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| THREE NOTIONS OF MOVING TOWARDS PEACE By M. C. Merrill February 20, 2006 |
True Pacifism is about confronting evil and violence through non-violent means.
- The key and root word here—confront!
- From the French—to face.
Often true pacifists are accused of being obsessed.***
- The key and root word here—obsess.
- From the Latin—to sit opposite.
The true pacifist, who goes to great lengths to achieve the greater good, should not be
insulted when called confrontational or obsessive. Those accusing them of these things
tend to be of empty heart.
The empty-hearted sees any amount of caring as obsession and any sort of confrontation
as fundamentally wrong.
- The key and root word here—insult.
- From the Latin—to assail or leap upon.
True Pacifism comes at far greater risk than absolute pacifism.
Whenever any type of action is taken, there is always a risk of violence—violence almost
always exacted against the innocent and weak, almost always against the true pacifist.
In the case of Tammy’s death, all violence exacted moved in this direction.
In other words, those who dared to sit opposite or face the guilty were assailed by those in
the first, second, and third circles, those who took insult.
And whose is it to assign guilt in a free society?
Are twelve jurors the end all for determining guilt or innocence?
Only foolish people believe this sort of thing. Yes, the twelve jurors become a single voice
for the people in specific cases, their job, along with judges and lawmakers, to determine
beyond guilt the safety and needs of the people and the execution of justice, but that single
voice can, and too often, is wrong.
In other words…
Contrary to many an argument and insult, the true pacifist does not make determinations of
justice and how best justice should be serviced. The true pacifist merely speaks out when
justice has been denied — one of their truest weapons, the revealing of facts.
In other words…
Do citizens have the right to speak out freely when they see a broken legal system fracture
further? When they see dangers lurking ahead? Yes, they have the right and they have the
duty. These situations are where the true pacifist is most loudly heard.
Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Martin Luther, Jesus Christ—all were lawbreakers, all because
they spoke out about what they believed was wrong.
And what about the carrying of big sticks?
The true pacifist knows that when dealing with the morally bankrupt, he or she must be
ready to wield a big stick. Sometimes this means a preemptive but benign show of force —
for example, the cowboy revealing the pistol beneath his vest — sometimes this means
acting in swift defense – firing that pistol from beneath the table to save his trusty friend.
Many would argue that the hero of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
was an absolute pacifist. This could not be further from the truth. He put those following him
in the line of fire. He put himself in the line of fire. He did so for a reason. He did so for the
right reason. He risked everything and changed the world.
The one thing he could have used was a bigger stick.
THE THIRD NOTION: PEACEMAKING
Soldiers and police officers make up this lot.
A psychopath opens fire with an automatic machine gun in a restaurant.
Ten people die right away — many others fall bleeding, suffering, in need of immediate help.
The absolute pacifist would duck for cover and then maybe think about doing an anti-gun
rally in front of the police station in a few weeks. Chances are this rally wouldn't happen
unless the absolute pacifist found a true pacifist to do all the work. Most of the absolute
pacifist's time, however, would be spent smoking bowl after bowl, bitching about how evil that
dirty cop was and whining about the true pacifist's means.
You’ll see what I mean momentarily.
But first…
The true pacifist will walk into the line of fire and try to talk the gunman down. Chances are
his or her success would be determined by the size of his or her stick. There are few, if any,
cases where negotiating with a psychopath has actually worked.
The peacemaker, our law enforcement officer or soldier, would waste little time. He or she
would put one in the head and two in the chest and the job would be done. Lives would be
saved and there would be no chance for parole.
Soldiers and police officers make up this lot.
- These are the few that have to make the most difficult choices.
This can best be described through anecdote.
A psychopath opens fire with an automatic machine gun in a restaurant.
Ten people die right away — many others fall bleeding, suffering, in need of immediate help.
The absolute pacifist would duck for cover and then maybe think about doing an anti-gun
rally in front of the police station in a few weeks. Chances are this rally wouldn't happen
unless the absolute pacifist found a true pacifist to do all the work. Most of the absolute
pacifist's time, however, would be spent smoking bowl after bowl, bitching about how evil that
dirty cop was and whining about the true pacifist's means.
You’ll see what I mean momentarily.
But first…
The true pacifist will walk into the line of fire and try to talk the gunman down. Chances are
his or her success would be determined by the size of his or her stick. There are few, if any,
cases where negotiating with a psychopath has actually worked.
