this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
77 points (91.4% liked)
Ask Lemmy
39664 readers
1071 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
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.