I’m willing to bet most of you have never heard of The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. It’s presented as a fiction novel about eco-activists using unconventional means to save the environment. It was published while I was in college (1970s) and was quite the rage among the lefties of that time.
The essence of it should be obvious: Engage in vandalism that promotes their long term goals of saving the earth and nature. You can still get the book from the usual vendors, and if you know where to look, there are PDF copies online. However, this book is not really the point here.
Back when the Internet was still pretty new, some early adopters of the “monkey wrench” concept were underground patriots, those who resist government control. Among the early sites, now mostly all gone, was one that featured a patriot-libertarian slant. A substantial portion of the website was taken up with a right-wing adaptation of the “monkey wrench” concept.
I’m willing to bet most of you can guess what kind of stuff the author was promoting. I don’t recall any of it rising to the level of terror tactics. His concept was to engage in hijinks that weren’t actually destructive, but highly annoying and likely to hinder federal enforcement activities that blossomed under President Clinton. For example, spotting those huge government Chevy Suburbans coming into town, waiting until the wee hours of the morning, and letting the air out of their tires, or maybe splashing water-based tempera paint on the windshields using water-balloons.
The whole idea was to never face anything heavier than misdemeanor charges. Sometime later a few more sites popped up and sort of hijacked the term “monkey wrench” to refer to outright terrorism. I suppose that was just a sign of the times. Today we have Antifa and BLM on the left unrestrained by such decorum as was espoused in the original book. We should expect more of the same, and worse.
Some of you may recognize the name Marvin Heemeyer. I’ve met someone who knew him personally. His rampage with the “killdozer” was twenty years ago. He was just a decent guy who was convinced the system was hostile to human interests. His actions never produced any change, of course. He didn’t have much support among residents of the town. If someone wanted to go that route, it would require far more destruction and loss of life. I can’t imagine anyone having the resources for that. It was a monumental effort just rigging up that bulldozer.
I could imagine someone being convinced it would be worth doing. Heemeyer has quite a fan club spread across the US. The polarization and depth of hostility is only increasing. There’s already been some really inept efforts among normies to strike back. That big J6 affair is an example. Those sites advising folks on how to do mischief are all gone, and your average Joe has way more rage than knowledge. I keep wondering if those with the means and skills (like some veterans) will start taking action, but I also wonder how many are still alive.
It’s going to get ugly, folks.
It’s mostly in England, but I can see normal people finally getting violent with Stop Oil activists blocking traffic, etc.
I’ve seen videos of Germany and some other EU states where the general population have had enough, but it’s obviously rare since it gets shared as if it’s a big deal. If it happened very often, it wouldn’t be noticed.