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I do not feel serenity.
(lemmy.world)
Pretty much, God Hollywood are such liars
Direct action?
Sounds like Vinland Saga
I tell people that I’m a pacifist in the same way that Bonhoeffer was.
How many of them know who Bonhoeffer was though?
Not many, but my hope is that anyone interested enough does a little research.
Bonhoeffer’s pacifism is a complicated matter. He believed in nonviolence, but also participated in a plot to kill Hitler.
To summarize him a little…. Sometimes we need to abandon our principles to care for others. My goodness is less important than the wellbeing of those who are oppressed.
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Disgraceful!
I guess. I'm a fairly intelligent person, who is well educated, and decently well read. But I've never heard of them. I'll have to do some reading I guess.
If you’re curious about the guy, he’s worth reading. His Letters and Papers from Prison and Ethics are the two dealing with all of this. Ethics is unfinished, because he was moved from a standard prison to a concentration camp before they eventually executed him.
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- pacifism is cowardly when inaction enables bad actors.
- not everyone values peace. never assume that just because you're chill everyone else is too.
- the paradox of tolerance is not a paradox.
- humanity is what you make it. what do you want it to be? MAKE IT THAT.
- don't let the illusion of a peaceful society lull you into a vulnerable trance. plenty of past civilizations never saw their end coming.
- never play fair with your enemy. once you choose violence, your virtues have been compromised. there's nothing noble about it. it's simply what has to be done, so do it effectively.
we will never have the society we are capable of as long as we are caught in a tug of war between narcissism and altruism. as long as the narcissists are allowed a place at the table, they will undermine any attempt at utopia for their own interests.
i believe the 21st century began an era in which the utopia that most considered a pipe dream became a feasible reality. we have all the tools and technology now to create a world in which no one suffers, not even the other species of this planet. to have that reality within reach, and to let greedy fascists, shallow narcissists, and religious zealots derail that future, is to make yourself no better then them.
pacifism is cowardly when inaction enables bad actors.
But pacifism isn't inaction. It is action with the intent to do no harm.
not everyone values peace
The value of peace is social, not individual. You value peace when you know you have everything you want from the status quo. You embrace violence as a means of shifting conditions in your favor.
But violence comes at a grander social price. Simply embracing it because someone else has only compounds the costs.
the paradox of tolerance is not a paradox
The question of a socially acceptable degree of tolerance is a difficult one to answer philosophically and even more difficult to implement as social policy.
It is not strictly a paradox, but it is an unsolved problem.
don’t let the illusion of a peaceful society lull you into a vulnerable trance
The cost of violent action is what dissuades a violent response. People aren't in a trance, they are taking a calculated risk.
never play fair with your enemy
Violating a social compact erodes trust. You reap a short term gain while everyone pays a long term price.
"Playing fair" is about establishing a social compact that everyone recognizes as beneficial. Violating broadly beneficial norms means accruing more enemies with whom you feel compelled to play unfairly.
the utopia that most considered a pipe dream became a feasible reality
The utopian era ended with WW1 and the industrialization of modern warfare. The 21st century has seen wave after wave of new investments in warfare, while domestic improvements and social welfare advances have ground nearly to a halt.
If there is a utopian future, it can only come with the abolition of international militarism. Otherwise, we continue to descend into generation after generation of escalating conflict and unchecked immolation of life and property.
Ghandi?
Nope.
It is not that I do not get angry. I don't give vent to my anger. I cultivate the quality of patience as angerlessness, and generally speaking, I succeed. But I only control my anger when it comes. How I find it possible to control it would be a useless question, for it is a habit that everyone must cultivate and must succeed in forming by constant practice.
― Mahatma Gandhi
More like Benjamin Lay.
this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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