George Saunders has written a manifesto about his organization, People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction (PRKA). He declares that this organization has become a powerful force around the globe and breaks down what occurs daily for the organization. Starting at nine am in the morning, he explains what transpires in the organization for each hour following that. Along with this, Saunders also breaks down his organization’s goals into phases and at what time each phase is in effect. Each phase is based on the amounts of heinous crimes that PRKA commits. It becomes very clear that no vulgar acts are committed and that is what the organization stands for. Saunders expands on the idea of being a member in his organization by listing off things that “part-time members” do that also help his platform. He goes into further detail by describing certain actions that have occurred all over the world to show how far-spreading PRKA is. He then concludes his manifesto by describing who his members are. He writes “Many of us have trouble sleeping and lie awake at night, worrying about something catastrophic befalling someone we love. We rise in the morning with no plans to convert anyone via beating, humiliation, or invasion. To tell the truth, we are tired. We work. We would just like some peace and quiet…” Saunders is basically saying that those who are apart of his organization are simply good people who don’t want to all the chaos that he describes in his “phases”. Saunders wrote this manifesto as a call out to those who are also in the same position as him and reassures them that they are not alone.

In the reading “Manifesto”, writer George Saunders explains how, and then declares that the use of force, as well as other radical practices, will not prevail over love and peace. He uses many examples of people who seem to be on opposite sides of present conflicts, mostly those rooting from intersectionality, performing acts of kindness towards people who are seemingly on the other side of said conflicts. Saunders makes sure to point out that these people have sets of beliefs that may not coincide today’s standards of morality. For example, he gives a scenario where an anti-gay elderly man gives a gay man one of his loaves of bread in exchange for helping him pick up his groceries, as his grocery bag had broke.
His purpose seems to come from exigence. As the globalization of today’s society becomes more apparent in our lives, hatred for certain groups has become globalized as well. Saunders has created a manifesto in response to this new type of hatred, and perhaps conflict due to intersectionality as a whole, stating that no matter how much force is used by the groups that spread hatred, the overall peace that humanity has with itself will not be compromised.

In Manifesto by George Saunders, he makes a speech about his organization PRKA, or People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction, and what they do in their daily lives. Basically, he demonstrates how peaceful the members of the PRKA are, how they do not infringe on other people’s rights and safety, and how easily they were able to compromise or forgive someone that they disagreed with. He even declared that nonmembers, part-time members, or people unaware that they were members have contributed to this level of peacefulness/kindness and even sometimes help/were kind to the people that they disliked. He also makes a point to include the fact that there were members of this organization all across the globe and that they are able to outnumber anyone who opposed them or this organization.

In my opinion, I do not think the PRKA are an actual organization. I think they represent normal people across the globe who value peace and kindness in their everyday lives. The purpose George Saunders has for writing this is to promote the value of being kind to other people regardless of whether or not they hate who that other person is, their ideas, or their lifestyles. He wants to show the reader that there are millions of kind people all around the world that are able to compromise and forgive when they are unsatisfied with something. He wants to inspire the reader to bring this peacefulness and kindness into their daily lives and help out another person while they are doing their daily routine.

George Saunders’ “Manifesto” tells of the phases of the show organized by his organization. He uses time to separate each phase that involves the members not committing an act of violence. In a sense, Saunders’ piece explains that the show featured by his organization is a world without inhumane actions and violence against others. He explains that the members of the organization aren’t doing any harm to anyone and that’s the way the world should be. There should be no chaos and nothing should be done to anyone that makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable. The piece also explains that even though there is an abundance of negative and horrible things happening in the world, there are also people who are not in his organization that are doing things in light of the same idea. The organization wants to make this world a better place and there are some people out there doing so without being a part of the organization. The last few sentences of the article sum up what the purpose of the article was which was to explain the PRKA organization and their purpose. By using contradictory ideas, examples of the negative and positive things that are happening in this world, Saunders shows the purpose of the article and the message of his organization.

 

George Saunders is trying to make the point that people of a certain ethnicity are being categorized as terrorists when in reality they are just ordinary citizens. He successfully uses sarcasm throughout his piece to talk about the destruction that certain people have caused. For example, Saunders says, “At precisely 9 in the morning, working with focus and stealth, our entire membership succeeded in beheading no one…In the late afternoon (Phase V), our membership focused on using zero (0) trained dogs to bite/terrorize naked prisoners. In addition, no stun guns, rubber batons, rubber bullets, tear gas, or bullets were used, by our membership, on any individual, anywhere in the world.” Here, Saunders challenges the stereotype of Muslim people being barbaric and violent. Even the name of the organization, People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction, pokes fun at the negative stereotypes that media have often portrayed them as. Saunders is urging readers not to generalize a specific ethnicity. He states, “We rise in the morning with no plans to convert anyone via beating, humiliation, or invasion.”

Saying

Saunders uses this piece to explain who and what “People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction,” is. He states everything the member do, and don’t do, such as “during phase III, zero planes were flown into buildings.” Saunders continues this piece almost like a list saying what the members of PRKA have and haven’t done. AT the end of the piece Saunders addresses the people who might oppose this organization. He concludes this piece with a very powerful sentence that sums up the major point, “Resistance is futile.”

Doing

I think Saunders purpose for writing this piece was to make people realize how insane some of the events are that happen in society. For example he says, “… we set… in every nation of the world, a total of zero roadside bombs which, not being there, did not explode.” I believe he wanted to show the world that there are more good people than bad, saying everyone in this organization outnumber the people who oppose them, including people who don’t think they’re in the organization. The purpose of this piece is to show the people that disagree with Saunders and PRKA that they are the minority and that they will be beat. In resistance there is strength, which can change the world.

In George Saunders’s “Manifesto,” Saunders describes many horrors of humanity, some that happen day to day, and others that one could only hope to never happen, but still do. The dark imagery brings the reader to chills, reflecting upon the severity of some but normality of others. Saunders’s argument is that in spite of all the crime and tragedies people see and experience directly or hear about around the world, we can still live out each day with hope because although there is evil in the world, there is more good.

George Saunders’s purpose in writing “Manifesto” is to make it known to those who participate in any of these horrors and crimes, they are not going to overpower those who are not participating in the horrible acts. In his final sentences, he states that there is far more good in the world than there is evil, therefore, evil will never prevail.

I have very mixed feelings about this piece. On one hand, at times it gets close to warming my heart and making me feel good about. On the other hand, it elicits a feeling of contempt towards the delusional. To elaborate on the latter, Saunders talks about people of all kinds being members of this organisation. What kind of people is he referring to? Average people, everyday people, people’s people. Given my summarily negative thoughts about human nature, this thought experiment or hypothetical situation of everyone being nice/not mean for one day is simply an exercise in delusion. However what most irks me, to my very core, is the last paragraph:

“This is PRKA. To those who would oppose us, I would simply say: We are many. We are worldwide. We, in fact, outnumber “you. Though you are louder, though you create a momentary ripple on the water of life, we will endure, and prevail.

This paragraph makes many words come to mind; mediocrity, normality, banal, lazy, status quo, norm. Of course, I’m aware he means that in the sense that mean people or non-member will always be outnumbered by members, but I can’t help but think that a layer of his meaning, whether he is conscious of it or not, is simply an ode to normality. Next.