The Dilemma That Patriarchy Poses

Some days, we have to believe six completely obscene things before breakfast

The beams fired by the ADS feature 3mm wavelengths as opposed to a 12cm wavelength used in an average household microwave oven. As a result of the shorter wavelengths, the weapon does not represent a radiation risk to victims and will not impose long-lasting damage in most cases.

Human volunteers (active, reserve and retired military personnel) subjected to the beam felt immediate and immense pain from the ADS weapon. The beam causes a person to feel that he or she is on fire and triggers a "flight" response. A result, Air Force officials say that the weapon has what is called the "Goodbye effect" meaning that subjects turn tail and run. "If hit by the beam, you will move out of it -- reflexively and quickly. You for sure will not be eager to experience it again," reported one test subject.

Tests on the volunteers revealed that most subjects reached their threshold for pain within 3 seconds while no one could hold out for more than 5 seconds at a time. After roughly 10,000 test exposures, there were only six reported cases of test subjects receiving blisters from exposure to the beam. One test subject did, however, receive second-degree burns in controlled laboratory testing. . . . In one war game, an assault team staged a mock raid on a building. The ADS was used to remove civilians from the battlefield, separating what the military calls "tourists from terrorists."


From The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk:


"Why didn't we start weapons production three months ago?" a young woman asked.

"We have no factories to make guns and bombs and laser rifles," said a large man whom Maya had seen before, speaking for the Technician's Guild. "We have no consensus to build them. And if we had, it would have been at the expense of something else, food production, or communications[,] or transport. . . .

"That's exactly what they wanted. We could have tightened our belts," said a young man who was, in Maya's opinion, already far too thin.

"Maybe," said the big man. "But if we start choosing guns over food and water, we become what we're fighting against."

"But if we lose to the Stewards, we won't have the luxury of choosing food or water over anything else."

"That's the dilemma patriarchy has posed for the last five thousand years," Greta said. . . .

"Isn't that our collective challenge, then?" Lily said. "if we don't have guns, we have vision and imagination."

"A vision ain't much protection against a laser rifle," a voice called from the back of the crowd. . . .

"Don't give up," Lily addressed the room as the discussion lagged. "We are simply challenged now to extend our imaginations beyond solutions that have been tried before."