When does violence become ethical?
It’s what tells those pulling the triggers that they’re killing for a higher cause, that they’re morally superior to those in the gunsights. It’s the revolutionary ideology that justifies the ruling class.
Balaji Srinivasan • The Network State: How To Start a New Country
“Non-violence is non-functional in a society that’s based on organized violence”
open.substack.com
The great political writers who also aspired to be good human beings, from George Orwell on the left to Robert Heinlein on the right, taught me to acknowledge in my writing that politics rests on force.
George Orwell considered it a tactic of totalitarianism, that bullet-riddled bodies and mass graves were often... See more
Eliezer Yudkowsky ⏹️x.comTo say “violence has no place in politics” while ignoring systemic harm is to defend the status quo, not peace. True nonviolence would mean dismantling the conditions that make desperate, explosive violence seem like the only option left.
The Violence Before the Violence
Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of Political Reconciliation (Studies in Strategic Peacebuilding)
amazon.com
I believe that violence is not a solution to any problem. I believe that every person is endowed with a sacred dignity. I believe that every person is capable of changing, healing, and being restored. I pledge to respect the dignity of every person. I pledge to overcome violence with love and compassion. I pledge to accompany and support anyone
... See moreDacher Keltner • Awe
Sometimes you have to imagine in a radical way that makes you seem a little crazy, that puts you in an embarrassing light, in order to open up a possibility that others have already closed down with their knowing realism. I’m prepared to be mocked and dismissed for defending nonviolence in the way that I do. It might be understood as one of the
... See morenewyorker.com • Judith Butler Wants Us to Reshape Our Rage
But war is politics by other means, so politics is war by other means. Even in peacetime, the state is predicated on force. And this use of force requires justification. The atrocity story is the tool used to convince people that the use of state force is legitimate. Coming from a different vantage point, Rene Girard would call this a “founding
... See moreBalaji Srinivasan • The Network State: How To Start a New Country
“Violence is the language of the simple. You initially proposed that we formulate a plan using our intellects and execute it using our wills, but now you propose we go in with guns like a couple of high-school-dropout-liquor-store-robbers. That’s you’re idea of perfection? If you think we will fail without guns, if you think we’ll be killed, then
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