Chew That Gum
December 20, 2024Richard Thieme
thiemeworks.com
Use what you have to achieve what you want
Anything, everything, can be weaponized in a battlespace that is the mind of society.

Saul Alinsky, the late great community organizer from Chicago, wrote a terrific guidebook to securing power for the powerless called, “Rules for Radicals.” One of his anecdotes concerned a student from a very strict religious university who asked for advice about a rule the students wanted to change. Alinsky asked what they were still able to do in that restrictive environment.
“Nothing,” said the student. “We can’t do anything.”
Alinsky said, “Can you chew gum?”
“Oh, sure, we can chew gum,” said the student.
“OK,” said the master of strategy, “Use what you have to get what you want. Get everyone to chew gum and throw it down on all the sidewalks on the campus. Keep that up until you can’t walk anywhere.”
Sure enough, the rule was changed after the administrators were defeated by the use of an innocent, legal, permitted activity that had been weaponized.
Anything, everything, can be weaponized in a battlespace that is the mind of society. There are always legal opportunities and loopholes that can be identified, powered up, and mined to combat an oppressive administration. Use what you have, do what you can do, and strategize and plan using Signal instead of Facebook. Think about what you want to achieve and how you can achieve it.
Even when shackled in a prison cell, a human being can discover the freedom, power, and resilience that is intrinsic to essential humanity. The only way someone can take that away is by convincing you that you do not have it. Then you won’t use it.
Chew, chew, chew that gum.