West Coast Action

When the same editor looks at radical feminism he sees that some of its more extreme solutions would be dangerous to the System, but he also sees that feminism holds much that is useful to the System. Women’s participation in the business and technical world integrates them and their families better into the System. Their talents are of service to the System in business and technical matters. Feminist emphasis on ending domestic abuse and rape also serves the System’s needs, since rape and abuse, like other forms of violence, are dangerous to the System. Perhaps most important, the editor recognizes that the pettiness and meaninglessness of modern housework and the social isolation of the modern housewife can lead to serious frustration for many women; frustration that will cause problems for the System unless women are allowed an outlet through careers in the business and technical world. Previous Page Next Page

For example, if a news magazine editor looks at the militia movement, he may or may not sympathize personally with some of its grievances and goals, but he also sees that there will be a strong consensus among his advertisers and his peers in the media that the militia movement is potentially dangerous to the System and therefore should be discouraged. Under these circumstances he knows that his magazine had better take a negative attitude toward the militia movement. The negative attitude of the media presumably is part of the reason why the militia movement has died down. Previous Page Next Page

Thus, when an editor or other media leader sets out to decide what attitude to take toward a movement or a cause, his first thought is whether the movement includes anything that is good or bad for the System. Maybe he tells himself that his decision is based on moral, philosophical, or religious grounds, but it is an observable fact that in practice the security of the System takes precedence over all other factors in determining the attitude of the media. Previous Page Next Page

The personal feelings of the media leaders, their advertisers, and other powerful persons are varied. They may be liberal or conservative, religious or atheistic. The only universal common ground among the leaders is their commitment to the System, its security, and its power. Therefore, within the limits imposed by what the public is willing to accept, the principal factor determining the attitudes propagated by the media is a rough consensus of opinion among the media leaders and other powerful people as to what is good for the System. Previous Page Next Page

Of course, this trick was not planned in advance by the System’s leaders, who are not conscious of having played a trick at all. The way it works is something like this: In deciding what position to take on any issue, the editors, publishers, and owners of the media must consciously or unconsciously balance several factors. They must consider how their readers or viewers will react to what they print or broadcast about the issue, they must consider how their advertisers, their peers in the media, and other powerful persons will react, and they must consider the effect on the security of the System of what they print or broadcast. These practical considerations will usually outweigh whatever personal feelings they may have about the issue. Previous Page Next Page

What this writer hopes to convey together with the works of Kaczynski, and others to come, is that a great deal of current issues in both wings of politics and elsewhere are made up of token struggles that serve little purpose outside occupying one's time. It feels like we're repeating history because we are. And we will continue to do as long as the most fundamental systems and processes that underly it exist. Since we are a part of that system, and in many ways support it and suffer in its name, the destruction of the Beast begins with changing ourselves and how we move through our world.

3. The System’s Neatest Trick So, in a nutshell, the System’s neatest trick is this: 1. FOR THE SAKE OF ITS OWN EFFICIENCY AND SECURITY, THE SYSTEM NEEDS TO BRING ABOUT DEEP AND RADICAL SOCIAL CHANGES TO MATCH THE CHANGED CONDITIONS RESULTING FROM TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS. 2. THE FRUSTRATION OF LIFE UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES IMPOSED BY THE SYSTEM LEADS TO REBELLIOUS IMPULSES. 3. REBELLIOUS IMPULSES ARE COOPTED BY THE SYSTEM IN THE SERVICE OF THE SOCIAL CHANGES IT REQUIRES; ACTIVISTS ”REBEL" AGAINST THE OLD AND OUTMODED VALUES THAT ARE NO LONGER OF USE TO THE SYSTEM AND IN FAVOR OF THE NEW VALUES THAT THE SYSTEM NEEDS US TO ACCEPT. 4. IN THIS WAY REBELLIOUS IMPULSES, WHICH OTHERWISE MIGHT HAVE BEEN DANGEROUS TO THE SYSTEM, ARE GIVEN AN OUTLET THAT IS NOT ONLY HARMLESS TO THE SYSTEM, BUT USEFUL TO IT. 5. MUCH OF THE PUBLIC RESENTMENT RESULTING FROM THE IMPOSITION OF SOCIAL CHANGES IS DRAWN AWAY FROM THE SYSTEM AND ITS INSTITUTIONS AND IS DIRECTED INSTEAD AT THE RADICALS WHO SPEARHEAD THE SOCIAL CHANGES Previous Page Next Page

The resentment of the more conservative members of society was directed primarily against the radical feminists rather than against the System and its institutions, because the changes sponsored by the System seemed slow and moderate in comparison with the more radical solutions advocated by feminists, and even these relatively slow changes were seen as having been forced on the System by pressure from the radicals. Previous Page Next Page

For example, there were several reasons why it was to the System’s advantage to get women out of the home and into the workplace. Fifty years ago, if the System, as represented by the government or the media, had begun out of the blue a propaganda campaign designed to make it socially acceptable for women to center their lives on careers rather than on the home, the natural human resistance to change would have caused widespread public resentment. What actually happened was that the changes were spearheaded by radical feminists, behind whom the System’s institutions trailed at a safe distance. Previous Page Next Page

But the activists don’t act only as the System’s enforcers. They also serve as a kind of lightning rod that protects the System by drawing public resentment away from the System and its institutions. Previous Page Next Page