Betsy Hagestedt

“[…]any tool can also be a weapon of oppression as easily as it can be an implement of construction.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Ancestral Night

“Everything in your life. Is you choice, and every choice that you make has an impact on the universe. Every moment of your life you are making choices, even when you choose not to choose. Every choice will either follow the flow of the universe or it will create a disturbance. Once you’ve made a choice, you live with the consequences.
You cannot be forced to make a choice. Someone points a gun at your head and says, “do this,” it’s still your choice; you could choose to be shot. So, you can never blame others for your choices. Don’t ever be a martyr. Don’t make choices that your heart opposes. It’s irrational to say, “I make this choice because I have no choice.”
Never compromise. Once you’ve made a choice, accept it, embrace it, do it with love.”
― Harold R. Johnson, Corvus

“Richard had taken his time to answer. “Mega-corps don’t exist, or at least they wouldn’t exist if we didn’t buy into them.”
“Bullshit. It wasn’t that long ago. You’re forgetting about the militias.”
“No, I remember them all too clearly. I was in a militia before I joined the regular force. It wasn’t the corporation committing war crimes. It was us on the ground.”
“Acting on orders.”
“Doesn’t matter. It was still us. We give them the power they have, we carried the guns. The corporation only exists because we believe it does. We used to believe in dragons and unicorns, now we believe in Monster Incorporated.”
― Harold R. Johnson, Corvus

“He remembered Virgil’s words. “Never belong to an ideology, by belonging you become winded. Even an ideology of liberation will ultimately ensnare its adherents.” There was truth to that. He remembered the battles, first of words, then of arms; battles between the democrats and republicans, between liberals and conservatives, between the Greens and the Capitalists, between labour and management; each side believed firmly in the rightful Ed’s of their ideas — if everyone were to agree with them the problems would be solved. Each side had its share of fundamentalists, people who believed in absolutes, in supremacy and rightfulness.”
― Harold R. Johnson, Corvus