There exists an insidious drive to assimilate revolt into politics. Attack must be justified by the deservingness of its target, its material effect, or the positioning of it in an abstract conflict. I am no moral actor. I do not concern myself with cause-and-effect. I regard it all as farce. I am an agent of my own will and my cause is direct experience!

For those who have acted in revolt, it is clear there is value in the act itself. The feeling of aligning reality with your will in disregard for the limits of society. This is the immediate experience of anarchy. It fills me with a joy that has no opposite. A spiritual ecstasy of direct experience. It is something no politician, no activist can experience. It is reserved solely for the lunatic whose passions overwhelm them, spill out into the world, manifesting in moments that feel like lifetimes.

I watched that assassination video of that CEO and I am struck how calm it is. The manner in which the assassin pulls the gun, fires the fatal shots, and escapes the crime scene appear fluid and relaxed. Of course, I can hardly imagine how nervous  the gunmen was in the hours, minutes, and seconds leading up to the assassination. But I feel certain that in the moment of the shooting the gunmen experienced a profound, intense, altered state of consciousness.

This state of consciousness cannot be experienced by those who allow their lives to be determined for them. Neither by those who attempt to change this society which determines their lives. To value yourself based on society’s values is to stay trapped within its illusion of progress, where social control is perfected to subsume all. Those who would defend an action based on its moral righteousness disgust me. You have sparsely experienced anarchy – that which consumes all morals – bringing one face to face with reality. Do you back up and consider how society wants you to react? Or do you thrust forth!?

Anarchy is lived in direct contact with reality. There is no room for guilt or fear, past or future. To obsess over something that is not this moment is to bring death in this life. To regard society is to wedge its values, mediations, and categories between the individual and reality. Even if one breaks the law they may still see themselves as an agent of society, enforcing morality, representing some abstraction, or enacting the will of something over them.

That CEO shooter may have seen themselves as an agent of society, and perhaps those Squirrel Hill vandals too. One can create voluminous zines defending such actions on the basis of the ills of their targets, inundated with the morals of this society. But who is the audience here? For the uninformed? The information on the cruelty of society and its institutions is both readily available and experienced. We do not need to be reminded of this whenever one is courageous enough to act. For those who may be inspired? It does us no good to be defensive, especially when one attacks. It teaches us to distrust our desires and trust in morals. That being passive is the default, and being active must be rationalized.

I say, let the act stand for itself! It is no bother to me if those in revolt wish to attach a message to the act, in spraypaint, on bullets, or on communiques online and in-print. These can be invaluable in building momentum within certain tendencies of revolt. But for me, I take no interest in justification. If the act is inspiring, it will be because of what is immediately expressed, not your appeal to morals or the future.

When acts of societal disregard and direct experience generalize, anarchy spreads. We experience the joy and power we have been dispossessed of. We enter fits of madness that no appeal to authority can tranquilize. It is in the doing anarchy now that we seduce others… It begins to totalize our lives and surroundings- from free lives to a free culture. Anarchy and chaos reign!

-Anonymous, Christmas Day 2024