As an adherent of the Non-Aggression Principle I came to the conclusion some time ago that I had to be very careful about how I thought about it. I realized that like any system with rules if I blindly apply rules in a certain way then others can seek ways to exploit my adherence to those rules. This is true of the NAP as well.

People that are truly familiar with the Non-Aggression Principle know that while we do not intend to be aggressive we know that defending ourselves, and defending others who are being aggressed upon is not aggression. It is defense.

Generally speaking this is a really good idea as far as I am concerned. It also fits the Golden Rule quite well. The famous "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." which is a rule that transcends Christianity and actually has variations written going back into ancient Egypt. If you are an atheist then embracing the golden rule doesn't make you religious. It is a statement of morality and ethics rather than being a religious statement. It just happens to be a fundamental concept within some Christian denominations and believers.

I tend to embrace the Golden Rule and the Non-Aggression Principle.

I deal with gaming, with network security, and other things and have off and on since before I was a teenager in the 80s. I've noticed that hacking generally speaking is not always a bad thing. It is actually a skill at looking at a system and identifying ways those that created the system did not plan for. This can be an exploit if it is considered a bad thing. It can be a loop hole if it is not considered bad. Ultimately I don't consider exploit or loop hole to be bad. It all depends upon what you do with them whether they end up good or bad. Just like any tool. You can use a hammer to build things, or you can use a hammer to smash someone's skull in. It is the use of the tool that ultimately matters.

Human nature is easy to ignore when we are trying to envision a way the world could operate that would be truly wonderful. "Peace, love, and flower power". It is the reason that things like socialism, Communism, and Marxism tend to find fertile soil in the minds of people. They are really simple concepts. If a person just thinks "I like the sound of that" and runs with it they feel like they are doing good and it is simple. They don't have to put much thought into it. They trust that someone they view as "smarter" than themselves thought out all the pitfalls. They didn't. Aiming for simple solutions to big systems in reality always has huge exploitable flaws. They often leave out very important variables. That variable is often ignoring human nature. In the long run socialism, Communism, and Marxism transform into the ultimate government monopoly with the so-called "central planners", "representatives", or "leaders" living like Kings and Queens while the rest of the population are reduced further and further in terms of actual freedom. Right now one of the infamous sayings of Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum (WEF - unelected) is "You will own nothing and you will be happy." Have you seen the Matrix? If you have then you have a good clue at what that statement means. You will be put into some situation where you are blissfully unaware of reality and instead are living in a manufactured reality. This can occur in digital space but it is increasingly happening in the world too. For example: Stay at home, don't leave. Order what you need it will be delivered.

The thing is Klaus Schwab and his ilk will not be living that way. They will move freely, consume freely, and eliminate those they choose to eliminate. How would you know when someone is eliminated? You are now relatively motionless so you would not see it happen. You may interact in a digital space and you may or may not notice someone you used to hear is no longer around to talk. Yet you may not. You own nothing, but you are happy. That is because you can be lazy, and move from one digital experience to the next. As someone who crafts digital experiences it bothers me. I often view what I do as some new form drug that is being used to enslave us. Remember what I said about tools above and how they can be used for good or bad?

Now recall what I said about Human Nature. Those who want power over others seek it. Those who do not want it don't. If people are concerned with an easy simple life of fun then they tend to cater to these power seekers getting power. How? A task comes up that needs someone to do it. "Any volunteers?" The power seeker volunteers. Everyone else sighs in relief and goes back to their life. Within this pool of volunteers other tasks come up that require volunteers or promotions. The power seekers will naturally trickle up through these power structures. That applies to every large organization whether it be a religion, a government, or a business.

How often have you studied history and noticed the founder of a company was rather benevolent and cared about the world? It is pretty common. Yet generations later after that founder is gone the power structure they left behind has been taken over by power seekers. This is a fact of human nature. All those of us that don't want power need to do in order to make this inevitable is to not volunteer.

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So what does this have to do with the NAP?

Those of us that practice the NAP tend to think of aggression as overt and something we can see happening near us. At least that seems to be the common perception. Those are the only cases we will tend to use defensive force.

That is where the exploit exists.

All someone that wants to control a practitioner of the NAP need do is erode the foundations of their world around them off in a distance until any overt aggression can no longer be opposed or perhaps it is no longer even necessary because the adherent to the NAP no longer has a survivable foundation to stand upon.

I realized focusing only on what is overt and obvious in my face aggression was leaving me and my family very vulnerable.

If someone passes a law that then empowers a government agency to aggress upon me that is something far more difficult for me to defend myself against than someone simply breaking into my house or charging at me with a club. It is actually far more dangerous to many people.

I realized that bureaucratic and government assault upon rights is a form of aggression. It is simply not overt until it is too late to stop it.

If there are those advocating to remove the rights from people is that a time to treat them as aggressors? That is a hard pill to swallow yet with the way the world is going that is increasingly seeming to be the truth. It isn't comfortable but I am finding it increasingly difficult to deny.

Most of the peaceful avenues for me to put up a defense have been closed. There is a sliver of hope but those are slim due to how corrupted by the power seekers all the "authorities" to enforce such things, "protect", and "educate" us have become.

I did one thing I could. I moved somewhere I thought I'd have a better chance of surviving with my family and I tried to heighten my vigilance to what is going on in the world. I'll take action where I think it has a chance of succeeding in terms of removing some of this corrupt right stealing slave master mentality. I have no intentions of my home being part of a plantation, a matrix, etc.

The NAP is a beautiful concept yet we need to look further than just beyond what is right in front of us with our senses if we are truly to defend ourselves and others against aggressors.

If it is not voluntary and requires force, or coercion then it is aggression.

WORDS are not aggression or violence. I am not referring to any of that WOKE nonsense.

No matter how many times I call you a name, or say "I want your face bruised" will you actually manifest any physical effects. It is not violence. Some may say it leaves mental scars and that is why they claim it. How we handle mental confrontation and what results from that is largely an aspect of how you are educated and raised. If you are trained to constantly look for things to be offended by and you think in terms of things like microaggressions then your mind is in a very weak and undefended space. Same is true if you base your world view on "safe spaces". These are your mind ignoring reality. So instead of acknowledging reality and training your mind how to face it and move on (we used to call this being mature) you are embracing a spiral that makes you very weak when faced with the truth. Rather than embrace the truth you'll instead lash out at those trying to show you the truth and demand your slave masters do something to stop them from talking to you and showing things that hurt your mind. Thus you end up calling words VIOLENCE when they are not. You talk about hate speech when rarely does the speech you are talking about have anything to do with hate other than being something you don't want to hear so "YOU HATE IT". The hate is in you, not in the words. When you demand an agent of power stop those you don't want to hear you are the one endorsing force and violence.

These are all things to keep in perspective I think as we look at the Non-Aggression Principle. I think the NAP is still ultimately important I simply have acknowledged I need to look at things attacking the foundations that are required to survive and thrive. It is like having a termite infestation. If you wait until a beam collapses your house is probably in very bad shape. Same is true of our lives and the FORCE people are using against us at a distance.

Before I end this I want to state one of my current beliefs.

What is a right?

A right is anything you can attempt to do for yourself without requiring anyone else to do it for you. If something you consider a right requires forcing someone else to do it for you that is called slavery.

• We can use our mouths to speak.
• We can attempt to heal ourselves.
• We can seek out and attempt to feed ourselves.
• We can attempt to educate ourselves.
• We can attempt to defend ourselves.