Cruelty Revisited

I am currently reading "William Wallace: The King's Enemy" by D.J. Gray. In this book is a brief description of the sacking of Berwick in then, Scotland. To the left, you see the remains of Berwick Castle. Through the use of deception, king Edward I won the day, as it were, and an estimated 17,000 to 60,000 civilians were slaughtered at the hands of the English. The carnage, around Easter Week, 1296, finally ended when Edward watched his men hack to pieces a woman giving birth.

I then think of the glorifcation of cruelty via Mel Gibson in movies like Braveheart. Mel Loves a good killing and lots of cruelty in his movies. It shows in a lot of his films as well especially those since Braveheart. I would be absolutely terrified of the cruelties that could be enacted by a man who glorifies such things in his movies. Could you imagine the horrors this man would cause if he were in control of the military in Iraq? Not that what we are doing there isn't bad enough, but I'm sure Mel could find ways to make it much worse.

Even so, cruelty is a tool used throughout the ages for a handful of fucked up assholes to control the populations of folks in nations they want to steal the resources from. Nothing has changed except the weaponry and the assholes in charge. Look at Fallujah. Look at all of Iraq and Afghanistan. Look all over the world and pretty much anywhere you will find cruelty that made life the way it is.

Here in the states, we have a nice comfortable relatively safe lifestyle. Shusli described to me a horrific act of cruelty against a black couple in the south, the woman was pregnant. She read it in "The Culture of Make Believe" by Derrick Jensen. Derrick is not afraid to tackle the issues of cruelty and how they formed life here so I can sit at this computer and safely write these words to you.

Tree sitters rape/d women. Alleged forest defenders were cruelly raping their female comrades left and right at tree sits, and probably still are. Alleged peace activist leaders are often racist, sexist, and control freaks. With a desire to control, one needs to use methods of control to keep their "followers" in line, as it were. Bicyclists will declare themselves kings of the road because they don't burn fossile fuels, but they will indeed behave disdainfully should you not accept their self-serving self-proclaimed kingships. Vegans are kings of everything by simple dietary choice. Kings...WE DON'T NEED NO FUCKING KINGS! Most alleged leaders in low level movements to co-King George, it would seem, want to be fucking kings over somebody. Cruelty is the name of the game to gain that kingship. Someone falls out of line, and the king needs to bring them back in. Cruetly doesn't have to come in the form of hacking a woman giving birth to death, it could come in the form of raping women at tree sits, abusing your "groupies" who may try to think for themselves, talking down to those you consider your inferiors like those who drive cars or eat meat, etc.

I am no leader, never have been, never will be. I have indeed done battle with many of the folks from the above mentioned groups. I, too, am not a nice guy. But more than anything in the world, I think it is time the cruelty fucking stops. I do not see those who are defending themselves as comparative to those enacting the violence. I would not think that a woman who hacks a fellow tree sitter to death with a meat cleaver that is a rapist as an act of cruelty. That to me would be justice. The fucking rapist is the cruel piece of shit.

And cruelty is all around us in many forms to keep us all in line. It doesn't take a whole lot of observation or staring out the window to find it. Fear... Fear is a powerful tool that can easily be used against us by those ready and willing to glorify their worthless fucking asses at our expense. 15 years ago, I would have been afraid to speak as I do, especially openly like I am. I've changed.

We have to end cruelty in this world. Cruelty like that which would be enacted on us by various kings at various levels on the heirarchy. Fuck the kings!

FUCK THE KINGS!