Parshvik Chintan said:
"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
You come back here and say that when someone has a gun to you or your family. Slogans like that sound great as ideals..in reality they often sound as unrealistic as things I might read off the back of a cereal box. The confusing part is that it is true, but not necessarily.
Don't get me wrong..I do believe in non violence as an ideal..I just don't see it happening in reality. You have to assume you are dealing with sane and rational individuals for them to somehow care to respond to your non violent protesting.
Like I said before..how many of the people posting here about non-violent protesting have ever been in the situation where they watch non-violent protesters simply beat to shit by the police? Stand back and do nothing all you like..I have seen the outcome of that personally.
Go tell all the starving children who have been displaced from they're land by force that they should just do a little more non violent protesting and see how they respond.
Maybe the people in the middle east being shot up by the US military in a war based on false pretences should just do a little peaceful protesting too.
Im not saying you are all wrong. I am just saying peace comes at a cost in my view. Both sides have to stop shooting..when one side decides to stop while the other just shoots them all I can only come to the conclusion that the tactic has failed.
If everyone simply stopped paying taxes and decided to take back they're rights collectively things would get ugly. It might be over quick if everyone decided to do this but do you honestly think there would not be some people lost along the way? You think the whole entire military industrial complex and police force who protect wallstreet are just going to give up without any fight at all?
I have chosen to not idealize people like Ghandi or Martin Luther. I have a lot of respect for them and they were obviously very honerable and intelligent people..but they were just people and I don't take what they said as Gospel and I don't necessarily agree with everything they said. In principle I might agree but when it comes down to it actually happening I tend to have different feelings. When you are watching the police beat on people in front of you, you tend to have a slight change of heart. I have seen enough police violence towards innocent peaceful people.
It gets more complicated when you consider that many of these actions are enforced by people who may or may not even understand the actuality of the situation. I don't outright blame all the young American troops for what is going on in the middle east..but still I don't blame the people there who are defending themselves against the people who are shooting at them, reguardless of how many lies they have been told etc. It's a shitty situation, it is sad and depressing and I don't think some little slogan about peace is going to be the instant solution to the problem.
I would like to think that things are just that easy, and I think peace is the answer..I just think that we are not at the stage where both sides are willing to back off and let the other one simply live, obviously. It sucks, it's life.
What if we had simply peacefully protested against the NAZI's? If you all really, I mean REALLY believe in the idea that there is not any just cause for violent reactions towards oppression than you should stand by that, even in such cases as NAZI Germany, the inquisition, attempted genocide of the native americans, black slavery etc..otherwise it is just an ideal but not always relevant when applied to reality.