Well they do have a point. Having strength isn’t the same thing as using it. Most have the ability to beat another human to a pulp but instead use their words and other forms of conflict resolution. So to extend that logic one isn’t peaceful if one doesn’t have the power not to be; that is one isn’t restraining themselves from being violent and exercising benevolence and patience but rather being forced to be tolerant of others bullshit because they can’t do anything about it. It’s like is your chastity being tested more in a monestary or a whorehouse?
That’s how they get you, with a nugget of truth that in your context is reasonable and in theirs is explicitly unreasonable. The idea that one can’t choose peace if they have no choice is an old one and philosophers have been thinking about it for ages. There’s nothing wrong with the idea. What’s wrong is that in the context of the alt right they imagine themselves as John Rambo and use nonsense like this as wank material when they’re advocating for (or doing) violence. It’s a story they tell to infantilize and invalidate the left. If we’re all babies who couldn’t even choose violence if we wanted then they should make decisions for us, right? Including the decision to kill us.
Funny thing is that the left got most of the rights and protections that people of every stripe benefit from through outright violence. Strikes and protests and all that are the compromise, remember.
Well they do have a point. Having strength isn’t the same thing as using it. Most have the ability to beat another human to a pulp but instead use their words and other forms of conflict resolution. So to extend that logic one isn’t peaceful if one doesn’t have the power not to be; that is one isn’t restraining themselves from being violent and exercising benevolence and patience but rather being forced to be tolerant of others bullshit because they can’t do anything about it. It’s like is your chastity being tested more in a monestary or a whorehouse?
That’s how they get you, with a nugget of truth that in your context is reasonable and in theirs is explicitly unreasonable. The idea that one can’t choose peace if they have no choice is an old one and philosophers have been thinking about it for ages. There’s nothing wrong with the idea. What’s wrong is that in the context of the alt right they imagine themselves as John Rambo and use nonsense like this as wank material when they’re advocating for (or doing) violence. It’s a story they tell to infantilize and invalidate the left. If we’re all babies who couldn’t even choose violence if we wanted then they should make decisions for us, right? Including the decision to kill us.
Funny thing is that the left got most of the rights and protections that people of every stripe benefit from through outright violence. Strikes and protests and all that are the compromise, remember.