You can think of reasons to be violent, you can think of the good that violence might create, but consider this:
The only human being who is remembered as being completely good because he shot someone was Hitler, when he shot himself.
The list of possitive changes accomplished in the REFUSAL to shoot anyone is much longer.
I don’t believe violence can ever have a positive effect, except when used to defend against greater violence.
In argument, short of the entirely impossible situation where an abominable idea is irrestable to everyone else, (and assuming that you are the one person capable of resisting it...) having a 99.9999999999% probability assigned that non-violence is preferrable by a vast margin, in almost every possible situation, would be a good guide line for even the strictest rationalist.
You can think of reasons to be violent, you can think of the good that violence might create, but consider this:
The only human being who is remembered as being completely good because he shot someone was Hitler, when he shot himself.
The list of possitive changes accomplished in the REFUSAL to shoot anyone is much longer.
I don’t believe violence can ever have a positive effect, except when used to defend against greater violence.
In argument, short of the entirely impossible situation where an abominable idea is irrestable to everyone else, (and assuming that you are the one person capable of resisting it...) having a 99.9999999999% probability assigned that non-violence is preferrable by a vast margin, in almost every possible situation, would be a good guide line for even the strictest rationalist.