How Do You Respond to Injustice and Evil?

[Landlord]

It's been a while since we've had some good, stimulating religious/ethical/moral discussions - I don't know anything about politics so I'm sick of those threads

 

Basically, the premise is simple - personally speaking (try to keep the political edge to a minimum), how do you respond or react to 'wrong' in the world?

 

Do you classify yourself as a pacifist? Are you a violent resistor? Something else entirely? What fuels and motivates your beliefs on what's a right approach, etc.

 

 

 

I've got my own thoughts on this and I will share them, but I want to take some time to gather them and I also don't want this to seem self-serving so I'm leaving the floor open at the moment. What say you?

[zoogs]

 

I like to try to be pacifist since an aggressive response seems like it'll only result in escalation or a deeper conviction on the part of the other guy that they're right. Which is the opposite of the desired effect.

 

Then again sometimes I'm not very good at it though.

[StPaulHusker]

I set couches on fire.

[carlfense]

It depends on the wrong . . . but I'm definitely not shy.

[Landlord]

 

I like to try to be pacifist since an aggressive response seems like it'll only result in escalation or a deeper conviction on the part of the other guy that they're right. Which is the opposite of the desired effect.

 

Then again sometimes I'm not very good at it though.

 

 

So, I think the general universal question in response, is what does pacifism actually accomplish? Tangibly speaking, what is gained by a non-response?

 

While reacting in kind might result in escalation, not reacting at all would just result in an allowance of the injustice to continue unabated would it not?

[TonyStalloni]

This is never an easy question to respond to, as there are as many solutions as there are grades of evil. A person intent on doing harm to my family would be met with as deadly of a response as I could provide. The group of kids teasing a Downs Syndrome child would be told to go home while the person pocketing a tool from a hardware store would be turned in to the service desk. In many cases an elevated response to a harmless mistake is the unfortunate answer. Clubbing the neighbors cat that kept using the kids sandbox for its duty box was probably the wrong thing to do.

[zoogs]

Yeah. That might be preferable to convincing them even further that they're justified. Everyone makes mistakes, but a passive response might allow for an easier opportunity for the person to reflect on it later and think, "That was pretty bad of me." Or it might not, but in a lot of cases expending a lot of further personal effort isn't really a option either.

 

The question is quite vague though as to what the nature of these 'wrongs' are.

[StPaulHusker]

In all seriousness, other than physical harm to my family, to which I would do the same as Tony, I would probably be on the passive-aggressive/assertive demeanor. It's probably now that I am older that I think this way. When I was younger I got called out by a couple of people on some behaviors that I took to heart when I could have blown up. I am a better person for it now. As long as the other side is willing to listen, it's the best approach.

 

If they don't listen, I handcuff and mace them.

[Landlord]

Yeah. That might be preferable to convincing them even further that they're justified. Everyone makes mistakes, but a passive response might allow for an easier opportunity for the person to reflect on it later and think, "That was pretty bad of me." Or it might not, but in a lot of cases expending a lot of further personal effort isn't really a option either.

 

The question is quite vague though as to what the nature of these 'wrongs' are.

 

I tried purposefully leaving it open-ended to let the discussion lead itself where it may, but I probably did too good of a job I suppose we could go with a few examples:

 

1. You witness a blatant, explicit and oppresive case of racism between two strangers.

2. A man threatens your child with violence after your kid accidentally causes serious damage to his vehicle.

3. A friend of yours starts being physically aggressive towards his girlfriend in an unwelcome way.

 

 

 

 

A person intent on doing harm to my family would be met with as deadly of a response as I could provide.

 

So if this were to happen, would you consider your response to be "right"? Or only beneficial to you? Understanding that your response is essentially the exact same action that the other person was trying to do.

[StPaulHusker]

Yeah. That might be preferable to convincing them even further that they're justified. Everyone makes mistakes, but a passive response might allow for an easier opportunity for the person to reflect on it later and think, "That was pretty bad of me." Or it might not, but in a lot of cases expending a lot of further personal effort isn't really a option either.

 

The question is quite vague though as to what the nature of these 'wrongs' are.

 

I tried purposefully leaving it open-ended to let the discussion lead itself where it may, but I probably did too good of a job I suppose we could go with a few examples:

 

1. You witness a blatant, explicit and oppresive case of racism between two strangers.

2. A man threatens your child with violence after your kid accidentally causes serious damage to his vehicle.

3. A friend of yours starts being physically aggressive towards his girlfriend in an unwelcome way.

 

 

So if this were to happen, would you consider your response to be "right"? Or only beneficial to you? Understanding that your response is essentially the exact same action that the other person was trying to do.

