And so it's a bit annoying that I find a quote from him that I 100% agree with:
The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an "equalizer." Egalite implies liberte. And always will. Let us hope our weapons are never needed — but do not forget what the common people of this nation knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny."Final defense". Damn. Even a dirty commie (sort of) is spot on. At least on this.
* Really, and don't ask.
7 comments:
I'm afraid I wouldn't know Edward Abby from Abby Road.
He always struck me as more of a crypto-Wobbly. Well, except for maybe the 'crypto' part.
Hell, I thought Abbey was dead. Are we talking monkey-wrenching Abbey or another fella?
Mike, it is indeed the monkey-wrenching guy.
In The Monkey Wrench Gang he wrote very eloquently about American men and weapons. But you're right, in addition to being an enviro-mental elitist he was a dirty commie.
Not much of a fan of Abby either, he's an Ur-Leveller and a perverse advocate of Eco-terrorism. He knew which side his bread was buttered and ate from the dirt-side when it fell anyhow - and pretended to like it. But like Mao and Lenin and Stalin he knew where POWER begins and ends, and it's not the power chord of a Big-Hair Big-Anthem Rocker, or a "Corporate" Bigwig with a private jet...
I always thought of Abbey as the classic rebel, resisting any authority that told him he had to do this or that. Nevertheless, I never met him, so in person perhaps he was a giant A- hole. I have known a few like that.
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