A Patriot’s Response to Alinsky’s 12 Rules for Radicals.
A Patriot’s Response to Alinsky’s 12 Rules for Radicals.
by Peter G. Voisin August 29, 2009
Background:
(This is an expanded version of the 2000 Third Quarter issue of Public Relations Strategies,
a quarterly publication of Miyamoto Strategic Counsel)
To paraphrase some sage advice, ”keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.” If your business or organization ever becomes a target of radical activists, it will be extremely helpful to know what strategies of attack will used against you. Short of having spies infiltrate their organization - a practice that is sure to be found out and exposed to your discredit - it would help to study their methods.
Known as the ”father of modern American radicalism,” Saul D. Alinsky (1909-1972) developed strategies and tactics that take the enormous, unfocused emotional energy of grassroots groups and transform it into effective anti-government and anti-corporate activism. Activist organizations teach his ideas widely taught today as a set of model behaviors, and they use these principles to create an emotional commitment to victory - no matter what.
Grassroots pressure on large organizations is reality, and there is every indication that it will grow. Because the conflicts manifest in high-profile public debate and often-panicked decision-making, studying Alinsky’s rules will help organizations develop counteractive strategies that can level the playing field.
Governments and corporations have inherent weaknesses. And, time and again, they repeat mistakes that other large organizations have made, even repeating their OWN mistakes. Alinsky’s out-of-print book - ”Rules for Radicals” - illustrates why opposition groups take on large organizations with utter glee, and why these governments and corporations fail to win.
Large organizations have learned to stonewall and not empower activists. In other words, they try to ignore radical activists and are never as committed to victory as their opposition is committed to defeating them. Result? They are unprepared for the hailstorm of brutal tactics that severely damage their reputation and send them running with their tails between their legs.
Some of these rules are ruthless, but they work. Here are the rules to be aware of:
(Rules are underlined with additional comments in regular font.)
(Peter’s responses start with > and are in BLACK CAP BOLD)
We are involved in a war, a war between spirituality and egoism,
a war between truth and falsehood, between right and wrong!
Against the Rulers of Darkness
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age.” (Eph. 5:12)
[To Lucifer] ..the first radical known to man, who rebelled against the establishment,
and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom.”
(From the Dedication page of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals”)
RULE 1: ”Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.”
>NO. If the enemy tests you and what you think they have, they don’t have, you gain an advantage.
ALWAYS TEST THEM AND TAKE THIS ‘BLUFF” OFF THE TABLE.
Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people.
>NO! There is a third. Values!
IF WE HAVE VALUES AND THEY DO NOT, THREE OF A KIND BEATS A PAIR!
”Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)
>SO WHAT! iCaucus IS people!
IF THE PROGRESSIVES THINK WE ARE BEING CONTROLLED BY GOVERNMENT OR CORPORATIONS, LET’S HELP THEM BELIEVE THAT. (We are just Patriots and so they are fighting another set of “grass-root” citizens)
RULE 2: ”Never go outside the expertise of your people.”
>BINGO! Now we have an advantage. The progressives need the BORG to function.
WE USE THE US CONSTITUTION AND EACH OF US IS AN “ARMY” OF ONE!
It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
>BINGO! Now we have a SECOND advantage. The progressives need the BORG to FEEL SECURE.
WE ARE ALREADY SECURE BECAUSE WE HAVE THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND THEY HAVE NOTHING!
(Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don’t address the ”real” issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)
>BINGO! Now we have a THIRD advantage. Since radicals have no knowledge of what America needs to flourish, we expose them on this very point. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE/ CONSTITUTION/ BILL OF RIGHTS. WE HAVE IT! THEY DON’T!
RULE 3: ”Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”
>GREAT! Exactly what is our expertise? The internet? Articulate communication? Informed research?
THE ONLY EXPERTISE WE DO NOT HAVE IS YELLING AND DESTROYING THINGS AND INSULTING PEOPLE AND LYING. LET THEM HAVE THAT AND SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE THEY CONVERT!
Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
>NOPE! ONLY WE CAN INCREASE OUR INSECURITY, ANXIETY, AND UN CERTAINTY. THIS IS JUST ANOTHER BLUFF WE CAN TAKE OFF THE TABLE!
(This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
>NOPE! OUR FOUNDING FATHERS ACTUALLY OVERCAME EXACTLY THAT USING THE CHARTERS OF FREEDOM.
RULE 4: ”Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
>Excellent strategy! So what are our rules?
FREEDOM! CIVILITY! INCLUSION! TRUTH! DIALOGUE NOT DEBATE! FOUNDING FATHER’S DOCUMENTS! OK. LET’S INVITE THEM TO HELP US LIVE UP TO THEM! WE CAN THANK THEM FOR THEIR HELP!
If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters.
>NO! OUR RULES CAN BE FOLLOWED!