1. Unless it became dangerous or violent, I would mind my business because they need to work it out.

2. As long as there is nothing physical, I would try to diffuse the situation and not start a fight.

3. I have no problem calling out someone for being physically aggressive regardless if they are my friend or not. Or if it is their girlfriend or not.

 

[Ratt Mhule]

Put all terrorists, gang members, murderers, child rapists, rapists, hitmen, etc. from every country on a remote desert island and nuke it!

[strigori]

Yeah. That might be preferable to convincing them even further that they're justified. Everyone makes mistakes, but a passive response might allow for an easier opportunity for the person to reflect on it later and think, "That was pretty bad of me." Or it might not, but in a lot of cases expending a lot of further personal effort isn't really a option either.

 

The question is quite vague though as to what the nature of these 'wrongs' are.

 

I tried purposefully leaving it open-ended to let the discussion lead itself where it may, but I probably did too good of a job I suppose we could go with a few examples:

 

1. You witness a blatant, explicit and oppresive case of racism between two strangers.

2. A man threatens your child with violence after your kid accidentally causes serious damage to his vehicle.

3. A friend of yours starts being physically aggressive towards his girlfriend in an unwelcome way.

 

1 - Very situationally dependent. Am I in a position with enough power/authority to do something myself? Or contacting the proper authorities(police, management, exe) might be the better way to combat it.

2 - I'll start with the disclaimer that I do not have kids. But my reaction would be to put myself between them, to prevent the violence ideally, but said kid is going to be in a world of trouble, possibly with the police even.

3 - Physically intervene, and encourage her to leave the pos, and most likely that's the end of a friendship.

[Landlord]

1. You witness a blatant, explicit and oppresive case of racism between two strangers.

 

 

1. Unless it became dangerous or violent, I would mind my business because they need to work it out.

 

 

 

Let's focus on this then. Your solution when confronted with racism is to let it happen how it will happen and not get involved. How is that beneficial? Just because it isn't violent doesn't mean it isn't extremely detrimental, to that person individually and to our culture. Or, asking a different way, if every single person responds in this way, how do we ever make progress in ridding the world of evils such as racism, oppression and genocide? If we take the pacifistic approach and refuse to get involved. I don't think anyone here doubts that these things still exist, even in our own immediate cultural contexts. So what do we do about them?

 

Doing nothing might help us all sleep better at night and not step on any toes, but is it not just turning a blind eye to injustices that are real and need to be addressed head on?

 

And if we do do something (doodoo....), what kind of action will yield results?

[JJ Husker]

 

 

1. You witness a blatant, explicit and oppresive case of racism between two strangers.

2. A man threatens your child with violence after your kid accidentally causes serious damage to his vehicle.

3. A friend of yours starts being physically aggressive towards his girlfriend in an unwelcome way.

 

1- I show emotional support to the victim. Possibly get a little assertive with the offender, depending on the circumstance. Try to diffuse the situation without escalating it.

 

2- Depends how serious I feel the man is. If his threats seems real, Katy bar the door- that ain't happening and I would take all steps necessary to see that he does my child no harm. Physical altercation, lead pipe to the head, whatever it takes. And yes I would consider my response to be "right", I am not going to allow a man to hurt my child no matter the reason. Period. If he is just upset and blowing, I would assure him that the damage will be taken care of and attempt to diffuse his immediate anger.

 

3- A friend becoming physically aggressive with his wife or girlfriend would be stopped, physically if required. Friendship can only extend so far.

[JJ Husker]

I do have to say that I witnessed a pretty blatant case of racism also while in college. We were actually on a road trip to the Auburn football game, about 1983 I believe, and stayed the first night at our frat at Mississippi State. We were sitting on the front porch with some of our MSU "brothers". A couple black guys come walking down the street and one of these MSU frat guys says "where ya goin boy?" Those poor guys just put their heads down and picked up the pace. Looking back on it, I am ashamed that we did not do anything. We simply commented that we would never do such a thing in Lincoln. His response was that we did not have "ours" trained properly. The south was a different world then and it's probably still backwards now. That one event though did temper my "brotherhood" thoughts. Just because a guy is/was a member at a place with the same 2 greek letters does not really carry an weight with me to this day.