Cheri Montagu

My blogs

Gender	Female
Occupation	Writer
Location	San José, California, United States
Introduction	My new blog, "Suicide and Freedom" (http://suicideandfreedom.blogspot.com), is based on the fact that our society is no longer a democracy and that it is therefore no longer possible to bring about change in any of the traditional ways, by "working through the system", civil disobedience, or even revolution. If a conscientious person tries to protest by disobeying an unjust law with the expectation that he will have a fair trial and be sent to an ordinary prison, he will instead find that he is allowed no trial at all and will be sent to an institution where he will receive brain-damaging psychiatric "treatments" which will make him forget why he took the conscientious stand in the first place. In such circumstances, the only rational alternative for the political dissident is suicide. Suicide under such circumstances is not a manifestation of despair, but rather of defiance, of a refusal to be "broken". It is above all a triumphant affirmation that there are things more important than mere existence.
Favorite Movies	Chushingura, Mutiny on the Bounty
Favorite Music	Randall Thompson's The Testament of Freedom, Beethoven's Fidelio
Favorite Books	John Stuart Mills' On Liberty; various works dealing with rebellion against oppression.