More Sacred Cows That Need Smashing
The second part in the series of beliefs about resistance that aren't helping you anymore.
Last week we began a series on obsolete or just awful beliefs that still permeate the resistance culture. Today we’re presenting more of those sacred cows, and explaining why they’re potentially lethal weaknesses. If you’re serious about resistance, you need to understand these.
If you haven’t read the first five, you can do so here.
For the rest of you, let’s continue.
6. If we just get the message right, we’ll win.
This is the siren song of idealists. Messaging is important, sure. But no slogan, no meme, no single brilliant documentary will ever break the inertia of a population trained to obey. The right message can help, but people will not act unless they feel personal stakes and personal agency. Narrative alone never wins wars; it supports those who are already moving. This also dovetails with the belief that “if people hear the truth, they will act.”
Narrative is critical and you need to control it. However, it’s not a substitute for gaining the buy-in and emotional investment of the public, and you can only get that if you can act in a way they can believe and trust. That requires a lot more than propaganda.
7. We can vet people once and be done.
This one really chaps me. Groups often treat vetting like a one-time security pass. That is a critical error because individuals can change even if collective human nature does not. In fact, it’s because collective human nature doesn’t change that you need to have a continuous vetting process.
People’s circumstances change, and that means the point of leverage changes. Imagine that Joe is a solid person who is entirely trustworthy. But then Joe finds out that he is in deep financial crisis because his wife had a wallet full of credit cards he didn’t know about and a penchant for online shopping. Suddenly his marriage is in trouble and he needs a whole lot of money really fast. When the stake is being able to feed your kids and put a roof over their heads, it’s amazing what you’ll be willing to do, and an infiltrator knows that. And this is only one of a thousand different ways that someone’s situation, in part, may dictate their trustworthiness.
That’s a tough pill to swallow, but let’s break it down. Let’s say that you have a very highly developed sense of morals. You don’t lie, cheat, steal, or engage in violence. Chances are, however, that in a grid-down situation, you would steal if you had to. If you were questioned about your group activities in a law enforcement situation, you would try to lie. If someone harmed your child, you would realize very quickly what kind of violence you are capable of. That doesn’t mean you’re a ‘bad person,’ it means that leverage works. There are situations in which you will set aside Value A, such as not stealing, in favor of Value B, which is providing for and protecting your children.
All of this put together means that you cannot "vet and forget." Continuous vetting is the price of group safety. If you do not build this expectation and process into your group culture, you are a soft target.
And for the record, I’m not talking about running an internal spy network that functions as some kind of nasty internal affairs bureau. I’m talking about fostering a culture of transparency where people feel safe being open about situational changes because they know that these changes can breed problems in the group.
8. We can fix dysfunction later after _________.
No, you can’t. Dysfunction is a rot. If your group has a weak link, a manipulator, or an emotional vampire, you must deal with it now. Not after the next rally, not after the next planning meeting.
Now.
Dysfunction grows and metastasizes. I have personally watched strong groups with good goals collapse under the weight of a single out-of-control personality who was never checked.
In one case, a member who was known to have a hot temper was repeatedly covered for with statements like, “Yeah he’s a bit much but he’s loyal.” If you’ve been reading for a bit, you already see multiple problems within that statement.
Guess what? Mr. Hothead pulled his weapon at a public event because he got mad. Not only did he make a big scary scene in the moment, but the ensuing aftermath meant his very open ties to the group on social media also tarnished the group. As I say repeatedly, you are only as good as your worst member. Did it matter that no one else in the group had an anger problem? Nope. And now the group has a public image problem; to fix it, they need to redirect a lot of resources away from their actual efforts to handle what could have been completely prevented. Ejecting the member at that point wouldn’t even be enough; the logical question is “how did you not see this coming? Were there no signs of this?” Of course there were; the group just ignored them.
Don’t wait for an incident to occur. There is no later. There is only now.
9. Unity is more important than truth.
Hard fact: There is nothing more important than truth.
Read that again, as many times as you need to. Truth is the system you run on, the bedrock of your orientation. Without it, you have nothing. Pursue truth at all costs, including your group itself. Anyone who fights that pursuit should not be in your group to begin with, and anyone who leaves because of it did you a favor.
Groups will ignore red flags, downplay dysfunction, and silence dissent in the name of “unity.” That’s not unity at all; that’s suppression. If your cohesion depends on ignoring reality, you have groupthink.
Real unity comes from trust built through accountability and intentionality, not blind agreement. If you aren’t free to name the truth inside your group, you’re done. In fact, if your group is not actively seeking truth no matter where it leads, you are on a path to collapse.
10. We just need the right leader.
Here’s the final bitter pill for today:
Groups and even larger movements fall into hero-worship because it’s easier to outsource responsibility than it is to develop internal discipline.
Charismatic leaders come with blind spots, vulnerabilities, and personal traumas too. The best leaders build capacity in others and decentralize function. The worst keep the spotlight and drag the group down when they fail or fold. If your plan hinges on one person being brilliant and bulletproof, you’re not only being mentally lazy and undisciplined, but you’re in a cult.
Keep doing the work.
All of this is part of your ongoing, never-ending reorientation. You absolutely must be brutal in your constant assessment of the group’s culture, belief system, and decision-making practices. Kick out the bad, make room for the good, implement it, and then look for the bad again.
Never stop.