“To pander to those who have no stomach for straight language, and insist upon bland, non controversial sauces, is a waste of time.”
Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals
“ONE CAN LACK any of the qualities of an organizer – with one exception – and still be accepted and successful. That exception is the art of communication. It does not matter what you know about anything if you cannot communicate to your people. In that event you are not even a failure. You're just not there.”
Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals [start of chapter “Communication”].
“The young react to their chaotic world in different ways. Some panic and run, rationalizing that the system is going to collapse anyway of its own rot and corruption and so they’re copping out, going hippie or yippie, taking drugs, trying communes, anything to escape. Others went for pointless sure-loser confrontations so that they could fortify their rationalization and say, ‘Well, we tried and did our part’ and then they copped out two. Others sick with guilt and not knowing where to turn or what to do went berserk. These were the Weather men and their like: they took the grand cop-out, suicide. To these I have nothing to say or give but pity – and in some cases contempt, for such as those who leave their dead comrades and take off for Algeria or other points.”
“Prologue” in Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals
“Let us in the name of radical pragmatism not forget that in our system with all its repressions we can still speak out and denounce the administration, attack its policies, work to build an opposition political base. True, there is government harassment, but there still is that relative freedom to fight. I can attack my government, try to organize to change it. That's more than I can do in Moscow, Peking, or Havana. Remember the reaction of the Red Guard to the ‘cultural revolution’ and the fate of the Chinese college students. Just a few of the violent episodes of bombings or a courtroom shootout that we have experienced here would have resulted in a sweeping purge and mass executions in Russia, China, or Cuba. Let's keep some perspective.”
“Prologue” in Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals [imagine quoting Alinksy to rein in modern radicals not encourage them... but I do]
“As my Dad used to say, ‘you don’t plant cabbages and pick roses.’”
Reform Party of Canada’s Victoria candidate, Christian Arla Taylor, on why Christians must not expect non-Christians to represent their views, quoted in British Columbia Report June 2, 1997
“Lest we forget an at least over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology lives off and leaves off and history begins – or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.”
“Saul Alinksy” quoted as 3rd of 3 header quotations in Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals [from the “so you admit it” file]
In my latest Loonie Politics column I deplore the prideful inability of people in public life to admit an error and apologize even though, weirdly, it would be better PR than their flailing efforts at spin control, as well as better statecraft and soulcraft.
“What the present generation wants is what all generations have always wanted – a meaning, a sense of what the world and life are – a chance to strive for some sort of order.”
“Prologue” in Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals