this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Orwell couldn’t be more wrong about this, in my opinion.
Pacifism doesn’t mean inaction, it means opposing the use of violence as a way of resolving disputes.
There are lots of ways to resolve disputes that don’t involve violence, but they usually require significantly more effort and creativity than simply shooting someone in the face.
Anyone can change their mind, I firmly believe that, so I’m not going to generalize and say all people who are opposed to pacifism are evil or inherently violent themselves, but the inability to even imagine that there are alternatives to war and violence is a failure of one’s ability to empathize with others.
Empathy can be a superpower, lack of empathy can cause untold suffering.
Try being a pacifist Jew in Nazi Germany to see how much good that will do to you and how many alternative solutions you can find or how many soldiers you can convince. That is the context of the quote shared there, pacifist solutions should always be preferred, but sometimes that is not an option, it's the tolerance paradox.
This smells like rainbows and friendship. You cannot fathoms the worst of humanity. You cannot truely empathize with them because your mind is so wildly different and your ability to empathize is part of that.
Sure anyone can change their mind but to think you can make such change realistically in this reality in all cases is so childish and outright foolish it amazes me adults believe this.
Orwell is a child of his time though. If I recall correctly he went to Spain to report on the conflict (civil war) and was so shocked(?) that he volunteered to fight against the literal Nazis. Then getting told "put down your weapons" is the context I read into this quote.
Or to take your example: it's about someone telling you to not fight back instead of helping safe others.
While I agree with you in times of peace and between individuals it's more nuanced: when physically under attack your options shrink.
This is the part where this quote holds true in my opinion: When you're confronted with a situation that already turned violent. Or, worse for me personally, I'd there is no shared common value system.
How do you mediate with someone who not only is willing to kill but has the conviction that it's the only right thing to do?
And I don't mean that as a rhetorical question, I have no idea ... And my own moral compass is fucked up by now and spinning in circles.