Re: [microsound] war

["Dominic Lanzone" <dubvurt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

dear spw,

i was really struck by your question about what pacifists have done for
humanity.
here is a very very small, and very incomplete list of some famous 'fruit
cake' pacifists: 
Buddha
Jesus
Gandhi 
Martin Luther King 
Mother Teresa
Cheif Seattle
the Dalai Lama
Henry David Thoreau
Leo Tolstoy
Pablo Picasso
Immanuel Kant
Emma Goldman 
John Lennon
Albert Einstein
Albert Schweitzer 
bell hooks
Alfred Bernard Nobel
Nelson Mandela 
Bertrand Russell

this is just a small list of the top of my head. 
 if you do not know what they did for humanity, i suggest you get down to
your local library , or look them up on the internet, and learn about them. 

the world is a scary unpredictable place sometimes, and you are right,
suffering is at some point inevitable. often when confronted with
suffering, we humans use violence to try to regulate and 'control' it.
violent acts feel immediate and 'real', they give us a sense that something
concrete is being done. and this is a very seductive feeling when we are
confronted with a fearful loss of control in the world. funny thing is,
violence begets only violence, so instead of 'controlling' the violence of
things like 9-11 and Saddam, we end up amplifying it and creating more and
more violent and chaotic situations. creating more and more suffering in
the world.
a concrete example of this is how Saddam would not even be in power now if
the U.S. had not backed him in the past and supplied him with some of the
same weapons and training he is now using against our troops. who is to say
that the new regime we install after we 'get rid' of Saddam will not end up
being the same kind of problem later on? 
you know, one of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over
and over and expecting different results.

Peace,
Dominic

 

 

------------------------------