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Three Letters Re: The Gray Man in the Coming Storm
Jim:
On Tuesday Jan. 27th, SurvivalBlog readers found 12 [follow-up] letters
concerning the recent "Gray Man" letter. I believe the writer's of
the majority of those letters need to go back and re-read the original Gray
Man post. That post included several suggestions for "surviving" within
an area of control of a repressive government. They included putting pro-government
bumper stickers on your car, checking out pro-government library books, accepting
with
a smile the government ID chip, gladly taking and using a government credit
card and thanking the government for doing a good job. These are not "Gray
Man hide in plain sight" activities.
These are all actions that actively support the government. These are all activities
that say to your neighbors that you support the government and that you think
it's
actions are proper. Whatever your secretly held thoughts might be, your actions
are what your children and friends will see and it may add to their own doubts
about their yearnings for freedom.
Please consider, if you choose not to openly fight repression, at least choose
to not support it. You don't need to quickly line up to get a chip or credit
card. Don't get it until you feel you have no other choice in order to survive.
You don't need to put a government bumper sticker on your car. If you are afraid
to proclaim what you really believe, say nothing at all. Don't give support
to your secretly held enemy. Simply ignore them in every way possible. At the
least, by complying as slowly as possible, you will slow the government machine
down.
Several of the 12 letters spoke about spies of WWII and how they engaged in
activities to gain favor with the enemy, in order to gather information for
the Resistance. One letter spoke about a soldier alone behind enemy lines,
who did as much as he could to avoid detection and detention, in order to return
to his own lines. These are not examples of so called "Gray men".
They were soldiers doing an assigned job in order to defeat the enemy. The
villagers who secretly fed the partisans during the War in Europe were not
Gray Men displaying happy faces. They were patriots supporting the war behind
the front lines. Any of them that were caught were summarily executed. The
so called "Gray Man" of the original post would do nothing to cause
his arrest or worse.
It is said that during the American War for Independence, about a third of
the population of the colonies put their lives, their families, and treasure
at risk to gain Freedom. A third were blackguards who supported the king, and
a third just stayed home and hoped somebody else would do the right thing.
I would hope that in the coming days, we Americans can do at least as well
as our ancestors. I pray that, at the least, there be one Patriot for every
miserable "Gray Man". - Jim in Ohio
Mr. Rawles:
This "Gray Man" mini-controversy has prompted me to weigh in on the
matter. I am mildly surprised at the strong reactions to it, although I suppose
I shouldn't
be. To be frank, this is precisely the survival mindset as taught in military
SERE schools.
The younger, and more passionate among us are mildly amusing in their
rants against it. I suppose they need to really scrub down your mission statement,
as it were, before spouting off about such things. Is your goal the survival
of your family, other retreat members, and yourself, or, are you out to fight
against the outlaw gangs, UN troops, T-1,000 [Terminator]s, etc.
Yes we would love to do both, but obviously(?) depending on what happens, you
may have to choose one or the other. In many scenarios, it may be necessary
to hunker down and just survive the initial chain of events before even considering
venturing out to right wrongs and slay evil-doers. So in theory, the Gray Man
concept may be necessary to live to fight another day.
Would I submit to the indignities described or defiantly say hell no and go
down in a blaze of glory? The timing of your defiance would certainly seem
to be critical. If you waited too late and found yourself in a corner and had
to submit to it, hopefully you would be able to escape at some point and head
for the hills. If you saw it coming in time enough to escape and join with
other like-minded individuals, then you may be in a position to resist.
There are so many variables here, to sit and argue over such things is pointless.
You may be on reconnaissance from your retreat and get policed up in a sweep
and in end up in a camp. You may have to become the Gray Man to facilitate
your escape.
The world is not so black and white. In unconventional warfare, being the Gray
Man aptly describes many skill sets necessary to fight a stronger opponent.
You
only need look at recent history to understand how this works. You can get
on-line and frontal assault the machine gun nest, or you can wait till they
are marching back to camp and ambush them.
Seems kinda obvious to me, but it's gonna take more then pure hearts, raw courage,
and hard work to defeat your enemies. It may also take swallowing your pride,
being beaten and humiliated, and biding your time for when you strike back.
If you are captured and maintain this overtly defiant attitude, likely as not
you will be shot outright, and do no one any good.
So I think each man needs to do some soul-searching here. Are you really doing
what's best to accomplish your goals, or is this your pride, or ego talking?
Semper Fi, - Diz
Dear Jim,
After following the "Gray Man" debate, I have to say that I agree
that the; "They can kill me, but I'll die a free man." position
sounds great, but is a prime example of testosterone toxicity. However,
that still leaves the issue of capitulation vs. effective resistance. The problem
being that no one to date has presented any compelling suggestions as to how
an effective resistance can be mounted. Anyone who tries to start is with the
idea of becoming a rallying point, winds up cheered, jailed and forgotten;
anyone who has a the right strategy seems to be silent. My problem is that
we all know and understand the problem; there is no real
need to keep chewing on it.
E-mail, Forums, Blogs, Broadsheets, Shortwave radio shows; [is just] talk,
talk, talk. The Tyrants are perfectly content to let us rant, and rave, and
even spout
the
truth about how they are enslaving us all. Just so long as we comply with
each and every edict, and with each one, we are lead inexorably, to accept
ever heavier chains.
What we need is some ideas on effective resistance; solutions to the problems
of creeping enslavement? Please don’t tell me, or anyone that “dying
a free man” is useless, unless you can tell me also what else I might
do, besides surrender.
Who then will provide us with solutions? Who can answer the question: How do
you effectively resist the Tyrants without going to prison, or getting killed?
Political action is a waste of time, "We the People" are ignored.
I admit that I am not smart enough to know the answer. Where is our V, our
Danneskjöld?
Without such a leader, or without such ideas, I see only the ability to throw
more bodies in front of the Juggernaut, until it is
starved for a lack of slaves, and victims.
So my question is not; "Who is John Galt?, but rather " John Galt;
Where are you?"
Happy Trails - Fanderal
