A Non-Verbal Symbol For Our Cause

[Greg Burnham]

EF should allow the banned DPF members back on if they endorse free intellectual opinion. I don't see anything that deserves banning unless the EF has an agenda.


In my opinion action should be given precedent to ivory tower sophistry. I have to nod towards Mark seeing how he is recommending something that does something vs the literary paper warring that the opposition is glad to contain the other side to. However any action must be guided by the Deep Politics principle.

Translation in English:

IMO: If those who control the EF endorse freedom of intellectual expression, then they should reinstate those DPF members who were banned. I have to nod toward Mark seeing how he is recommending "productive action" as opposed to the literary paper warring to which the opposition limits itself. However, any action must be guided by the Deep Politics principle.




Albert, I translated / phrased it "productive action", you phrased it "something that does something" -- what is the something that is done? IOW: what is accomplished? A salute? Maybe I can get Little Orphan Annie's decoder ring next Saturday and be sure to buy my Ovaltine, as well. I know it seems that Mr. Prior is being harshly criticized, but this is a war zone. If a combatant was really aware that he was engaged in an actual battle, yet came to the field to aid his new comrades with a weapon that was incapable of hurting the enemy would he be met with open arms and a hardy slap on the back? I think not. Better for the novice to be initiated in Boot Camp than in the trenches.

This is a revolution, Mr. Prior. A revolution of mind. It is not the typical revolution involving violence, nor does it involve the change of any government. It is a revolution that must first take place internally. Only then can the message be heard and take root externally.

It's akin to the phenomenon of "The Hundredth Monkey" --

The Hundredth Monkey

by Ken Keyes

The Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, has been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys
with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant. An 18-month-old female named Imo
found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught
their mothers, too.

This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1953 and 1958 all of the young monkeys learned to wash the
sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes the exact number is not known.
Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let us further suppose that later
that morning the hundred monkey learned to wash potatoes.

THEN IT HAPPENED!

By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

But notice. A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea. Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland
troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes!

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It's that kind of thing we seek, Mr. Prior. Although washing potatoes is the subject it is not the point. So too, questions and theories, such as, "Was Oswald on the Steps?" are many times the subject, but not only are they missing the point--they are off the mark, as well. The VALUE of washing potatoes might not have been appreciated intellectually by each monkey directly, but somewhere it was appreciated. Inasmuch as effort is expended on action that adds value to our cause it should be pursued... --leaving the remainder for the rabble.