GenSeneca
Well-Known Member
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
by Saul D. Alinsky
[excerpt from the prologue]
"What I have to say in this book is not the arrogance of unsolicited advice. It is the experience and counsel that so many young people have questioned me about through all-night sessions on hundreds of campuses in America. It is for those young radicals who are committed to the fight, committed to life."
[excerpt from the opening paragraph]
"What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away".
The Twelve Rules for Radicals:
RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood.
RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news.
RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem.
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
Alinsky's several rules of the ethics of means and ends:
* The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment.
* In war the end justifies almost any means.
* Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.
* Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.
* The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.
* Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.
* The morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.
* Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.
* You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.
* Goals must be phrased in general terms like "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," "Of the Common Welfare," "Pursuit of Happiness," or "Bread and Peace."
Pragmatism teaches the ends justify the means but states it as a "whatever works" approach to problem solving, this is done to avoid pragmatism being seen for what it is;
Pragmatism is a complete rejection of morality, ethics, principles and truth:
Whatever works becomes moral.
Whatever works becomes ethical.
Whatever works becomes the principle.
Whatever works becomes "truth".
In the mind of a Pragmatist;
There are no absolutes.
There are no facts.
There are no fixed laws of logic.
There is no truth.
Only that which is practical is considered useful. This means only the ends are to be considered in evaluating the means.
For Radicals, such as Saul Alinsky, pragmatism was the ultimate ideology but its flaw is obvious... If there are no absolutes, and therefore no truth, then nothing can be considered practical. In practice this proves true, for what the Pragmatist considers practical today will become impractical tomorrow and must be changed accordingly, Ad Infinitum.
By rejecting objective truth, whatever one wishes to be true is considered true, provided it works or makes one feel better about the problem.
By rejecting existence, whatever one wishes to exist, does exist, provided it works or makes one feel better about the problem.
By rejecting absolutes, such as objective truths, as impractical, pragmatism dooms itself to being the least practical of all ideologies.
by Saul D. Alinsky
[excerpt from the prologue]
"What I have to say in this book is not the arrogance of unsolicited advice. It is the experience and counsel that so many young people have questioned me about through all-night sessions on hundreds of campuses in America. It is for those young radicals who are committed to the fight, committed to life."
[excerpt from the opening paragraph]
"What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away".
The Twelve Rules for Radicals:
RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood.
RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news.
RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem.
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
Alinsky's several rules of the ethics of means and ends:
* The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment.
* In war the end justifies almost any means.
* Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.
* Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.
* The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.
* Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.
* The morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.
* Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.
* You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.
* Goals must be phrased in general terms like "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," "Of the Common Welfare," "Pursuit of Happiness," or "Bread and Peace."
Pragmatism teaches the ends justify the means but states it as a "whatever works" approach to problem solving, this is done to avoid pragmatism being seen for what it is;
Pragmatism is a complete rejection of morality, ethics, principles and truth:
Whatever works becomes moral.
Whatever works becomes ethical.
Whatever works becomes the principle.
Whatever works becomes "truth".
In the mind of a Pragmatist;
There are no absolutes.
There are no facts.
There are no fixed laws of logic.
There is no truth.
Only that which is practical is considered useful. This means only the ends are to be considered in evaluating the means.
For Radicals, such as Saul Alinsky, pragmatism was the ultimate ideology but its flaw is obvious... If there are no absolutes, and therefore no truth, then nothing can be considered practical. In practice this proves true, for what the Pragmatist considers practical today will become impractical tomorrow and must be changed accordingly, Ad Infinitum.
By rejecting objective truth, whatever one wishes to be true is considered true, provided it works or makes one feel better about the problem.
By rejecting existence, whatever one wishes to exist, does exist, provided it works or makes one feel better about the problem.
By rejecting absolutes, such as objective truths, as impractical, pragmatism dooms itself to being the least practical of all ideologies.
