handled differently... however, I have seen the opposite happen on occasion within this community. When many people are having suspicions and concerns about an individual and no one wants to breach the socially awkward situation and warn others.

Let it be known that I talk shit behind people's back and do my best to protect my friend's and associates from threats. There is no requirement for proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

This movement is an attracting force for all kinds of people... some are not the kind I will associate with. I'll let others be the public relations arm of the movement... I'll drive away folks that don't behave properly if it seems appropriate to me.

Powerchuter, Joel the Inquisitor, Luke the shithead etc. etc.

The character I call "Joel the Inquisitor" came around asking all sorts of direct and uncool questions and continued even when people stated that they were uncomfortable... we lost some people that realized afterwards that the guy was some kind of problem... I would rather offend and lose a hundred "Joel the Inquisitor"s than one good fellow traveler.

The other problem I have experienced is people declaring "Hey come to Keene and get your pot connection". Don't be surprised that some folks come along and behave in an uncool manner. Young people, inexperienced people are following the lead/tone we establish...

[Kat Kanning]

Joel the inquisitor lives in Grafton now   

[Tom Sawyer]

Joel the inquisitor lives in Grafton now 

Thanks for the "heads up".

I wonder if he still tries to collect everyone's personal information?

[Lloyd Danforth]

I doubt that he is a problem. Probably not a solution either. I think he's a 'Fringer'
I just made that term up!

[MaineShark]

I doubt that he is a problem. Probably not a solution either. I think he's a 'Fringer'
I just made that term up!

Have you ever seen him 'Fring'?

Joe

[Tom Sawyer]

Hey don't be slandering us Fringe Nutters (Johnsonism) 

[Lloyd Danforth]

I was thinking Fringe on the flag