If You Push A Negative

Ridicule Is Man's Most Potent Weapon. It Is Almost Impossible To Counterattack Ridicule. Also It Infuriates The Opposition, Who Then React To Your Advantage.

As An Organizer I Start From Where The World Is, As It Is, Not As I Would Like It To Be. That We Accept The World As It Is Does Not In Any Sense Weaken Our Desire To Change It Into What We Believe It Should Be - It Is Necessary To Begin Where The World Is If We Are Going To Change It To What We Think It Should Be.

The End Is What You Want, The Means Is How You Get It. Whenever We Think About Social Change, The Question Of Means And Ends Arises. The Man Of Action Views The Issue Of Means And Ends In Pragmatic And Strategic Terms. He Has No Other Problem; He Thinks Only Of His Actual Resources And The Possibilities Of Various Choices Of Action. He Asks Of Ends Only Whether They Are Achievable And Worth The Cost; Of Means, Only Whether They Will Work. ... The Real Arena Is Corrupt And Bloody.

We Must Face The Bitter Fact That We Have Forsaken Our Great Dream Of A Life Of, For, And By The People; That The Burning Passions And Ideals Of The American Dream Lie Congealed By Cold Cynicism. Great Parts Of The Masses Of Our People No Longer Believe That They Have A Voice Or A Hand In Shaping The Destiny Of This Nation. They Have Not Forsaken Democracy Because Of Any Desire Or Positive Action Of Their Own; They Have Been Driven Down Into The Depths Of A Great Despair Born Of Frustration, Hopelessness, And Apathy. A Democracy Lacking In Popular Participation Dies Of Paralysis.

The Standards Of Judgment Must Be Rooted In The Whys And Wherefores Of Life As It Is Lived, The World As It Is, Not Our Wished-for Fantasy Of The World As It Should Be.