cull classism, fascism, racism, transphobia , homophobia, misogyny, and pedophilia from the world
One of these is not like the others.
Comment on We are a lot more alike than we are different
z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I have been struggling with this lately. I am staunchly anti violence and anti war, and yet, I am conflicted on how far I truly would be willing to go to cull classism, fascism, racism, transphobia , homophobia, misogyny, and pedophilia from the world.
These things are abhorrent to me, and I wonder how much of my humanity I’d be willing to sacrifice in exchange for even one of these no longer being in existence amongst the ranks of humanity.
How much help does pacifism give to the world? How much harm does it give.
Two scenes from media I consume have lately continually resurfaced in my mind. One is this scene from Vinland Saga, where the main character’s father confronts him when he finds his sword. The father is about to go off to war, and somberly asks his son who he wants to kill with his father’s sword. This culminates with the father, who again, is about to go off to war, that there is no such thing as enemies.
The other is this scene from Star Wars Andor, in which the leader of a burgeoning Rebellion is asked by a spy who wishes to defect to the Empire asks what he sacrifices for the fight against the Empire. The monologue he delivers is chilling, acknowledging he sacrifices all things that make him human, he becomes like his enemy in order to defeat them. When he reflects on the question, and asks, “So what do I sacrifice? Everything!”
That…is how I feel when I think on the fascism that has come to America. Having no enemies… if only. Truly. Having enemies robs me of my humanity. The thing I struggle with is…am I the one who makes them my enemies? Or are they? And if the only thing we can agree on is that we are enemies…then what choice do we have when they come for me and those I claim as my kin?
dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Objection@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Which one??
z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Fair enough. To be clear, I am saying I would not like any of these aspects of humankind, not that they are necessarily in any way equivalent. Nor am I trying to necessarily relate them to each other. On their own, I dislike them.
muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I can see uve put a lot of thought into this.
The beauty of being human is that u have free will. U can choose to believe what u want u can choose to do as u wish.
If u claim that someone is ur enemy then they most certainly 100% are ur enemy. If u do not claim this and they claim that u are their enemy then they are not nessasarilly ur enemy. Its a common trope that you create ur own worste enemies iron man trilogy is a great example of this.
If u where no to be “selfish” (to maximise the life of everyone over urself) then u would donate everythibg u had to make the lives of others better untill ur life is equal to that of the lowest person alive whos life u seek to improve. U would give up ur possessions ur food ur drink the organs u can spare u might even commit self immolation. U clearly are not doibg this so therefore u must admit u are on some level “selfish”.
U could then say this is a ridiculous thing and that u should live to maximise ur own life over everyone else. U could poison the earth destroy the forests dig oil out of the ground to power ur weapons factory that u sell to both sides of a conflict where each side aims to genocide eachother while u push propaganda to extend this state of affairs. You could disrespect the rights of everyone for ur own enjoyment.
It is ur free will to decide where on this spectrum u wish to be. And wherever u may end up its still selfish to some degree.
Say u can create 1 unit of evil to extinguish 1million units of evil will u do this? What about 1 for 100? 1 for 2? 1 for 1.000001? 1 for 1? In all these cases u arw doing evil and at worse u arent making the world a worse place?
Imo:
I would be willing to do almost anything to achieve my goals
Pacifism simply allows the proactive to take advantage of the weak
1.8million people died of a preventable disease last year and ur worried about ur humanity because u will have enemies and thats gonna undermine ur humanity? Are u willing to ignore 1.8million deaths per year to fight another fight that is multiple orders of magnitude less harmfull? Is this not a selfish act?
People go to war and kill other humans. They berry their humanity to do so does this make them unredeemable? Why would u be any different? U can choose to forgive urself whenever u wish u cannot do somthing u truly believe to be wrong (u can have regrets fron learning new info or be forced to do somthing but then thats not on u) cos then u wpuldnt do it.
I think ur scared that trump is a facist and that hes coming to murder u and ur kin. Relax ur fine u are being used. Ur a usefull idiot for the purposes of promoting a political agenda.
If they do come for you then utilise ur second amendment to do everything that u possibly can and take as many as u can with u.
itsAsin@lemmy.world 2 months ago
i just wanted to say that what you wrote here is beautiful and it helps me clarify my thoughts. ♥️