Is being peaceful taken too far sometimes?

A lovely post

 

Somebody once asked John Lennon how much good it would have done to say to hitler as he was invading Poland something like, "this is wrong, you should practice peace."
John said (not an exact quote), "None, but what if he'd been hearing that from the time he was born?"
So, yeah, there is a difference between being idealistic and being unrealistic, but the point is, we have to start somewhere.

 

that's very intriguing , but my faith is that justice and freedom are way, waaaaayyyy more valuable than peace for itself. so let's cultivate peace grounds during times of peace, but if, spite of our efforts to build peace in the present, new hitlers sprout up , youve just got to rip their goddamn heads off and feed them to the pigs or else our minds are single tracked.:devil:

 

Sometimes violence is needed to maintain the best peace possible.

I realize that sounds very american and like I would like to "liberate" everyone who doesn't agree with me, but that's not how it is.

Every choice must be thought out, and it's affect on peace in the long term.

 

Being peaceful sounds like an individual matter to me. It depends on the person. If you want peace for a certain region for instance it is not a way to get it but just the goal, and being peaceful is not always the most effective way to get it.

 

Keep peace love and unity in your heart - the time now is for direct action ! If you can be strong, smile, hug at the same time as making a point then this is a good practice...

 

People that take peace too far are usually dead. Because it doesn't matter how much peace you preach or profess, if the guy down the street disagrees, you're not going to change his mind. If he wants to kill you, he will.

This has been an issue between myself and others regarding today's politics. They say "just show love, just show peace, and it'll all work out." No, it doesn't matter how much peace you show, if they don't feel it, they'll just lock your sorry ass up in a concentration camp and peace won't do you a damn bit of good. You have to know when thee is a time for peace and when thee is a time to kick ass & take names.

 

I don't think there is a such thing as being to peaceful.
We are too peaceful because no one else in the world is, and I personally believe what the world needs is some more peace and love. So, I and others are helping spread it. We don't act aggressively when trying to spread peace, because what kind of silly hypocritic joke would that be? Simply being peaceful is an act of rebellion in itself.

 

I knew this guy who bought into the hippie philosophy totally, was very passive and people took advantage of it, dumped all over him and mooched off him. I told him he needs to stand up to people and he'd say, "It does no good, they don't take me seriously, they know I'm not willing to resort to violence, and they're right." I told him well then he needs to haul off and hit someone when they get on his ass and he said, "I can't do it. Whenever I feel like hitting someone I just freeze up as if my hands are tied."

I told him that's not pacifism, that's neurosis! Apparently he was afraid that if he fought back everyone would be mad at him. And frankly, after being a doormat for so long, a lot of people would have been mad at him, they felt he had no right to stand up for himself. Eventually he left town so he could start with a fresh slate, and wherever he went I hope he found himself a good psychiatrist to help him keep from making the same mistakes.

Yes, it is possible to be too peaceful.

 

Sounds to me like all he needs is a good friend to learn from.
<taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap....)

 

I tried to be that friend but he had a guilt complex about hitting people that went just too deep, and I gave up trying to get through to him.

To be fair to the people who mistreated him, he was pretty weird, some said he was creepy. Whenever I would say he ought to punch someone, some others would say fuck that, if he doesn't like the way he's being treated he should just get the fuck out of here.

If you're going to be different from others you need to be prepared to stand up for yourself, but I don't think he had sense enough to know he was different.

 

Most people operate from a place called.... self agenda. Once you know this, you can make sense of everything?? My opinion only

 

I recently watched this documentary called something like 10 questions for the Dali Lama.
He talked about the need to fight sometimes to reduce violence. He's a pretty studious guy though, and I think that's important or you won't really know when you might have to resort to fighting to reduce violence. If you are lazy and don't spend the time to fully understand the situation and those you might fight, then you will likely increase violence.

I think the images of the black civil rights movement and their non-violence was what helped reduce violence. People (black and white) risked their lives being non-violent in order to help reduce violence for others, and it worked.

The bravest young people I can imagine took bus rides from DC into the South in the early 1960s. (Freedom Riders). Many of the college age kids wrote their wills before they went on the journey. They were not weak in any sense of the word. They laid it all on the line for what they believed. It was not easy for them to accept the blows from police clubs and others.

The image of hippies putting flowers into national guard's rifles were pretty powerful, and so were the images of kids getting shot and killed in Ohio.

I think similar imagery was almost there when the Occupy movement was starting and cops were dragging people out of parks, but at a smaller scale.

Some say that Mohamed Bouazizi started the Arab Spring. I guess not non-violently, but he wasn't being violent towards anyone else. Sometimes a display like that can have a huge impact.

I'd say, if someone tries to steal or take advantage of you, try to take your stuff and leave. If you can't, and it's worth it, fight back. But using violence as a basis for a political statement or movement rarely works.

 

It sounds like you are describing blissininis. Not all hippies are completely passive. In the commune I lived in there was a lot of in fighting and tempers flaring. They were all hippies but not passive ones. I was raised by a hippy and I have a temper. Most of the time I try to reason, listen, and be patient but I won't put up with abuse. As a single mother, I have to be a bit of a B living with teenagers otherwise they would be walking all over me.