“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins–or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom–Lucifer.” Saul Alinsky
So reads the 3rd acknowledgment at the beginning of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals–a work inspired by the devil.
Now, maybe it’s just me, but, you know, when I’m casting about for an inspiration or something motivational, the devil just doesn’t come to mind. I would have to suspend everything I know about evil, somehow wall that off in my mind, before I could look for something good about the devil to inspire me. Maybe I’m lacking in a mental capacity that great thinkers possess. Maybe Alinsky was a world-class sociopath who would stoop to any low to justify himself.