Pacifists are not necessarily weak.
It can take strength to know that someone is doing detestable
things and not use violence to take action.
Pacifists like Gandhi and Martin Luther King endured persecution,
torture and being imprisoned in a nonviolent fight against
injustices.
It takes resolution, determination and intelligence to fight a
nonviolent battle.
Strength to know you could hurt or kill your opponent... but refrain.
Pacifism has nothing to do with inaction.
Resolution to one's belief and intelligent, strategic action takes
bravery and will.
I dedicate today's post to every person out there who has ever taken
nonviolent action to stand up against injustices which they knew to
be wrong and worth fighting.
***
Another important facet to the discussion of violence is the question
“is it innate? Are humen beings innately violent?” During the
20th century this was a hot topic among anthropologists.
Some of them believed human beings were hardwired for violence and
that was why we saw so much of it around us.
Some of them pointed to chimpanzees and the fact that bands of
chimpanzees often wage organized warfare on other bands of
chimpanzees in the wild. These anthropologists would sometimes cite
genetic data that states we share very similar genetic makeup...
humans and chimpanzees. Humans also share very similar genetic makeup
to bonobos who have very low rates of violence and high rates of
awesomeness. Human beings also share some genetic similarities to
Elephants and bananas. I really do not think there is much weight to
the whole genetic based argument.
Anthropologists studying rates of peace and conflict around the world
found that some cultures actually have little to no violence within
their societies. When we study the factors that contribute to the
peacefulness of these nonviolent cultures it becomes very apparent
that violence in humans is not necissarily genetic or innate. It is
learned cultural behavior. Cooperation and consideration, empathy and
consciousness are also behaviors that can be learned. Cultural
dissemination plays the most important factor in whether or not a
culture will be peaceful or violent.
If you study human development you will learn that just about all
human behavior is learned by children via mirroring the examples they
see around them.
***
Okay, now back to “A Force More Powerful”... this is actually a
series of documentaries on all sorts of nonviolent movements that
took place over the years in all sorts of countries all over the
world. Oh, the things these movements have accomplished! And the
admiration they have inspired! It is beautiful.
So, yeah, you can go to www.youtube.com and search “A Force More
Powerful” and it will pull up more episodes for you. But, here I am
posting a link for you to get you started.
Part 1
Part 2
There are many various nonviolent acts that one
can utilize in order to enact change in the world around them. My
favorite is writing. I am a fan of those like John Locke and Jonathan
Swift, but we can talk about them more another time. The pen is
mightier than the sword, no?
Wishing you everything that is
wonderful in this miraculous universe.
Life is your garden; dig it.
Take care.
"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind" -Gandhi
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