this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
48 points (98.0% liked)

NonCredibleDefense

4021 readers
263 users here now

Rules:

  1. Posts must abide by lemmy.world terms and conditions
  2. No spam or soliciting for money.
  3. No racism or other bigotry allowed.
  4. Obviously nothing illegal.

If you see these please report them.

Related communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 3 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I am a militant pacifist and we must spread this ideology by force when necessary. I would have us fight every war that is required until there is not just peace, but peace and justice for all. No more dictators, no more tyranny, no more oppression, no more axis of evil. These things are incompatible with my ideological position and must be destroyed. A pacifist must be ready to fight a war against any evil at a moment's notice, to destroy it the moment it shows its face, before it can grow to threaten the peace of the world.

This is the kind of pacifism the west forgot how to do, and it is how we have failed. We have allowed evil to exist and grow for far too long. We have turned a blind eye to it. We let it become profitable for us to allow it to exist. We allowed it to justify itself economically and validate itself as if it were just another way of seeing the world, another way of governing, another way of doing business, another way of leading. Intolerance of intolerance itself does not make one intolerant. In fact it is tolerance of intolerance that is neither sustainable or logically valid.

The Cold War was won, and we disarmed, and went home to rest on our laurels. Evil did not. We turned our eyes to profit, to capitalism which had won the victory for us, and we retooled it to make us rich instead of strong, which we felt was our just rewards. After the conclusion of the Cold War we did almost nothing to address evil in the third world. We did little to address evil in the second world. Perhaps most importantly, we did nothing to stop evil from creeping into the first world too. Both during the Cold War, and afterwards. And look how far we have now fallen.

I am a militant pacifist, I will fight evil in all its forms, and I will always pursue truth and freedom and the dream of real peace, a fragile and delicate thing that can only exist with truth, with freedom, and without evil. Peace can only be defended through force. I accept that. You should too.

[–] seeigel 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You are not a pacifist but normal. Every Roman soldier fought for peace, for the pax romanum. Every crucified rebel was there to maintain peace by detering others. Since then and before, every empire is fighting for peace.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Since then and before, every empire is fighting for peace.

Not really. The idea of a state that is fighting for peace is not the norm in world history. Even simply "Our people stay safe, and everyone else can (and should) get fucked" that the pax romana represented was revolutionary because it recognized the interest and duty of the central authority to provide for the wellbeing and security of the common person, a development which also happened in Imperial China around this time. A development that would not re-emerge in Europe until the ~15th century AD, vague Christian platitudes aside.

Also, while the stated purpose of the Roman military by imperial propaganda was to maintain the pax romana, your average Roman soldier was fighting for loot and a paycheck, and when either were short, they could (and did) very quickly turn on 'peace'.