"by any means necessary".
We believe that the only way to make real change is by changing our hearts, educating ourselves and others, and changing the society that we live in using legal, non violent methods.
When a Gnome is liberated by force, the Gnome experiences yet another traumatic event in their lives. The world seems even more frightening and unstable for a Gnome who is "stolen" from his/her former home in the middle of the night. This is not good for a Gnome because it increases feelings of anxiety, instability, home impermanence and can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Forcefully liberated Gnomes are prone to experiencing recurring nightmares of their relocation, and live with the fear that they will be "snatched" again. This fear leads to difficulty in establishing and maintaining emotional bonds with other Gnomes, for fear of suddenly being relocated and loosing close, established relationships with others. Disturbing symptoms of hypervigilance are also noted in these cases. We cannot stress enough the importance of a calm, soothing, reassuring transition from slavery to freedom for Gnomes.
When a Gnome is liberated without the knowledge and consent of his/her former owner, legal trouble stirs. The well-intentioned liberator is tense, anxious and feels hunted as the authorities attempt to track them down. The former owner feels angry, robbed and does not learn the valuable lesson that enslaving Gnomes is morally wrong. The former owner goes out and purchases another slave, replacing the former one, and subjecting it to the same slavery as the first. The next Gnome is often cemented rigidly into place, suffering needles pain and lifelong torture due to the new owners fear that it will be liberated like the last one. The cycle of slavery has just been re-born, but has become more cruel and wicked. The slave owner comes to hate our movement, and garners support from other Humans who feel that he has been wrongfully dealt with by those in favor of Gnome Freedom. He ridicules and treats his new slave Gnomes with cruelty. This is NOT the direction our society needs to move in.
In forceful liberation, there are often mistakes. Hasty, nervous liberators stumble, trip and injure themselves - or more often, the Gnome slips out of the liberators hands, hurtles through the air and is smashed against the ground. In their zeal to liberate, rare is the liberator who stops and takes the time to ask, "Is this silent, startled Gnome here of his / her own free will? Does he / she have friends or family members who will mourn his / her sudden dissapearance in the morning, worried sick about what has become of their loved one?" Too many Gnomes, living free, with deep roots in their community, are non consentually kidnapped in the misappropriated name of Gnome Liberation. Another tragic circumstance is the Gnome, formerly sheltered, who finds himself / herself thrust into the wild with no survival skills. This Gnome is in a truely terrifying situation, which can often be deadly.
