thread: 2005-05-16 : Violence
On 2005-05-18, Ed H wrote:
Valamir wrote:
"Throughout most of human history you couldn't BE assertive unless you were also willing to commit violence to back your assertions up. As civilization progressed that relationship didn't change, it just became more common to inflict violence by proxy.
The only reason any free citizen has the ability to assert their own opinion in a public forum is because ultimately...that ability is backed by the threat of violence. To turn your back on that fact and pretend that its not true and that you get through life entirely without violence is the height of naivety, and rather insulting to the people whose job it is to use violence to give you that freedom.
Everytime you express an opinion without being stopped, you can do so because of the underlying threat of violence towards whoever would try to stop you.
Violence constructively applied is the foundation of all civilization. Its what makes civilization possible."
That's a set of beliefs I don't happen to share, an analysis of society and history that I do not find at all convincing.
I'm willing to differ on that issue, but I hope it's not true that I can't disagree with these things without "insulting" soldiers. If it is true, that's a pity, because I'd rather not insult them. But if holding the beliefs that I have honestly reached at this point in my life insults them, there is little I can do about that. I certainly won't deny things I think are true to avoid insulting people.
I'd also prefer to be treated with more respect than to be told that if I disagree it is because I "turn my back on that fact and pretend it is not true" which is "the height of naivety."