You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
>NO! OUR RULES CAN BE FOLLOWED!
(This is a serious rule. The besieged entity’s very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)
>THE REVERSE IS TRUE. IF THE 12 RULES FOR RADICALS CAN BE NEUTRALIZED THEY WILL HAVE TO COMPETE ON ISSUES AND WILL LOSE BADLY!
RULE 5: ”Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”
>NO! TRUTH is man’s most potent VALUE! WE DON’T USE THE TERMS DEFENSE OR OFFENSE.
THEY ARE AT WAR (DESTROYING) WITH US. WE ARE BUILDING SOLUTIONS (CREATING)!
There is no defense.
>THIS IS EVIL! Rule 5 discusses human relationships in war-like terms. There is no humanity in this vocabulary.
THE DIALOGUE-BASED RESPONSE IS:”YOU WIN. YOU’RE THE INSULT KING. I SURRENDER!”
>“NOW DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT. LET’S GET BACK TO THE ISSUES AND I WANT TO HEAR YOUR SOLUTIONS BECAUSE I HAVE NOT HEARD ANY YET.”
It’s irrational.
>YES. SAY THAT BACK!
It’s infuriating.
>NO! IT’S ONLY INFURIATING IF YOU WANT IT TO BE.
IT’S ACTUALLY CHILDISH AND VERY IMMATURE. SAY THAT BACK!
It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
>THIS IS PURE BULL. DON’T SWALLOW THIS CRAP!
(Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)
>NO! ONLY WE CAN CREATE ANGER AND FEAR IN OURSELVES.
WHEN THEY SEE THAT THEY ARE NOT CREATING IT, DOUBT WILL START TO SEEP INTO THEIR MIND BECAUSE THE 12 RULES DON’T SEEM TO BE WORKING LIKE THEY WERE TOLD (THE “BORG”) THEY WOULD!
RULE 6: ”A good tactic is one your people enjoy.”
>VERY WEAK RULE! AGAIN THE RADICAL’S WORLD IS BUILT ON EMOTIONS NOT VALUES.
WE NOW HAVE AN ADVANTAGE HERE.
IF THEY DO NOT ENJOY THEIR EXPERIENCE, THE 12 RULES BECOME A BURDEN AND THEY HAVE NO PLACE TO GO. THEY ARE THEN EXPOSED TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES WITH NO SOLUTIONS. (Their world is built on Emotion - s a n d. Ours is built on Truth - R O C K! )
They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more.
>NOT IF WE CAN CREATE AN UNSUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCE BY HAVING THE 12 RULES FAIL!
They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
>NOT IF WE CAN CREATE AN UNSUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCE BY HAVING THE 12 RULES FAIL!
(Radical activists, in this sense, are no different than any other human being. We all avoid ”un-fun” activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)
>HOW PATHETIC IS THIS.
RADICAL ACTIVISTS ARE QUITE DIFFERENT THAN US. THEY DESTROY. WE CREATE.
RULE 7: ”A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.”
>WE WIN AGAIN. THESE RULES HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR DECADES BUT HAVE NEVER BEEN CHALLENGED METHODICALLY. ONCE THEY ARE, THEY WILL BECOME A DRAG!
Don’t become old news.
>SORRY! WE WILL MAKE THAT HAPPEN!
(Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)
>FAILURE WILL LEAD TO MUCH MORE THAN BOREDOM. IT WILL LEAD TO PANIC AND FRUSTRATION!
RULE 8: ”Keep the pressure on. Never let up.”
>EXACTLY! THE WILL NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, BE ABLE TO OUTLAST LIBERTY AND FREEDOM LOVING PATRIOTS!
Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance.
>EXCELLENT! WHEN THE RULES FAIL, LET THEM FLAIL AT RANDOM ACTS OF DESPERATION!
As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
>TRUTH MASTERS WE ARE. LET THEM CONTINUE TO MASTER DECEPTION AND LIES.
(Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
>COUNTER ATTACK, COUNTER ATTACK, COUNTER ATTACK, COUNTER ATTACK, NOT FROM ALL SIDES BUT 3 DIMENSIONALLY, AND FROM WITHIN. WE WILL PLANT THE SEED OF DOUBT WITHIN THEIR BEING AND LET THEM IMPLODE!
RULE 9: ”The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.”
>WE WIN AGAIN. IF THEY TRY TO PLAY THE SHELL GAME, LET THEM. WHEN THEY FIND OUT THAT THE REAL THING IS ACTUALLY MORE TERRIFYING TO THEM THAN THE THREAT, THIS RULE WILL VAPORIZE.
Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
>IMAGINATION AND EGO IS ALL THE ACTIVIST HAS. THIS PUFF PIECE OF WORD GAMES IS PATHETIC. TRUTH AND HUMILITY WILL BEST IMAGINATION AND EGO EVERY TIME.
(Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists’ minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)
>SORRY TO BREAK THIS TO YOU BUT YOU ARE NOT DEALING WITH A LARGE ORGANIZATION. YOU ARE DEALING WITH MILLIONS OF PATRIOTS THAT THINK MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DIFFERENT WAYS AND CHALLENGE YOU USING OUR IMAGINATIONS POWERED BY THE CONSTITUTION, THE TRUTH, AND THE FREEDOM TO HOLD OURSELVES TO ACCOUNT FOR OUR OWN BEHAVIOR. YOUR PERCEPTION IS FANTASY.
RULE 10: ”If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.”
>STUPID THINKING! A NEGATIVE WILL ALWAYS BE A NEGATIVE. WHEN REPETITION DULLS THE BRAIN YOU HAVE DEFEAT NOT A POSITIVE. YOU LOSE AGAIN BECAUSE PATRIOTIC AMERICANS WILL NEVER ACCEPT A NEGATIVE AS A POSITIVE.
Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
>EXACTLY! THAT IS WHY WE WILL NOT BE VIOLENT. THE PUBLIC’S SYMPATHY DOES NOTHING FOR THE PUBLIC ONLY FOR YOU. THE PUBLIC WANTS TO BE EMPOWERED AND NOT SIT AROUND DROWNING WITH EMOTIONS.
(Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management’s wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)
>WHAT PLANET ARE YOU LIVING ON? IT’S THE UNION THUGS THAT ARE THE VIOLENT ONES TODAY. YOU ARE FAILING WITH YOUR OWN RULE (#10).
RULE 11: ”The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.”
>RULE 11 IS RULE 10 PUT DIFFERENTLY. RULE 10 STATES THAT YOU USE A NEGATIVE TO CREATE A POSITIVE. RULE 11 SUGGESTS THAT AN ATTACK –negative- CREATES A CONSTRUCTIVE ALTERNATIVE –positive. AGAIN YOU CANNOT CREATE A NEGATIVE OUT OF A POSITIVE, NEGATIVES DESTROY. POSITIVES CREATE. YOU CANNOT CREATE SOMETHING BY DESTROYING IT.
Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.
>OPPS! TRUTH DOES NOT KEEP SCORE. IT PROVIDES A WAY OF LIVING WITH SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS. SCORING POINTS IS NO WAY TO LIVE. NOT ONE OF THE 12 RULES DISCUSSES OR ENCOURAGES A SOLUTION TO ANYTHING. THESE RULES ARE DESIGNED TO DESTROY NOT CREATE.
(Old saw: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)
>OPPS! YOU LOSE AGAIN. YOU NEED TO EARN A SEAT AT THE TABLE BECAUSE OF THE SOLUTIONS YOU BRING NOT THE DESTRUCTION YOU CAUSE. LOOKS LIKE YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A FORUM TO WIELD YOUR POWER. WIELDING POWER DOES NOTHING TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS.
RULE 12:
Pick the target,
freeze it,
personalize it,
and polarize it.”
>WOW! THAT’S SO CREATIVE. WHAT A WONDERFUL FORMULA FOR CREATION. THE GOD-LIKE POWER IN THESE STATEMENTS IS QUITE REMARKABLE. JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY A THING DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT CHANGES A THING.
• PICK ME (GO AHEAD! MAKE MY DAY!)
• I DO NOT FREEZE BECAUSE I KEEP MOVING AND ADAPTING!
• I AM ALREADY PERSONAL SO WELCOME TO MY WORLD!
• SORRY! I DO NOT POLARIZE. YOU DO BUT NOT ME!
Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy.
>NO CAN DO. I HAVE MILLIONS OF PATRIOTS IN MY (VERIZON) NETWORK. HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE?
Go after people and not institutions;
>BRING IT ON, I AM NOT AN INSTITUTION.
People hurt faster than institutions.
>>NO ONE CAN HURT ME UNLESS I GIVE THEM PERMISSION TO. PERMISSION DENIED!
(This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)
>LOVE IS STRONGER THAN CRUELTY!
>FALSE CRITICISM IS NOT EFFECTIVE AND IS NOTHING MORE THAN LIES SO IT IS IGNORED!
“RIDICULE IS A SIGN THAT I HAVE WON THE BATTLE OF IDEAS. YOUR RIDICULE OF ME
ANNOUNCES THAT YOU HAVE LOST AND I HAVE WON”.
_____________________________________________________
End Alinsky’s rules
PREPARING FOR ALINSY’S 12 RULES AND COUNTERING EACH OF THESE VIRUSES WITH THE VACCINE IS HOW WE WIN THIS PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR OF DESTRUCTION VS. CREATION.
JEDI KNIGHTS OF AMERICA:
THE FORCE IS WITH US.
LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!
