Monday Meditations: On Pacifism

I would only have to write this to a domesticated populace. Attack a bear at your peril- it WILL retaliate. Watch small children, if one transgresses the other- the injured party will inevitably respond. Watch the social life of wolves or chicken, the pecking order is not a metaphor.

Only the modern human is so domesticated, self-defense having become so alien, that not fighting back in the face of violence could be touted as a virtue.

Even the loyal and humble dog will snap at an abuser. Humans have domesticated animals precisely by breeding for docility, and in doing so the effectively breed out the ability for these animals to survive without human intervention.

What then, does that say about us and how those in power have shaped our modern domesticated human tendencies? If upset, we protest. That is to say, we beg those who have wronged us and ask that they make things better.

Violence is power, and the threat of violence is power. The rightness of the ability to meet oncoming violence with defensive violence is what underlies the laws allowing self-defense. Likewise the rightness of meeting oncoming violence with violence is what anyone who intervenes in an assault or a rape invokes. This is why they are lauded as heroes.

What does it say about us, when we vilify all uses of violence- including righteous ones? What does it say about the imbalance of power when we live in a society where the right violence is implicitly or explicitly granted to one group and not another? What do these things tell us about society?

Virtually every aristocracy in history has tried to limit the underclasses access to the means of violence. Swords or spears may only be wielded by certain groups. Certain elite are explicitly allowed to kill underclass members for any perceived slight. This imbalance is not an accident.

Some readers may be put off by my use of the word violence in a positive manner, rather than using a more polite and acceptable word like self-defense. Violence is a means of self-defense, as is charm, as is running, as is psychology and bribery, and so on. Self-defense is safely vague and politely allows the meek to talk around or about violence without ever having to address the honest nature of violence. This choice of words, unless used to include the whole array of self-defense possibilities, is cowardly.

And of course cowardice is good, meekness in the flock makes the sheep dog's duties easier- those chosen few allowed to wield the sword. But you only need a few sheepdogs. After all, you don't want sheep with sharp teeth in your flock.