Pacifism in an Age of Madness
Certainly, you've seen the headlines, the horror stories, the immigrants, the scary images of violent crime everywhere from Spokane to South Beach.
And you thought about getting a gun.
You may have a gun already, but you've seldom - if ever - had any use for it. That's me. I am a pacifist. I don't like violence, but that doesn't mean I'm soft, it just means I don't see any need to commit violence, so I've always had a certain disposition toward not owning weapons beyond kitchen knives and maybe the old axe I use to split firewood.
My gun is similar to the one Clint Eastwood brandishes in the clip below, so, assuming I ever have to use my weapon, if I get the "drop" on my opponent, I'm likely to come out on top.
More to the point is my long-standing reliance on the use of ration and persuasion to settle disputes above resorting to violence. It's served me well for many years. I've probably been involved in fewer than five fistfights and those never lasted long before somebody of cooler temper broke them up.
I consider the use of violence to be the province of scoundrels, fools, and politicians, most of whom are cowards who try to act tough when talking about sending young people to fight and die in the mostly useless wars they promote. I have little use for these types of people, especially the latter, who have long been a subject of great loathing by me, and lately, by a growing number of people.
Politicians and the media promote violence as if it's some kind of virtue when it should properly be categorized as a last resort when all other means of conversation, argument, discussion and reasonableness have failed. Politicians are usually especially quick to the trigger and who cannot argue that Hollywood and video game producers have long pushed violence as a means of achieving successful outcomes. It's a false pretense. Misinformation, if you will, writ large by people who should know better.
The latest promotion of violence seems to be coming from the usual media and political sources, in terms vaguely draped in the colors of red and blue and mentioned along the themes of Civil War 2.0 and illegal immigration, regarding the presidential contest and gnawing issues at the U.S. southern border spreading throughout the country.
The logic of the situation is thus: if Kamala Harris wins, Republicans and people living in red states will be furious and the country will be torn apart, i.e., civil war; whereas, if Trump wins, Democrats and blue state residents will be disenfranchised and rioting and violence will spew forth from the cities.
There's also the question of roaming gangs of Venezuelans, or Hondurans or Orientals or Muslims wreaking havoc on unsuspecting, peaceful citizens who are called upon to "arm up" and defend their homes and families from these ruthless, lawless, illegals. While that may be the condition faced by some, it's difficult for me to imagine such circumstances confront me, as I am ensconced in a rural area well within the boundaries of a deep red state which has open carry laws. Like I used to say when I first moved from the suburbs to more rural enclaves, "I don't need a gun. By the time anybody dangerous gets anywhere near me, my neighbors will have shot them."
And that continues to be my thinking and overriding principle. Since I do not feel endangered, I have few, if any, compelling reasons to arm myself with deadly force. Now, should I hear of others nearby being victimized or otherwise abused, my convictions are subject to change rapidly in order to deal with a new set of circumstances. I'm not stupid enough to bring a knife to a gunfight, but I'm also smart enough to know that promoting toughness and vigilante-style justice invites more trouble than it could possibly prevent.
So, I think I'll just keep my weapon holstered and my wits about me, thank you very much.
-FR
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Historical Events for Ocotber
October 1: 1908 - Henry Ford's Model T went on sale for the first time.
October 1: 1949 - The People's Republic of China was founded with Mao Zedong as Chairman.
October 2: Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi (1869-1948) was born in Porbandar, India
October 3: 1990 - After 45 years of Cold War division, East and West Germany were reunited as the Federal Republic of Germany.
October 4: 1965 - Pope Paul VI became the first Pope to visit the U.S. and the first to address the United Nations.
October 6: 1981 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1918-1981) was assassinated in Cairo.
October 7: 1985 - Palestinian terrorists seized the Italian passenger ship Achille Lauro.
October 8: 1871 - The Great Chicago Fire erupted, begun, according to popular legend, when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street.
October 9: 1940 - John Lennon (1940-1980) was born in Liverpool, England.
October 12: 1492 - After a 33-day voyage, Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the New World in the Bahamas.
October 12: 1822 - Brazil became independent of Portugal.
October 13: 1792 - The cornerstone of the White House was laid by George Washington.
October 14: 1912 - Former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot by a fanatic while campaigning in Milwaukee, saved by a thick overcoat and a speech on papers in his pocket. Roosevelt recovered fully in a few weeks time.
October 14: 1947 - U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier.
October 15: 1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on the Island of St. Helena beginning a British-imposed exile following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
October 16: 1793 - Queen Marie Antoinette beheaded during the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution.
October 19: 1987 - Stocks plunged a record 508 points (22.6%), the largest one-day decline in stock market history on Wall Street's "Black Monday".
October 20: 1818 - The U.S. and Britain agreed to set the U.S.- Canadian border at the 49th parallel.
October 21: 1805 - The Battle of Trafalgar between the British Royal Navy and the combined French and Spanish fleets, ending the threat of Napoleon's invasion of England.
October 24: 1861 - The first transcontinental telegram in America was sent from San Francisco to Washington, addressed to President Abraham Lincoln from the Chief Justice of California.
October 24: 1945 - Founding of the United Nations.
October 25: 1854 - During the Crimean War, the Charge of the Light Brigade resulted in 272 out of 673 British cavalrymen killed. The Charge was later immortalized in the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
October 26: 1881 - Wyatt Earp, two of his brothers, and "Doc" Holliday gunned down two Clantons and two others in Tombstone, Arizona, at the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.
October 27: 1904 - The first underground and underwater rail system in the world began operation in New York City as the subway ran from City Hall to West 145th Street.
October 28: 1636 - Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in America, was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
October 28: 1919 - Prohibition began in the U.S. with the passage of the National Prohibition (Volstead) Act.
October 29: 1929 - 16 million shares were dumped amid tumbling prices as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) crashed, beginning the Great Depression in America.
October 30: 1735 - John Adams (1735-1826) the second U.S. President and a framer of the constitution, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts.
October 31: 1517 - Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg's palace church.
October 31: 1941 - Mount Rushmore National Memorial was completed, with 60-foot-tall sculptures of the heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, representing America's founding, political philosophy, preservation, and expansion and conservation.
