With all discussions about the book Monkey Wrench Gang stemming in one way or another from “Environmental terrorism,” it begs the question, what is “true” activism? Can the actions these characters did in the book be justified as activism? To me, no. Activism, in my opinion,  is promoting or impeding something with the intention of improving society throughout. “True” activism has a cause for the greater good of society and does not give a reason to not support the cause at hand. In other words, true activism brings justice to the injustices of society. While I’m sure the characters in this book were firm believers that what they were doing was necessary to change the direction in which society was headed, I would argue they crossed the line. On top of vandalism and other ruthless acts, the thing that stood out for me the most was the amount of hypocrisy these characters displayed. In between blowing up bridges and pushing bulldozers off the sides of cliffs, theses characters were littering, tossing cigarette butts on the ground, framing Native Americans for their actions and constantly arguing. While the littering is an obvious example of contradiction, their group dynamic dysfunction is what makes their actions in this book not “true” activism. True activism takes a united group, working as a team for a common goal for the improvement of society. In order for this book to be “true activism,” they have to make me believe and trust the message being made. However, i find a hard time trusting the cause that these characters are fighting for when they can’t even trust themselves. Imagine if the women during the women’s suffrage movement in the early 1900’s were constantly fighting and acting disorganized, would they have accomplished what they did? Or more recently, the people fighting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline? Activists, throughout history, have accomplished what they have by acting as a cohesive unit and making others believe in their cause.  Monkey Wrench Gang‘s acts of mass destruction and constant displays of poor-teamwork make their cause and actions not only insupportable, but also acts of “improper” activism.