About half an hour after the GRIPP showed up everything was sorted out and cleared up. MacIrving had been escorted to the city jail by two other GRIPPs who had arrived shortly after the small fracas erupted, over the loud protests of his friends who were told they were “about one more word away from joining him” before they finally departed, promising that we’d “... not heard the end of this, god-damned hippies and commies pretending to be a police force in this god-damned fairyland ... you’ll be hearing from the Big Irv on this one, lads, you can be sure..”.

Unprovoked violence, however, as I explained to More and Thoreau as we finished our coffees (of which Zam had most kindly brought fresh hot ones for us all, on the house, and we had moved to the larger table with Old Mac and a couple of the others - introductions had been performed all around, and we were talking about the incident, as people do afterwards....) was one of the major crimes as far as the Green Island Assembly, with the full support of almost all Islanders, was concerned - there had been a lot of discussion about this, all over the Island, in small meetings and bigger, once the Islanders saw we were serious about it, and they could speak freely.

“We consider freedom from all types of fear to be one of the necessary prerequisites to true egalitarianism and true freedom, and thus true advancement for all of us,” I said, speaking of a subject dear to my heart, “and allowing and encouraging all members of our society to be, truly, “all that they can be” in the real sense of the phrase. A central part of this, of course, means that such things as intimidating others through physical violence (or any other type of violence for that matter such as economical) are simply not tolerated, as anyone who is behaving in a certain way because they fear violence from someone else is very, very far from free. The ....."

"Yes, of course," said More, "and I'm sorry to interrupt, but surely there are exceptions! - That is to say, for instance, if people are inhibited from killing their neighbours or stealing things from them because they fear punishment - violence - from either the wronged individual or the state itself, surely that is not a bad thing? And who draws the lines about what will attract state violence and what will be accepted, and within which parameters one's freedom shall thusly legitimately be constrained? In some senses this is the very basis of any society at all - what is permitted and what is not!"

I smiled. "An excellent observation, and of course that is true," I replied, "and such things were the cause of much concern and discussion for quite awhile around here, believe me! But eventually we came to agreement on this, by and large - there is, you must admit, a world of difference between the man who refrains from killing his neighbour and stealing his property because of fear of state punishment, and a second man who is prevented from living a full life, is indeed living a very poor life, because HIS neighbour is, through violence, forcing him to spend his days labouring to make his neighbour, or master, wealthy. A fear of violence in both cases is central to the observed behaviour - but in one case leading to a good end for society, and in the other a bad end for not only the one individual, but society as well, for this man might have a great deal to contribute, were he free to do so - we understand well that we may not yet be perfect, but that is the path in which we are trying to head, maximum freedom from fear for all. As to choosing what behaviour is to be tolerated and what not - well, we let the people themselves decide that, as we let the people decide pretty much everything - if I may defer that particular discussion for a few hours, we shall be observing such a thing directly this afternoon, if all goes according to plan.

"However, a central thing required in this case - and, for that matter, in most of what we do here on Green Island, in terms of laws or regulations or guidelines or the discussions thereof, requires what we eventually came to call Intellectual Honesty - that is to say, when an individual promotes a certain course of action, are they doing that with the good of society in mind, or simply their own selfish ends, and merely pretending it is for the good of all to try to convince others to go along with them? We see this often - indeed, it was a central component of our old society, which still exists in the rest of Canada, wherein the state undertakes many actions, and laws and regulations, claiming them to be "for the good of all", while in reality, benefiting a few and hurting a lot - it has always been a central problem, the willingness of so many people to lie so egregiously in defence of their own selfish ends. And an equal problem was the unwillingness of so many to challenge those who were lying so for their own ends, while pretending to work for the common weal - it is one of the reasons we have made such an issue of Truth here, in every way we can - the lack of truth, or intentional falsification, is perhaps the single greatest barrier to a decent society for all of us..."

Old Mac had been casually leaning back in his chair, sipping on a morning beer, and listening with a small smile as I expostulated, but now he decided it was time to join the conversation. The man had seen a lot in his years, and from his chosen post outside the societal Box, most of his observations were quite insightful. Living on the street for so many years had had at least one major advantage - his mind wasn't polluted by 4.5 hours of tv every day, every week, every month and year, of his life. Indeed, the oft-complained of ravages of "the drink" on the human brain, while perhaps notable if "the drink" were partaken of in excessive doses, were nonetheless considerably less damaging than the ravages of tv in equivalently excessive doses. Alcohol is a stimulant, enticing the brain to think new thoughts, while tv is the complete opposite, turning off the beta-waves and thoughts at the same time - and the cumulative effect of this, after years and decades, can be quite horrible, if you consider the lost potential of the magnificent human brain. While not promoting drunkeness as a way of life, at least it was now understood, when examined honestly, that it was far less harmful than the control freaks and demonizers of earlier days had made it out to be. We had some researchers working on this, as the fishing and farming communities of the Island, in combination with a societal heirarchy that kept them poor, had always spawned a lot of alcohol abuse, and they were finding some interesting things - as researchers tend to do when some higher authority isn't fore-ordaining their findings, the way most previous alcohol "research" (and much other "research" in the late 20th century) had been conducted - alcohol tended to spark feelings of creativity, and independence, a reluctance to acknowledge authority, a bold willingness to "go where no man has gone before" - all things the Masters of the Western World had wished to discourage in the common people, such things being better left, in their view, to properly sanctioned actors, on tv or otherwise. We, on the other hand, wished to encourage such activities, in our own quest to help all people truly be "all that they could be". And people like Old Mac, dismissed in the old days as a "town drunk", sitting here of a fine morning sipping on a beer, were proof we were on the right track.

