What is a pacifist?

So... what does it mean?

Ever thought about it?

I'm willing to bet most people know someone who SAY'S they are a pacifist, but I'd bet more none of them really are.

Here's my test.... applied many times..... and never failed yet:

"Pacifist? I'm not sure what that means. Mind if I ask a question so I better understand?"

"Lets say You walk into your own home one afternoon to find a burglar has broken in. You hear noises from the other room, that are probably
from whom ever broke in (and who is still there). You have with you a baseball bat, because you were playing with the kids down the road, and a cell phone. What does a Pacifist do?"

This question is a trap. It's a double faceted trap. Most people won't think past the first trap they notice, and never see the real threat to their argument. The 'baseball bat' is a red herring. In this scenario most people assume it's there to represent a weapon, and that defines the test. What will the contestant do with the weapon?

Follow along.......

"Of course, I guess that follows then. You say that as a pacifist you would not use the baseball bat as a weapon. Would you use the phone then, to call the Police? You would? Why? What do you expect the Police to do?"

Invariably people respond thus: They expect the police to come arrest the criminal. The majority of the sheeple never think what that means.........

They expect the police to come, with weapons, ready to do violence on the victims behalf. People expect the police to handle the dirty work for them. All law comes from the barrel of a gun..... and people forget that till it's rubbed in their faces.

A 'pacifist' who responds to the question by saying they would call the police is certainly no pacifist. They have no issues with using violence to achieve their goal. They just have a problem with doing it for themselves. They have no problem paying someone else to take the risk, stand in the breach, and take the hit.

There is no problem with this.... as long as we are honest about what is going on. The police are professionals paid to deal with the dark side of human culture. It's an excellent system overall, and our officers really should be honored for their work.

On the other hand, a person who claims to morally object to violence when they are called to act, but will happily pay someone else to do the same violence on their behalf.... that person is a coward, not a pacifist.

There is no easy way to say that, nor should there be. Not when this attitude costs good people their very lives, acting as sheepdogs in a world of sheep and wolves.

I can understand a sheep not standing up to the wolf, and the sheepdog fulfilling his calling in defending the sheep. That said, only a human coward could claim that mindless sheepdom is the right path while deriding the action the guardian sheepdog must take on the flocks behalf.

How would a true pacifist answer the question? I don't know.... I've never met a true pacifist.