I finished the chapter on means and ends. Alinsky outlines his relativistic and utilitarian approach to ethics, and while to a certain extent I can't agree with him on either of these philosophies, I don't disagree completely either. I doubt there are are many humans, no matter how vehemently they adhere to the idea of universal truths, who wouldn't bend their ethics to save their lives or the lives of their children. This is the question Alinsky asks: "Does this particular end justify this particular means?" Even when I argued in the past against moral relativism, I understood that a) stealing is wrong and b) I would definitely steal food for my children if they were starving. In a religious sense I also understood that we had to obey God, but that there was no way on God's green earth I would have obeyed God and begun the process of murdering my own child. For what purpose?! What was that lesson supposed to teach?
Here are the two of the most salient ideas I took from the chapter:
"[O]ne's concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one's distance from the scene of conflict."
That one hit home. How easy it is for, as he calls them (me), "the observers" to opine on the ethics of something they're not personally experiencing.
Second, and related:
"... the secure position in which one possesses the choice of a number of effective and powerful means is always accompanied by that ethical concern so admirably described by Mark Twain as 'The calm confidence of a Christian holding four aces.'"