Violence is the central, perpetual social issue of the human species. Having evolved from non-human animals which fought and killed with tooth and claw for their very survival, each individual member of the human family is endowed with a full complement of aggressive capacities.
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 considers cases of extreme or ultimate injustice, such as the Nazi's systematic extermination of the Jews and other minorities, it is nearly impossible to justify non-violence against such an implacably evil foe, not the least because
it is completely ineffective in that context as a means of saving lives.
When it comes to the opposing views of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X regarding the most appropriate tactics for resisting the murderous white racism practiced <...