What this means, in practice, is -- I blew up this building, but my actions were not purely destructive -- look! I also created a pile of rubble!!
I swear many of the Left think like this, and believe it to be a deep, nuanced view of the world.
Interesting quote from Bakunin.
I've been visualizing the left in this mode for a few months now. The "destructive urge" is like Bin Laden, who could not build like the construction folks in the Bin Laden family, but could be "great" like them, by destroying something great.
This is similar to the mental illness in assassins like John Hinkley, who shot Reagan in order to impress actress Jody Foster. In his twisted mind, killing someone great was equal to being someone great.
I believe that this same mental twist is in a lot of people, but not to the extent of actually attempting assassination. Instead they join earth first and burn loggers trucks, or join an anti-corporate activism group and riot at the World Bank convention. Cindy Sheehan comes to mind here.
They are failures, or are to lazy, to do great things themselves, so they destroy the work of great people in an effort to be equally as great. They believe that are "progessing", therefore they are "progressives", but they attempt to progress by destroying the work of others so that they will appear better in relation to their destroyed neighbors. Like burning your neighbors superior house, so that yours looks better.
Hinckley must've been kicking himself for days when he found out Foster was a lesbian. Not entirely relevant, but something that's ben rattling around in my head for a long time.