Thoughts of a Pacifist

Since the Vietnam conflict I have described myself as a pacifist. To clarify, a pacifist as I understand it is one who uses the minimum amount of force necessary to maintain order. They are folk who are for the most part against violence. The term was coined by a Frenchman, Emile Arnaud and adopted by peace activists at the 10^th annual Peace Congress in 1901. But obviously the concept goes back earlier than that to Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) and Jesus and others. In this era we think of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

With that said, I have compiled a list of people who should be summarily shot. Following is such a list, though it is growing daily, these are folk on my list: All those Freshman congressman who signed the pledge never to cooperate with anyone else, and though I am reluctant to add him, John Boehner, Speaker of the House who refuses to use the term “compromise.” Another group which I will not name individually, because I do not know their names is the upper 1/10^th of the upper 1/10^th because they know nothing about sharing (I realize this will do little good because they way they have manipulated the laws of the country their funds will just be passed to the heirs with little taxing.) Along with these would be all the Plutocrats they have created to develop a country of inequity distribution of money.

Next on my lists are the hate mongers such as Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Ann Coulter; hell, just toss in the entire FOX network. They do nothing constructive but contribute to the “Winners take All” movement. Along with them I would include the boneheads who keep bringing up President Obama’s birth certificate; the last being an April 1^st hoax that some dodos took seriously. (Does a comb-over conceal an empty cranium?)

I could make the case of doing away with all stupid people, especially when it comes to politics and religion who have no sense of history, no concept of political science, no understanding of macroeconomics and in essence make their belief statements based upon family tradition or using the mental process of “Fords are better than Chevys”, “John Deeres are better than (insert another tractor company of your choice; they keep changing too fast for me to keep up) and who essentially treat government like a spectator sport where you must cheer wildly and frantically, and even violently over a silly game of some sort, which has no significant meaning at all in terms of the good of society. The danger here I realize is defining who is dumb and perhaps finding myself in someone else’s definition of such.

Now I admit the inherent contradictions in the following, but I would include all those for capital punishment. This is an idea that has no helpful value at reducing crime, has taken the lives of many innocent people, and keeps alive the idea of revenge versus compassion and justice and leaves people stuck in grief. I can live with the paradox.

I also must include all those wild-eyed conservative Christian extremists who have become the Pharisees of today that Jesus condemned. Quit quoting scripture out of context and try to understand the story.

So, how can a pacifist hold such a contradictory position? Well, I figure I am already guilty of killing folk anyway, since I belong to a society that uses war for poor reasons, and uses capital punishment. Therefore I am already guilty of the crime of killing as a citizen of that society,  so, I might as well get some benefit from it.

I could go on with my lists of who should be summarily killed for being who they are, but then some dimwit might think I’m serious about this bullpucky. Everything I actually believe in runs counter to such thinking, but living in my world to turning the other cheek, doing good to those who do badly to you, returning no one evil for evil, walking the second mile, loving your neighbor as yourself…is a lonely road. So, occasionally I think of joining the majority but my counter-culture roots remain just too deep.

Good luck with your thinking in society that seems hell-bent for dumbing down.

Now as for the list of those who I think should be institutionalized so they cannot be a danger to society…