Since I have been stuck at home for the past couple weeks, I ran out of yard work and turned on Netflix and watched the movie American Anarchist. It’s an interview with the author of The Anarchist Cookbook, a 1968 collection of bomb recipes, booby traps, and anarchist philosophy. Let me preface by saying that I’ve read the book (what little of it is intelligible), and it’s mostly nonsense that will get a person hurt. More importantly, it’s nonsense that has gotten people hurt.
The content, though, isn’t what I’m writing about. What struck me in the film was a remark that the author, William Powell, made when asked the question, “Were you confident?” His reply was, “When I was alone with a typewriter, I was confident.” The more I think about that remark, the more I’m struck by the reality of it. We have all seen our share of “keyboard warriors” who like to talk big about revolution on the internet, and it seems this is not a new phenomenon. Writing on a subject like he was (violent, anarchist action) made for particularly fertile ground in which Powell could become an expert, since the fever pitch of the cultural revolution was giving young people, especially, blinders when it came to the potential solutions to the social problems they faced. He offered a simple and tantalizing answer to disaffected young people, and it came quickly and easily to him.
We should always be wary of the quick and easy solutions that creep into our heads when we sit down to write about our friends and rivals. We should be aware of the power of our words, and the wide net of distribution we have at our fingertips. It’s estimated that about 2 million copies of The Anarchist Cookbook sold, and who knows how many copies have been passed around for free on the internet. If that’s the kind of reach a strung out 19 year-old from New York could get with a typewriter and a pornographic publisher, imagine how far your words could be carried on the world wide web. Be sure that you’re reaching the right conclusions, and that you accurately and fairly present those conclusions so as not to be misunderstood or misconstrued years from now.
We are not keyboard warriors. What we are writing about doesn’t come easily, and doesn’t take the kind of courage and confidence only a typewriter can give. We are set on learning trades, sustaining marriages, and raising children. We are building a new society, while the plague-ridden Leviathan that governs us falls to pieces. These things have to be done intentionally and firmly. They need to take hold of our minds every day, and guide us as we move forward to our future.
Should we fall into the trap that has been set before us – of brashly calling for violent revolution the way Powell did, we will surely reap the rewards he has. Powell spent the rest of his life running away from the words he wrote and regretted. Should you take up the charge passed down to us from our forefathers, be sure you can be proud of the words you have written, as they will either inspire the next generation to reach new heights for the South, or it will be a pit from which your children will have to labor and climb.
Deo Vindice.
When it becomes time to start shooting, or throwing bombs, then civilisation has either collapsed, or is about to, or it’s civil war. But in either case, it becomes about survival. It’s also too late, for many.
The best we can strive for, which is something even the Bolsheviks strive for, is a quiet takeover, or in our case, reclamation of government. Which for us amounts to taking back our Southern government at the state and local level, and exploiting political circumstances like those that the current viral epidemic is presenting. Politically, not violently.
This has been my strategy but I’ve had more than a few rebuke it as pointless and ineffective. Perhaps I may write a detailed article in the future as to the how’s and why’s but it’s nice to see I’m not the only one that thinks this.
Hope for the best, work towards the best but prepare for the worst. Any one who is out there trying to jump start a “revolution” is straight up retarded and has probably already lost. I’m not one to think that victory will be handed to us but working in local and state politics is so much more impactful than some weird conspiracy.