# The Rules of Selling Out as a Radical By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-08-07 If one is going to sell out, do so early and often. If one finds this idea sickening somehow, the following rule is to get out as soon as possible with as much as possible. Together, this is how one leverages the system to extract whatever one needs to build the new system. Some may read this and think about the injustices caused by the system when one participates. This is undoubtedly a concern, but one should not be outside the system to behave according to one's values. It is a false dichotomy. All systems, regardless of intention, result in positive and negative outcomes. For example, one may choose to be a vegetarian because one is against animal cruelty. However, growing food via agriculture nearly always destroys local habitats that animals need to survive. Any and every system can be critiqued. To what level does one believe the new system is progressing toward the unobtainable best system? By existing, one is participating in some system. So, it is always up to the individual to decide what they believe and how they act. If one dislikes the system but needs resources to build a new system, one can operate within that system to attempt to extract the required resources according to one's value. However, there will always be times that call for revolution and jubilee. Human-constructed systems tend to fall and accumulate so much waste that purging and starting over is often the only path forward. Identifying these moments usually requires operating within the system to dismantle it effectively. In this way, one is still extracting resources from the system. In this case, one is extracting knowledge to destroy it. So, if one is worried about selling out, know that one always has options. One still has agency and freedom, even if restricted via oppressive systems. However, not leveraging the system for change is often where many people go wrong. The other place people go wrong is becoming seduced by the system and forgetting why one is selling out in the first place. If one adopts the system, one is no longer selling out. One is simply part of the machine. #### Related Items [[Radicals]] [[Selling Out]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Agency]] [[Progress]] [[Revolution]] [[Resource]] [[Existential]] [[Ethics]]