If we fight, we would likely lose
For the foes are strong today
But no matter how bad the odds
A chance of success remains
If we don’t fight but submit
Trusting promises, bowing to threats
No chance remains anymore
We can’t win if we place no bets
So bet every shred of strength
And resist no matter the cost!
Those who try have a chance
Those who give up are lost
“The end result, which we want to avoid, is the concentration camp. The gulag. The gas chamber. The Spanish Inquisition. All of those things. If you are in a death camp, no one would fault you for resisting. But when you’re being herded towards the gas chamber, naked and seventy pounds below your healthy weight, it’s too late. You have no chance. On the other hand, no one would support you if you started an armed rebellion because the government posts speed limits on open roads and arrests people for speeding. So when was it not too late, but also not too early?”
(John Ross, Unintended Consequences)
Oleg, thank you for your pictures and your words. As a country we seem to have forgotten how are freedoms came but also (and more importantly) why those freedoms came.
I didn’t notice until I zoomed in, Black eye, bloody lip and bullet hole, nice detail.
Uh-huh.
The chief problem with soldiers is, that they generally don’t come alone. Like policemen. And you can bet that if you kill one or two near your domicile, a whole busload may eventually appear. And then, if you don’t have claymores or really good flamethrower or automated machinegun traps you are screwed.. and really, individuals cannot continute this escalation indefinitely.
Now, taking out a whole squad of soldiers armed with bolt actions with just one pistol.. doable, but it’d take a real good shooter with nerves of steel, I think.
So fight, but strile first, and pick your battles carefully, and never give the enemy the chance to strike back at you.
I didn’t say that you’d win in the long run…though you might win long enough to escape. Just that you force them to use a dozen soldiers to get you instead of being able to control a dozen scared, unarmed people with a single policeman.
And you don’t have to fight until you have nothing to lose. That’s why I showed the tiny hideout 25ACP pistol as the weapon…it could fit anywhere on the body and come out when the intentions of the state agents or other criminals became completely clear.
When you don’t fight someone who is fighting, you always lose.
Oleg! Buddy! Definitely like these last two pics. Theyre quite the departure from much of your recent stuff. Usually the impact comes from the text you add to your images, but these ones have the images do all the talking. Excellent, excellent stuff.
Excellent work. Powerful imagery. We all think back about the atrocities of the past and wish that we could have helped, that we could have done anything to save those innocent people. But what you continue to show us is the truth: there is hardly a more generous and benevolent act a man can make than to provide good people with the means to defend themselves from evil.
As I read the poem, that exact passage from Unintended Consequences came to mind.
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You need to add a Poetry category on your blog now.
While an armed rebellion today over arrests due to exceeding posted speed limits would seem unwise, it would not be morally wrong. The state has no business being a road owner, save perhaps only post roads, and mere “speeding” infringes upon the rights of no one. (Obviously, any damage done by a driver for any reason is the sole responsibility of the driver regardless of circumstances.)
For Peaceableguy:
You say “Obviously, any damage done by a driver for any reason is the sole responsibility of the driver regardless of circumstances.”
That is clearly NOT true if said driver is a pig or a Master. I would hope that all understand that.
Let’s not forget Churchill’s quote:
“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
I like the K98 Mauser.
Oleg, while I understand your use of 1940’s German uniforms and props, I think it’s time to put US government and local SWAT team uniforms in your work. That’s what we’re facing today. That’s what Jose Guerena faced.
Explanation by analogy. No one doubts the ethical correctness of shooting Nazis, only the utility of it for individuals. Most people are still trying to figure out how to tell “bad SS” from “good Wehrmacht” in the US. But I do have an idea on how to explain that in visual form.
“America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.” — Claire Wolfe – 101 Things to Do ‘Til the Revolution (1996)
I think it was Emiliano Zapata (Mexican revolutionary) who said “it is better to die on my feet than to continue living on my knees”. Hey, when they load you into the boxcars and send you to the “re-education camps”, you are dead anyway. Might as well take a few of the bastards with you, so you have some enemies to serve you in Valhalla.
And who says a revolution will consist of the armed citizens fighting “the military”. Most guys I know in the military take their oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” FAR more seriously than do the current crop of political “elites”. Even some of the military in Libya and Syria are refusing to support the regime – why would you assume that the Constitutional patriots who enlist in the US military would be against the people who share their values, are their families and friends, and come from the same bedrock American values? You might get a few political generals who would support a socialist dictatorship, but the NCOs and field grade officers out on the sharp end would not go along with that crap.
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