What Happened to Kindness?

Rules for Radicals normalized ridicule as a weapon.

“But be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Rudeness is an external sign of an internal reality.

Have you ever wondered why actions, attitudes, and arguments - particularly on social media - seem so hostile these days? Do you long for the days of respect and kindness?

I remember “the old days,” the days of friendship when people of different principles could treat one another with respect.

What happened?

A Revolution

The Manifesto for Rudeness

Saul Alinsky, a community activist and writer, penned “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals” in 1971.

This book guides future community organizers, aiming to unite low-income communities, called Have-Nots to gain social, political, legal, environmental, and economic power through effective, non-violent means¹.

Here are some key rules from Alinsky’s book:

1. “Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”

2. “Never go outside the expertise of your people.”

3. “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”

4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”

5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense.”

6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.”

Saul Alinsky is the father of community organizing. Almost a decade ago, Brannon House penned a perceptive piece on the background of Saul Alinsky (1909-1972)

“A young Italian Marxist by the name of Antonio Gramsci advised World War II dictator Mussolini that violence was not the way to bring about a lasting revolution people would embrace and maintain. Gramsci wrote eloquently of a "quiet" revolution—one that would transform a culture from within by changing the basic worldview of each and every institution in society. He also cautioned that this revolution would be "a long march through the institutions," not a blitzkrieg of change. And so clear was his strategic thinking that Gramsci targeted Christianity specifically as the greatest philosophical adversary along the way.

Later in the twentieth century, Gramsci’s vision captivated another rising neo-Marxist who codified the Gramsci dream in a 1971 book, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. There, Saul Alinsky detailed the need to penetrate the middle class and re-organize from within. Alinksy articulated tactics for infiltrating every conceivable social institution—including churches.”

Barak and Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Jessie Jackson all called Saul Alinsky their political mentor.

Christianity a Target