There are those who strongly believe in pacivism. The essence of this belief is "Thou shalt do no harm to another." The maxim holds for one-on-one, one-on-many, and many-on-many relations. Thus a pacivist does not believe in warfare, even in self defense. One root of all the hoopla over the Bush Presidency is the fact that he led us into a war of retaliation against terrorism and Islamofascism--a decidedly un-pacivist act.
For many citizens, this attitude of pacivism is simply a sure way to get beaten to death by those who are aggressors. There are many more aggressors in the world than pacivists, I believe, so it isn't surprising that pacivists yell and scream all the time as they are feeling very insecure and put-upon. Indeed they are insecure!
The average citizen sympathizes with the idea of non-violence, and genuinely wants this to be the norm of life. For some, especially veterans of warfare, the horrors of combat are burned into their souls, and avoidance of any repetition of such conflagration is uppermost in their minds. Our reluctance to fight, particularly in long, drawn-out engagements, is spawned by our feelings of abject horror at the bloodshed and misery being inflicted on both sides of any conflict.
However, it is also true that Mr. Average Citizen is vitally concerned about preservation of our way of life here in the US. When he is convinced that he must arm himself and defend his family, his City, State, and Nation, he will do so. Even if the national government doesn't step up to the need for defense, the Citizen will find a way to do it by himself, or with his neighbors and friends.
Not just the young and willing, but also the elderly and relatively infirm would grab a gun and ammunition and proceed towards the sounds of war. Many women as well as men, would respond with vigor to the idea that the home is under attack, and would pick up a weapon to help the cause. This is our heritage and our belief in this nation.
We would defend the right of the pacifist to cower in his home, too, but this does not mean that we would like him for it! Fact is, we would loathe such actions when the fate of our home and land is at risk, and all but pacivists are putting their lives on the line to defend ourselves--and them!
# posted by Mannning @ 11:52 AM
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