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Conditional pacifism
Tapping into just war theory conditional pacifism represents a spectrum of positions departing from positions of absolute pacifism. One such conditional pacifism is the common pacificism, which may allow defense but is not advocating a default defensivism[10] or even interventionism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism#Types
Well that was fucking easy. /thread
There are many definitions of pacifism, and without further context to simply say someone is a pacifist automatically makes them a fascist is a pretty myopic point of view.
I am anti-war, and I prefer peaceful resolution over violence. By definition I am a pacifist. But, that does not mean I will let someone simply walk all over me or my loved ones without opposition. It doesn’t mean I will simply resort to violence either.
The world is a complicated place, and to treat everything as if it’s an “either, or” situation does everyone a disservice and only feeds into the overall problem.
I believe Orwell was speaking of the Spanish Revolution (1936), in which he fought on the side of the socialists.
Pacifism is a great ideal, and (I believe) a lot of conflicts can be solved by honest negotiation. Once the shooting starts, though, the time for pacifism has ended. In the US, right now, it's not clear whether the shooting has started. I mean: ICE is definitely shooting people; people are definitely being injured and dying as result of the administration's actions, but it's not Shooting-shooting, and it still seems like avoidable, poor-policy harms. The question is: will it escalate to civil war level violence? And if it does, will strict pacifists already have blocked any hope of resistance?
🙏
Considering how this has gone for indiginous and black people of your country, who've been dealing with this problem for the last few hundred years, I don't think the issue is with the pacifists/non violent activists on your side. It's with the sheer fucking scale of the power imbalance you're facing.
Like yeah there's now more people in your country being shot at, but the people doing the shooting still have significantly more power.
Are there enough of you collectively now being shot at, to be able to take on the basically all of capitalism that's backing your government, funding your millitary, and controlling your economy?
It's fucking bleak thinking about this stuff. Like even with more Luigi's, how many will it take before the people holding the cards to make things considerably worse for most of society?
I've had this comic saved in my phone for a while now and it seems relevant. What with how well he predicted the future, Orwell being so against pacifists is painfully ironic.
Yeah, Orwell had the clarity of fighting against a literal right wing coup. A clear, decisive event to separate the non-violent time from the violent time, and violence instigated by people without even nominal consent of The People.
The slow rise of militancy, matched with spreading desperation, at least so far lacks a trigger. And in the particular case of the US, we have, like, 30 shootings a day just being us. That makes it a lot less shocking when a couple of those are government shootings. We let the right wingers take over the government (arguably, 250 years ago), and they're just slowly boiling the frog.
I'm in the UK and while shit is obviously different here, it's still very much the same in some respects. We're all slowly being boiled and there's basically nothing we can really do.
Get out of here with your nuance!
Arguing against violence and war when that is possible is fine.
Arguing fanatically to lay down weapons when one side is very clearly not going to do that, is very stupid.
In the sense that there will always be people who are going to be tricked into a fascist, violent, superiority cult, because there are just that many people, and in the sense that sometimes and regularly moderate or intense violence will be necessary to stop them, because some people are closed off to arguments and peaceful discussion, opposing that violence is taking their side, yes.
And it's fine if you disagree, I simply think you have really finished thinking about it. The reply is always going to be a "... but what if they just stopped being fanatic fascists" and I think that is not how that works.
So ultimately I agree with Orwell.
I am one of them. Nobody has ever truly meant it when they say they're a pacifist. And to any so-called "pacifists" reading this -does that statement make you mad? Make you want to slap me? Oh dear.
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.
I.e., “What are your thoughts on people who are against people who are against people who are violently against people?”
Pacifism as a virtue is fine, though it won't stop actual Nazis. it's apathy and disillusionment that are killing us
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
- MLK
Malcolm X and The Black Panthers are an inconvenient thing to teach aren't they?
this was the first quote I thought of after having read Orwell's. I think they're both talking around the same thing here and I agree with them on it.
Pacifism is a virtue for those who will be unaffected either way, or who benefit from the status quo. More to the point, it's convenient and easy to do nothing while feeling morally superior. And it's the position of people who look at the violence of the conflict and conclude that both sides are the same. Because they don't want to inconvenience themselves with having to look any deeper, learn anything more, or get involved in any manner. Afterall.... it doesn't affect them, so its easy to be a smug pacifist.
100%
Its why I'm not a pacifist. Its why I don't generally involve myself with left-ish protest movements, where non-violence is a higher priority than effectiveness when it comes to the metrics of success for an action. I view pacifism as being co-opted after the 1960's and 70's and used to cuckold resistance movements to state power. Government reshaped and reworked itself to both allow and also entirely ignore protest in this time. So sure. Go protest all you want. Its what the state wants you to do and how it wants you to funnel your resentment and anger at a lack of representation or function of government.
What he's saying is just wrong, but I think behind his words somewhere is the assumption that pacifism isn't an effective way to bring social change. There are many counterexamples.
What he is saying is completely correct on the context that he is talking about the people insisting on pacific resistance to Fascism before WWII.
The person quoting him without context in a way that completely changes the meaning of his words is wrong, and one has to wonder if honest at all.
that pacifism isn’t an effective way to bring social change. There are many counterexamples.
There may be examples of pacifism being effective at bringing change, but that does not mean it will always be effective at bringing change or will always be an adequate response to a situation. If you have ever been attacked randomly, you will know this. Sitting on the floor cross legged like gandhi does not make some random axeman stop trying to kill you.
I mean, are you just going to let someone kill you and your family?
Because that's what legit pacifism requires, you submitting to the violence of others without resistance.
Pure pacifism relies on an idealized view of humanity's capacity for change.
Something like "by allowing me and my family to maybe be killed, we are helping to create a more peaceful world that will change people like my killer into a peaceful person. Who knows, in the instant before they murder us, maybe they will have a change of heart"
I think there's an extent to which showing others kindness can help to change others' behavior, but it's really taking it to a ridiculous extreme if you apply it to like... your family being massacred by a really bad person/people. By that point, they're too far gone and you should really do what you need to do.
That's not what pacifism means. Pacifism means striving to avoid violence. Just not being a violent psychopath
geopolitical stability is partially caused by a balance in technology level. england could only rape china and india in the 17th century because china and india were backwards ass farmer's countries back then. they industrialized and eventually kicked the english people out. which is why china is so focused on industrialization today. they know what's coming to countries who don't have the mechanics to fight back.
Orwell was wildly chauvinistic and 80% on board with fascism, going as far as to give the British government a list of suspected communists, noting the ones who were gay, at a time that was punishable by prison and/or castration.
But yeah, opposing an anti-war effort supports war, but it gets complicated when both sides are fascists. An American "pacifist" who wants to end the war in Ukraine by sending more weapons and money to Ukraine is not meaningfully different than a warmonger who supports the same policy. They might be worse as they can convince people who aren't bloodthirsty ghouls that it's just to send more bombs, each of which is a bad day for somebody, statistically mostly civilians. Conversely, a Russian "pacifist" who wants to end the war in Ukraine by sending another million Russians to Ukraine is not meaningfully different than Putin doing the same thing.
It's different for actual wars of imperialism, say an Iranian or Cuban "pacifist" who wants to end the war by accepting foreign domination is just supporting fascism, which is closer to what Orwell was talking about if we're a little charitable.
