101. All I want is a clear view of the battlefield so I know how to best fight
A healthy mother sees her son surrounded by an angry mob about to attack him. What does that healthy mom want to know - how to escape, herself, to avoid being hurt herself? She wants to know the battlefield, including what resources are available, how many attackers are around her son, what avenues of attack she has, what avenues of escape he might have. She wants to know the battlefield. It's not about her. It's about him - what help she might call - that's part of the battlefield. To protect herself? To protect her son.
If you want to know whether you're an unviolent warrior of hope to the world, or just hope to your own gratification, my brothers and sisters all, if you want to know, then look at yourself. Are you looking for the way that's safe for you? Are you looking for the way that your buddies will want to go along with? Is there anything that is rivaling your interest in simply knowing all aspects, all salient critical aspects of the battlefield - what's the best chance of winning; what's the best chance of winning now; what resources are available; what strategy seems the most promising...?
If you're like 99.9999% of the activists, then those are not your key questions. What can we raise funds for? What do I like to do? What would be fun? Who will go along with it? Will enough people go along with it? What messaging is popular these days? What messaging is in vogue? What will the press think?
As secondary topics these are not inappropriate questions. But in the 'activism' of the last 40 years these are never secondary. They are the central, the only questions.
And what the unviolent warrior throughout history that has been of any hope has wanted to know - tell me about battlefield, I'll figure everything else from there. I want to know about the battlefield. I want appropriate intelligence on what's going on - who's on our side; who is the opposition; who's committed; who's just 'talking;' what resources might we acquire; how much time do we have left; and on, and on, and....
