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Post by khyron1144 on Jan 18, 2005 0:47:49 GMT -5
Personally, I think Offspring's "Get a Job" just says it all. I know that's probably just a quip, but would you mind explaining what you meant by that? It could be interpreted in a find something better to do with your time jab, but I do not think that was your intention. Or maybe you were playing off my mention of the Offspring in the post previous to yours.
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Post by khyron1144 on Jan 18, 2005 15:50:36 GMT -5
Chapter 9 Violence I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside Down by the riverside I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside Gonna study war no more. -Traditional, "Down by the Riverside"
If violence is our biggest problem, then eliminating it is the biggest change that needs to happen. Many will argue that humanity is an innately violent species and that eliminating violence is impossible. I can't argue that our history is indeed violent and there may be something in our basic natures that predisposes us towards violent behavior.
The thing about humans is that we resist our basic natures all the time. Few would argue that a Catholic priest or Buddhist monk who succeed in following a vow to abstain from sex are doing what comes most naturally to humans, and I believe the sex drive to be more powerful than our urge towards violence.
Okay, so we can resist our basic natures but isn't it hard work that takes discipline to achieve? Maybe, but if it means no more war, then wouldn't it be worth it?
In fact, there is great debate as to whether humans have an innate tendency towards violence or not. During World War II only somewhere around one percent to ten percent of the infantry on either side were able to pull the trigger and shoot at another human being. This was taken as an innate inhibition against killing fellow humans. Now days, the United States military spends quite a bit of its training time trying to break down this inhibition in its soldiers.
Okay, so we've established that violence is a problem that we might be able to fix, but how? Stop fighting. Now.
That's a bit overly simplistic; what about terrorism? Bombing Afghanistan or Iraq is only going to create future generations of Afghan or Iraqi terrorists with a reason to hate us. Let them attack. We'll sit there and take it and be total victims. It's kind of hard to maintain the story that we're the Great Satan, if they're the only ones that use violence.
What if someone's trying to hurt me, shouldn't I fight back? If it is wrong for them to hurt you, is it not wrong for you to hurt them?
Shouldn't the state execute killers? No. If it was wrong for a private citizen to kill, then it is wrong for the state to kill too. You can't apply different moral standards to the individual and the state.
Is there ever a time when violence is right? No.
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