Pacifism follow up....

I would certainly never call myself a pacifist, but I have made a commitment to avoidance, deescalation, and alternatives when it comes to violence. I am also at peace with the idea that violence may, and probably will, be required one day to solve a failed social situation. To say differently is to ignore all of human history. That would be foolish.

I guess everyone has to define words for themselves, and that's what was on my mind when I wrote the first post. The thing is, words have meaning and power. When different people work with different definitions of the same word, ugly things can happen. Therefor, discussing and working out the meaning of a powerful word should be a good thing.

A lot of people call themselves pacifist, with no idea the meaning of the word.
No idea, or no real care.....

There is such a thing as human nature. It's made up of good things, such as courage, hope, love, joy, morality, thoughtfulness, wisdom, etc. It's also made up of bad traits, like racism, hate, greed, depravity, sadism, cowardice, etc.
It's in how we recognize and deal with these traits in ourselves that makes us what we are.

I think war can happen for many reasons, and can have mixtures of nobility and evil on every level from the politicians who cause it to the grunts who die for it. It's all a reflection of human nature, magnified to historical proportions.