Abolitionist Manifesto A through N: a 14 step program

A) The behavioral context we find ourselves in (the world of past & contemporary social relations) is despicable.  This is our subjective opinion.  We want to change the world.

B) The behavioral context we find ourselves in is a set of repeated, mimicked, reproduced “bad” habits.  We desire new habits all around.  We criticize the old.

C)  This is because at some level we do not believe it is written, we do not believe it is “human nature”, we do not believe it is necessary.  We believe in volition, choice and agency.  We believe the constraints of a higher power can be undone.  This is our faith.

D) The world does not change in response to our critique.

E) We begin self critique to examine our own part in reproducing the world.  We experiment with new behaviour.

F) Because our experiment is not a habit, it feels contrived and fake.  That is because it is.  It is unfamiliar territory.

G) The world does not change because of our experimentation.

H) We remember that the world has forced our hand, we resist.  Self-critique is pointless because the world is not our fault.  It is not ourselves who need to change but everybody else.

I) The world does not change, we are defiant so we stand our ground.  It is a face off.

J) The world does not change.

K) Feedback to position A).

L) We understand that our stumbling point resides somewhere around positions C) and F).  This is the point of uncertainty, foreign ground, absurdity, novelty, the different, the opportunity, the transcendent possibility, the patamimesis, the jumping off.  This is subjective rupture.

M) We discover that difference is a scary place, there are dangers in any adventure, even as it seems so enticing.

N) The choice, the only choice is whether or not to try on our new shoes, to see if they become more comfortable after a breaking in period, if they become us, or if they need discarded.  We do not tolerate bare feet walking on thin ice and razor-blades.  We try on a different pair of shoes.