"Yes, Stephen is right, as far as he goes," said the grizzled old poet, a small frown of concentration on his deeply tanned and wrinkled brow, speaking in his slow, somewhat rough voice, "but what we are aiming for also, and this honesty Stephen speaks of is one of the central requirements, is a great deal more than refraining from violence because of fear of state reprisals - what you said, Mr. More, was quite true, and for people to be truly free, they must be responsible adults - that is to say, they refrain from violence not because some kind of Big Brother or Big Sister is there with a rulebook and jails watching them, but simply because they know it is the wrong way to behave. I don't kill or steal from you because somebody will punish me if I do - I don't kill or steal from you because that would lessen both of us, in our common goal of being better human beings. That is not to say, of course, they are afraid of violence - mature, strong citizens can do what must be done in any given situation - but they understand that violence on another human being, in any of its myriad forms, is an action having great consequences on many, many lives, rippling with bitter waters through both time and space, and only to be done as a very last resort, or if actually forced into it, through some kind of self-defence - non-violence does not mean weakness, as many have mistakenly believed, but is actually a greater form of strength. We saw the GRIPP in action a few minutes ago - believe me, he could have broken that thug's legs or arms or head in a second, or even killed him if necessary, but he chose the course of minimum force required to restore and maintain order. Which of course leads into the question of why we need any police force at all, in a society of strong and free people hohohohoh!!! - but that is another matter, and I think I just wanted to raise the one point, and have done so!"

"Well, yes, I see," said More, nodding thoughtfully, "you are right, of course, both of you - it may not be an easy matter to arrange, but surely a community that strives to be a civil society must try! And if you are as new as you say with your new way of doing things, I suppose people like the man we saw this morning will not have all been weeded out yet."

When I saw he did not wish to pursue the matter further at the time, I carried on - "So, as I was saying, the minimum punishment, for instance, for violence resulting in little actual damage such as MacIrving’s assault on me (after a fair trial, of course, and being found guilty) is a public apology, and, when appropriate, a fine large enough to relieve any financial loss of the victim and cover court costs and time - those who have no money for such a thing are required to work it off in public service jobs, of which there are plenty. We believe the apology is a necessary, even central, measure, as one who is not forced to acknowledge both his crime and the wrongness of it has little incentive not to repeat it. Almost all cases also result in at least a few days in jail during which the perpetrator gets some time to think about everything, and also during which time he (rarely she) receives visits from several people experienced with assessing and dealing with such violence, and further recommendations are made concerning whether or not the aggressor can be trusted on the street or not."

It was Thoreau's turn for a question. "But what do you do, then, with those who appear unrepentant, and apt to turn to violence again at the first opportunity?"

"Ah - you have hit on one of our larger problems we are grappling with right now - that is something we have not yet entirely resolved, I am afraid," I answered, "and it is causing quite a lot of controversy. In my opinion, I would like to say that biting dogs rarely get a second chance here - it is not all that easy to prove beyond reasonable doubt that someone who has resorted to unprovoked violence once will not do so again, and often the second time with a great deal more violence - but the matter of what to do with such people remains. Some want to simply kill them, on the theory that knowingly allowing rabid dogs to run around the streets is just asking for trouble, but there are many others who shy away from such treatment on humane grounds - a human is not a dog, for starters, and they may understand better as they grow older and wiser that such behaviour is not appropriate at any time - youthful indiscretion can happen to anyone, and does not mean they are evil or unfit for society when they mature. But that leaves the question - what to do? Locking people up for long periods of time is a big drain on budgets, and not really a solution, as it does not cure them. Some want to deport them, but that leads into all kinds of problems as well, primarily how to stop them from returning, as we have neither the means nor desire to institute police-state type border controls. We have tossed around the idea of chemical treatments to try to reduce the aggressive tendencies, but such treatments are again controversial, as well as uncertain of outcome. Fortunately the problem is small and seemingly getting smaller as our education system is much better than previously in teaching young men about their instincts, and how to control or channel them better, which we feel is the only long-term viable solution - but it is an ongoing concern. But good heavens - look at the time! We really must be getting on!"

The time had flown by while we helped the GRIPP get the sequence of events sorted out, and finished our coffees and Frenzz paztiez, and now also the sky was getting rather ominously dark when finally I dragged More and Thoreau away and on down past the Victorian shops, arm in arm like comrades in arms now, as I suppose we were, laughing as the shock subsided and we recounted the high points of our recent experience. On past the original Province House where the historic Canadian Confederation documents were signed in 1867, the wind swirling the leaves in a dusty dance around our feet as we stopped for a moment to admire the new sculpture of "The Council of Truth and Freedom" that had been erected there, and shortly on to the offices of the Island Voice newspaper - motto prominently displayed over the door, dark letters underlying a rather impressive bas-relief of the Island on an oaken bed: