Violence and Freedom

They serve us well when self-defence requires sudden bursts of speed or extraordinary strength. But when aggressive impulses are stimulated by warfare, ethnic or racial hatred, mob hysteria, media fear-mongering, political demagoguery, or religious inquisitioners, the effect of violence is both individually and collectively a disaster.

Once unchained, the use of violence as a method reduces even the justest of causes to the level of those responsible for the injustice one opposes.

Not only that, but violence is contagious, and creates more of the same, leaving a trail of sorrow, anger, pain, and vengeance, sometimes for generations.

This point of view is shared by most of the great prophets of mankind, from Lao Tzu to Jesus, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr. But unfortunately this is not the last word on the subject.

For one thing, only a miniscule percentage of people are equipped by moral rigour and self-control to practice non-violence when physically abused. Gandhi and King not withstanding, there are very few peoples in history who have successfully thrown off the yoke of oppression by others without resorting to armed revolts. And finally, when one conside

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Approximate Word count = 1139
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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