Y’know, I’ve tried to make my stance on political violence clear enough that even you can understand it through the cloud of your obsession with trying to turn me into you at the cost of my principles and my soul. But since that hasn’t worked despite all the times I’ve talked about my stance in the past, let me try to make this clear one more fucking time.

I believe that violence is a life-changing act for both those who are affected by it and those who inflict it. That is why I don’t advocate for violence as the first, best, or only solution to any problem. I advocate for its use only as the last possible resort when all other non-violent solutions have either failed or become obsolete. A police standoff with a hostage-taking gunman could end with the gunman giving up and the hostages going free due only to negotiations⁠—but if the situation gets to a point where the only solution to keeping the hostages alive is “put a bullet through the gunman’s forehead”, so be it.

In terms of politics and society, I hold a much similar idea in my head: Violence shouldn’t be an option for dealing with the government until the government makes it the only reasonable option. Yes, I refer to Trump and his idiot henchmen as Nazis. Yes, I believe they’re a genuine threat to the safety and security of marginalized people. (And yes, I’m privileged enough to fly under the radar in that regard.) But you’ve been asking me to endorse violence when, at this time, the threat from the Trump administration towards many marginalized groups is theoretical at best.

And before you go jumping down my throat about undocumented immigrants: Yes, I’m aware of what’s been going on with that group. If it makes you feel vindicated or whatever, I would actually endorse people using violence against anyone who tries to pull that “masked men taking people off the streets” shit. Doesn’t matter whether the masked men are ICE agents, human traffickers, or a couple of dipshits looking to kidnap a brown person they think they can rape/kill without consequence.

The threats we face are theoretical, but they’re also very much real in the sense that the Trump administration will eventually get around to carrying out those threats if people don’t push back now. That’s why I suggest non-violent actions such as protests⁠—whether they happen at a representative’s home, in the halls of a state legislature, or even at the White House. I know those things don’t get the glamor or the attention of violent acts. But they still get attention and they can still have some kind of impact. Just look at the Tesla protests.

I support marginalized people fighting back against the government any way they can. And if and when I feel violence is necessary as part of that fight, I will endorse such tactics. Your problem with me, as best I can tell, is that I’m not willing to endorse it right out of the gate as the solution everyone should go to first⁠—or maybe you’re pissed at me for not endorsing lethal violence, or not endorsing violence of any kind against people who voted for Trump or…shit, do you even know (or care) at this point?

I’m privileged enough, for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture, to be insulated from the worst effects of the Trump administration. I’m also underprivileged enough, also for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture, to have no significant resources to speak of when it comes to opposing the Trump administration. As I’ve said before: I’m just some schmuck with a laptop. Take my bullshit as virtue signalling or whatever; I know that talk is cheap and action has a real cost. By the same token, violence is an act with a much greater cost⁠—for the victim and the perpetrator⁠—which is why I can’t and won’t endorse it as an “ideal” solution to anything but situations where violence has been made necessary.

None of this should be taken as me trying to stop you or anyone else from indulging in sadistic bloodlust. I don’t have the power to stop you from starting your fabled Revolution™ if that’s what you really want. Alls I can do is ask you to think about when you believe you must stain your hands with the blood of those who would harm you⁠—and whether they’ve actually tried to harm you before you go all Splatterhouse on them. Would you be defending yourself and others from a direct threat of pain and misery, or would you be indulging in your worst impulses as a sickening form of “preëmptive defense”?

My principles aren’t defined by a single boost on Mastodon or an offhand comment on this site. They’re defined by my experiences with and feelings about violence. The use of violence is the use of a life-changing power⁠—and with great power comes great responsibility, or so the line goes. I’m not asking you to forgo violence as even a last-resort option; pacifism is stupid and being a martyr just means you’re dead. But all the same, I’m not going to be a bellicist who declares war against the Trump administration until that kind of violence becomes necessary. I agree that for some people, that point may have been reached with this secret police bullshit⁠—and I won’t begrudge them if they start punching and kicking and clawing and pepper-spraying Trump’s secret police as those masked bastards try to kidnap someone else. And I’m aware that this position is privileged as hell, but I don’t believe that any stronger violence against anyone even tangentially related to the Trump administration has been made necessary.

…yet.

Now if you’re going to stay parasocially obsessed with me, I suggest you contact me outside of this site. I ain’t hard to find⁠—which your keeping tabs on my Masto account like a creepy-ass stalker proves⁠—and I’ve already clogged up enough of this site with my bullshit on this subject as it is. So, are you going to stop taking my shit so personally that you stalk me everywhere I hang out on the Internet, or are you going to let it fucking go before you start masturbating to the idea of making me the first victim/“warning shot” of your long-awaited bloodletting?