Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Regarding Justified Violence vs. Unjustified Violence

The following is my Comment/Response to this article by Metin Basoglu, which appears in Issue number 2768 of The New Scientist Magazine, dated July 13, 2010:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727684.700-you-cant-fight-violence-with-violence.html


Allow me to clarify and qualify myself by stating the following; my purpose is not served by jumping into one extreme or the opposite, but by serving the cause of truth, to which I subscribe, and also serving the cause of peace, which are not mutually exclusive! In other words; most people tend to inadvertently over-complicate things by taking things to easy in an effort to simplify and thus they tend to join one irrational and illogical camp against the other! I seek to avoid such extremes; as my interests lie in a world that is relatively moderate and reasonably safe, secure and sensible! In almost all wars the initial perpetrators of unjustified violence can be found on both sides, albeit more so on one side than the other!

I do not agree with much of what Metin states in this article. This article over-simplifies things and makes it seem like there is a moral and ethical equivalence between those fanatic pseudo-religious extremists who initiate unjustified violence with those who are forced by circumstance to prevent greater violence and danger by justified violent self-defense.
No doubt about it: the Nazis began by fabricating Big Lies about who caused Germany to suffer following their defeat in World War One and they were the ones who started the fire by murdering innocent people! No doubt the excessive punishment was a major factor, but unlike the German Communists, Socialists and Social Democrats the Nazis deliberately omitted crucial facts about how and why World War One began and distorted reality so as to generate greater hatred, anger and fear, mostly directed at easy targets, vulnerable scapegoats and other innocent groups. While it is true that the Bush Administration managed to make things even worse and its overall domestic and foreign policies actually weakened our ability to fight the enemy and prevent further harm to our democracies; there should be no doubt about the fact that it was the enemy, pseudo-Islamic fanatic extremists who hijacked and distorted Islam, who started the fire! While there are some significant differences between the Nazis and the sick pseudo-Islamic violencesors; there are also common factors, including the use of anti-Jewish anti-Semitic lies and fabrications and forgeries. Violence begins with deliberate defamation of the prospective enemy. Sure; some acts of defamation have been perpetrated by those who over-react to the malicious acts of the other side, but the fact remains that one side is more to blame than the other. Of course, pending on which side you already happen to have been born to, the determination of which side is most to blame may seem itself a rather subjective thing.
Nevertheless; the reality is clear: the majority of the victims are not the minority on both sides who perpetuate malicious ideas and acts!
We cannot afford to be weak in the face of the sick violencesors who brainwash susceptible fools and who are themselves self-justifying fanatics! To cave-in to the pseudo-Islamic and pseudo-Christian and pseudo-Jewish, etc., violencesors would lead to the same result that efforts at appeasing Hitler and his Nazis lead to! And that is something we can never allow to happen! Justified Violence used against those who perpetrated Unjustified Violence cannot, in of itself, achieve the long-term goals desired, and thus Justified Violence (i.e. our forces fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan) must also be accompanied by non-violent efforts that work to empower people in constructive, progressive and meaningful ways!

Ultimately we must, sooner than later, create a truly Ethical Global Society based on the most Sensible Principles; such as upholding Individual Human Rights, Liberties and Freedoms! Otherwise increasing confusion, paranoia, corruption and crime will lead to total chaos and a final collapse!

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