the chthonian

texts from (the) underground

[hookedonchthonics]

If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth,—certainly the machine will wear out.... [B]ut if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.

Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience,” Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 677

[hookedonchthonics]

Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ, and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?

Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience,” Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 676

[hookedonchthonics]

How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, and enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that he is aggrieved? [...] Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary, and does not consist wholly with anything which was. It not only divides states and churches, it divides families; ay, it divides the individual, separating the diabolical in him from the divine.

Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience,” Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 676

[hookedonchthonics]

The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it. [...] Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.

Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience," Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 675

[hookedonchthonics]

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is not the case now. [...] All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counterbalance the evil. [...] But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer.

Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience," Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 671

[hookedonchthonics]

How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also.

Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience," Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 670

[hookedonchthonics]

It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. [...] Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.

Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience," Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 669

[hookedonchthonics]

The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. [...] This American government,—what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?

Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience," Walden and Other Writings (Modern Library, 2000), p. 667

[hookedonchthonics]

There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment, the time is always now.

James Baldwin, “Nobody Knows My Name,” Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son

[hookedonchthonics]

This was news, news that put a different light on things: Atticus had to, whether he wanted to or not. I thought it odd that he hadn't said anything to us about it—we could have used it many times in defending him and ourselves. [...] But did that explain the town's attitude? The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That's what they didn't like about it. It was confusing.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Perennial Classics, 2002), p. 186

[hookedonchthonics]

Atticus Finch's a deep reader, a mighty deep reader.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Perennial Classics, 2002), p. 185

[hookedonchthonics]

The Maycomb County courthouse was faintly reminiscent of Arlington in one respect: the concrete pillars supporting its south roof were too heavy for their light burden. The pillars were all that remained standing when the original courthouse burned in 1856. Another courthouse was built around them. It is better to say, built in spite of them. But for the south porch, the Maycomb County courthouse was early Victorian, presenting an inoffensive vista when seen from the north. From the other side, however, Greek revival columns clashed with a big nineteenth-century clock tower housing a rusty unreliable instrument, a view indicating a people determined to preserve every physical scrap of the past.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Perennial Classics, 2002), pp. 184–85

[hookedonchthonics]

This time we aren't fighting the Yankees, we're fighting our friends. But remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they're still our friends and this is still our home.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Perennial Classics, 2002), p. 87

[hookedonchthonics]

"Atticus, are we going to win it?" "No, honey." "Then, why—" "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win," Atticus said.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Perennial Classics, 2002), p. 87.

[hookedonchthonics]

Atticus said no, it wasn't that sort of thing, that there were other ways of making people into ghosts.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Perennial Classics, 2002), p. 12

[hookedonchthonics]

Look: the problematic of coalition is that coalition isn't something that emerges so that you can come help me, a maneuver that always gets traced back to your own interests. The coalition emerges out of your recognition that it's fucked up for you, in the same way that we've already recognized that it's fucked up for us. I don't need your help. I just need you to recognize that this shit is killing you, too, however much more softly, you stupid motherfucker, you know?

Fred Moten, in Moten & Harney, The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study (Minor Compositions, 2013), pp. 140—41

[hookedonchthonics]

Civilisation, or more precisely civil society, with all its transformative hostility, was mobilized in the service of extinction, of disappearance. The shit is genocidal. Fuck a home in this world, if you think you have one.

Fred Moten, in Moten & Harney, The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study (Minor Compositions, 2013), p. 140