The peacemaker, our law enforcement officer or soldier, would waste little time. He or she
would put one in the head and two in the chest and the job would be done. Lives would be
saved and there would be no chance for parole.
- Blessed are the peacemakers...and please pray for the pacifist absolute.
PLEASE RETURN TO THIS SITE FOR LINKS TO E-MAILS THAT SMACK OF PSYCHOPATHY AND ABSOLUTE PACIFISM AND TOGETHER PERHAPS WE CAN CONSIDER THEIR AUTHORS’ TRUE MOTIVATIONS. |
"Injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates,to the light of
human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured."
Dr. Martin Luther King
| Absolute Pacifism is the notion that there is no rationale for any kind of active resistance against the evils of the world. In some cases, absolute pacifism may work, but this requires that those you oppose have some semblance of morality. Gandhi versus the British Empire is a prime example here. Absolute pacifism – what Gandhi espoused – wasn’t, however, so successful for the Jewish people of Germany. Churchill had a moral compass—Hitler didn’t. In most cases, absolute pacifism is just a masquerade to conceal moral cowardice. Truly caring costs more than most people are willing to give; therefore, it is easier to lie, easier to deny, easier to turn a blind eye. Those in the third circle protecting Tammy’s murderer did just this and then, when asked to come forward and help get at the truth, cried loudly the anthem of absolute pacifism, bitterly attacking anybody who tried to do the right thing. A brief explanation of the three circles of protection…
Tammy was most likely killed by one person. She and this person remain at the center of the crime. These are the only two that likely have precise, direct knowledge of the events that unfolded. Tammy can no longer, obviously, tell us what happened to her, and her killer, being a psychopath, has no inclination ever to be forthcoming, even to himself.* Getting at the truth – since direct knowledge of the crime now becomes impossible — means gathering evidence and applying the scientific method (what good police work is all about) and about chipping through the three basic circles of protection to its center.
Those directly surrounding Tammy and her killer were the ones who helped the killer cover up the crime that night. They had something to lose, so they believed, and so they acted out of self-interest and a false sense of loyalty. This is what drugs — especially marijuana — does to the human mind. It skews the moral compass, little be little, until south points north. One could make a good argument that several in this first circle are psychopaths too. They have shown little or no remorse. They have, at times, even shown delight in their actions, but we must be cautious of diagnosing from afar. All we can do is point out the warning signs and suggest that if these people in the first circle were not born psychopaths, it might be a reasonable bet that the years of drug use have twisted them in this direction. Some have argued – some inhabiting the second and third circles – that none of the hard evidence gathered means anything and that only a confession from the killer or those in the first circle really count. Waiting for some sort of confession from one of these people would be futile – something akin to a miracle or divine intervention – it would, in the end, require the spontaneous generation of a human soul. **
Those in the second circle were the friends and family members who learned, or at least got a strong sense, of what had happened that night Tammy died, yet concocted alibis and put political pressure on the politicians, lawyers, and law enforcement to make the crime go away. These were the ones who should have known better, but by their very nature, by their strange notions of love and righteousness, did the wrong thing. What they called love was really self-love, love for their own reputations coupled with an ugly desperation to maintain their status in the community. These people in the second circle are best called “protectors of the lie.”
Those in the third circle of the cover up are the absolute pacifists, moral cowards who twisted the facts to suit their own ends, to fulfill their own selfish needs. Monkey with eyes covered, monkey with ears covered, monkey with mouth covered—theirs was the crime of deliberate, concerted blindness, theirs was the crime of silence. These were the people who suspected but didn't really want to know. They didn’t want to risk friendships by confronting those they believed responsible. They didn’t want to make changes in their own lifestyles. They justified their illegal and immoral behavior — namely, the illegal and rampant drug use. Some concocted stories to pin the victim’s death on the victim herself. Some created a mystery man from far-far away, an imaginary man on whom they pinned responsibility, despite an orgy of evidence to the contrary. These absolute pacifists did not worry about evidence...and still do not. They did not worry about reality...and still do not. All they did was got stoned and chit-chatted nights away about how wonderful and beneficent they were and what good times they had with Tammy. Sadly, they had the moral hollowness to consider this a great show of support for those who were in true mourning…
To this day they, these absolute pacifists try to take the moral high ground. They may have convinced themselves that they are well-intentioned, but they need look closer in that mirror — and they need to have the guts to look at the facts. Absolute pacifism, in the end, is no different than apathy, which at its core is inherently evil. The absolute pacifist is the feeble bed-wetting lick-boot cousin to the psychopath. |
