Disclaimer One : Long post, and if you do not read to the end you will not know what my point is. Disclaimer Two : Encouraging and/or committing politically or ideologically motivated violence is wrong; I condemn it no matter who does it. (Oh, yeah, also please try to remember as you read that I'm a Libertarian not a Conservative). I doubt either disclaimer will do me any good, but what the hell: It's funny, but in the outrage expressed by my friends at Delawareliberal over the recent stories of deranged whackos killing a prominent Arkansas Democrat and parishioners at the UU church, I have somehow missed their coverage of this event, just two weeks ago. From the S an Francisco Chronicle (4 August 2008): (08-04) 04:00 PDT Santa Cruz -- The devices used in two firebombings targeting UC Santa Cruz biologists are similar to some used in the past by animal rights activists, investigators said Sunday. The bombs were so powerful they were like "Molotov cocktails on steroid...

This is a short reflection on the nature of social revolution from part of my larger study of the Cultural Revolution in China. I started to undertake that effort to understand it after listening to my friend Ang's constant sorrow and cynicism after having lived through and participated in the Young Pioneers during that period. I wrote an article called "Apocalypse Mao" back in December 2003 on the nature of the Cultural Revolution while I was living near the Chinese border in India. Only parts of it have ever been discussed. I wrote it on Mao's birthday, December 26, and would like to share the central question of statist political violence it raises with you. In order to understand the mechanics of the Cultural Revolution, it is important to understand Mao's conception of the dynamic "new state." This ideal was made up of "workers, peasants and the lower masses of Chinese society, who through their own struggle had risen up to achieve a modern s...

The following posts discuss tolerance, violence and the reality of both, in sometimes graphic terms. But nothing can prepare one for the ultimate reality of violence which is both harmful and painful; the necessary antidote to violence is tolerance; the necessary antidote to hyperviolence is to restore the appropriate humanity to human relationships. Both are discussed by Steve and I at some length. Like the clap of a zen masters hands: wake up to the reality of systematized violence and hyperviolence and more forcefully than any words: you should learn to be tolerant.

Hyperviolence is an form of intellectual and human deconstruction that comes from the depth and need to be part of a brave new dystopia. It is not at all unique. The grave mistake we make is to think that such hyperviolent behavior by one class of people against another is something new. It is nothing new. The Hellenistic period in the west, and Waring States period in China were full of radically hyperviolent, pure desire driven sycophants. Power, desire and protest and the typical triggers as this picture from Mynmyar shows. Japan of course has a long history of hyperviolence both real and imagined typified by the beautiful destruction in anime where we see Zatoichi the one time Buddhist/ Shintoist hero of Japanese folklore turned into a ruthless killer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g839-k8pf_o China's cultural revolution was the single most hyperviolent and least understood event of the last century. http://www.morningsun.org/index.html The hyperviolence Steve d...