Violence begets violence. Whoever stops the cycle has true power.
Pacifism is only a choice if you have the capability to enact violence. If you don’t have the ability to exert force, pacifism isn’t a choice; it’s a chain that your oppressors have put on you, while calling it jewelry. The entire point of pacifism is to send the message “we can if we want to, and we choose not to. This is your chance to start negotiations in good faith, because the only thing stopping us is that active choice.”
In short, pacifism without the capacity for violence is simply sparkling victimization. Speak softly, but carry a big stick.
What is “true power” if not the ability to dictate the direction of society? Should the working classes not be able to direct society, and instead have to slave away under the rule of capital, who very much are okay with using violence?
people’s reaction when i tell them our new govt could absolutely threaten to hang orban and his cronies unless they give back the public money they stole. oh no, that’s a bridge too far. they have a paper that says it’s theirs so now there’s nothing we can do.
Somehow, if you replaced Marx with the founding fathers the US deifies, the meme would still work. That’s where we’re at in the liberalism-to-fascism pipeline.
Talking to other Americans,
“This is just what we have to deal with”
“Thats how it is in America”
“Yeah nobody likes it but we have to live with it”
Please, I’m begging you, I’ve heard everyone say it, just get together, please.
i hear this a lot in my own country too. it’s something we will have to figure out where it comes from and how to disarm. why do people feel this way?
The message that this is as good as it can possibly be is hammered into people from all sides. It is, I would argue, one of the key tenets of all forms of idealism, and serves the interests of the powers that be. People who don’t believe that better is possible are much less likely to try to rise up and make things better.
100% this. Lots of Americans would be on board with things like universal healthcare, except that they genuinely believe that private healthcare is better. The propaganda machine has them thinking we’d all be forced to pay like 147% of our income in taxes, while also being stuck on a waiting list for 18 months (determined by a shadowy death panel, who arbitrarily decides who is allowed to live and who must be surgically executed) for even the most basic procedures.
Meanwhile they pay a huge portion in premiums only to be denied coverage when they actually need it. Somehow the ‘death panels’ are a-okay as long as they’re the boards of for-profit hospitals or insurance companies. The contradictions are sharpening though (see the doctor shortage) and I think all but the most brainwashed are waking up. You only have to look at the overwhelmingly positive reception Luigi got to see that.
