A.k.a. Why violence is a necessary evil ?
Heads up: this post won’t be like my regular stories with a funny touch. In the days leading up to Christmas – my favourite time of the year – I felt the urge to reflect on peace, and what it costs to achieve it…. Besides, I have Man with me for the holidays, what a wonderful Christmas gift! Ergo, no need to write about lonely Christmases….
I consider myself a pacifist. I am the kind of person who says ”sorry” when you bump into me. The person who covers her eyes during a particularly violent scene in an action movie. The person who thinks boxing as a sport should be forbidden. The person who literally gets nauseous when hearing about cases of abuse on the news. The person who hates guns. As a matter of fact, it is the one and only topic I have forbidden Man to talk to me about; I won’t hear a word about his weapon, or arms training. I understand why he needs it, but that does not mean that I need to hear about it…
Lately however I have been reflecting on my identity as a pacifist and have come to see pacifism as an end state rather than a viable path forward. After many (sometimes philosophical, sometimes political, sometimes simply rational) conversations with those in- and outside of the armed forces, I am beginning to understand that some evil in the world cannot be defeated without violence. There would be few terrorists, war criminals and other filth of the earth willing to join in for a Kumbaya ceremony around the campfire, or a high tea to discuss world peace and why they really should stop raping and murdering innocent people… As Italian diplomat, humanist and poet Niccolò Machiavelli wisely remarked 500 years ago: ”the ends justify the means”. I believe that rings truer than ever today.
War has evolved over the years. Whereas in the old days both parties fought mostly for geographic or religious motives, these days we fight those that try to oppose, control and terrorise others. Their motives might still be religious or geographic, but we have evolved to fight for idealistic and democratic motives. We fight monsters that hurt thousands of innocent people and form a direct threat to our freedom. We fight to create a better, safer, non-violent world. Paradoxically, to achieve a non-violent world, violence must be used.
This seems to be a notion that the majority of people support, according to sociologist Landon Schnabel in the journal PS: Political Science and Politics. Schnabel analyses data from large surveys called World Values Survey and the General Social Survey. In these surveys the vast majority of participants answered that physical coercion is a necessary tool to solve some problems under certain circumstances. They do differentiate between interpersonal violence being unacceptable and state-sanctioned violence being acceptable. Which brings us back to the end justifying the means.
As former commander of the Dutch armed forces General van Uhm says in a Ted Talk: “we all choose an instrument to create a better world. Some choose the pen, the brush, the camera, the microscope. I choose the gun.” When van Uhm then takes out an actual gun, the room falls dead silent (pun intended). The unease is audible. But that is actually a wonderful thing, van Uhm explains. Because it means that guns are not part of our society; that we are not familiar with weapons. Most Dutchies never come across them, he says. And the same goes for us Australians. We live in a country where the streets don’t have to be patrolled with guns. Where we are safe. Where we can sleep soundly at night, and walk the streets without fearing for our lives. Our peace is a wonderful gift that should not to be taken for granted. We would not have peace, prosperity and safety in the country we live in without counter-violence to those evil forces in the world.
Van Uhm continues with a powerful statement: ”I took up the gun. Not to shoot, not to kill, not to destroy, but to stop those who would do evil. To protect the vulnerable, to defend democratic values and to stand up for the freedom we have.” And many brave men and women with him, including my own wonderful Man. To quote George Orwell: “we sleep safe in our beds because rough [wo]men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”
Let’s never stop hoping of course that we can all live together one day without violence and oppression; that our armed forces become redundant. But until that day comes, we need our soldiers to take up guns, planes, drones, bombs etc. Until that day comes let’s show understanding of the fact that peace does not come for free. Until that day comes let’s stand together in support for those going to war, and for those returning. We owe them our freedom and our safety. I cannot applaud them any better than Plato did in his Socratic dialogue ”Menexenus” (387 BC): “let every [wo]man remind their descendants that they also are soldiers who must not desert the ranks of their ancestors, or from cowardice fall behind. Even as I exhort you this day, and in all future time, whenever I meet with any of you, shall continue to remind and exhort you, O ye sons [and daughters] of heroes, that you are the bravest of [wo]men.”