Pacifism

Archive for Pacifism

Free Advice for Occupy Wall Street Crowd

If you want the average people watching at home to sympathize with you, you should stop dropping F-bombs and not taunt the cops. Doesn’t mean it’s right for them to throw a baton or use their pepper spray, but if the below scene (HT2 Robert Wenzel) had escalated into serious violence, the average American would […]

Adventures in Pacifism!

Bad: Better: Best:

On Pacifism (part III of III)

[This was an article I originally wrote for LewRockwell.com in grad school.] In two previous articles (here and here), I described my evolving opinion of pacifism. Since my childhood (and no doubt due to my Roman Catholic upbringing), I had always viewed pacifists as courageous people, but thought that their philosophy was hopelessly naïve. But […]

On Pacifism (part II of III)

[This was an article I originally wrote for LewRockwell.com in grad school.] In my last article I shared my thoughts on pacifism. Judging by the response I received—one longtime reader told me it was the worst article he had ever seen by me—I thought a second essay was in order. First of all, my main […]

On Pacifism (part I of III)

[This was an article I originally wrote for LewRockwell.com in grad school.] I have always been fascinated by pacifism. We all know that if everybody refrained from violence, we would all be much, much better off. But pacifists go further and say that even if other people are going around stealing and killing, you will […]

Is Coercion Inevitable?

I came across this interesting clip from a Western journalist interviewing a Soviet physicist in the 1960s. The part that caught my attention: It amuses me when I go abroad for conferences and hear my American colleagues prattle on about the “scientific method.” I don’t doubt their sincerity. They genuinely believe that the “best science” […]

Overheard in Nashville

I heard two women discussing Osama bin Laden. They were both glad that it would help Obama get re-elected, because otherwise he would have taken flak for escalating the war in Afghanistan. One then said this: My son asked me, “Mom, is it right to kill somebody?” And I said, “Look I can only think […]

Two Views of Egyptian Protestors

Since I’ve been on the road, I haven’t had time to listen to my usual suite of AM talk radio guys (which I normally hear on the way to work/lunch/etc.). I have just been getting my views of the Egyptian protests from people like Jeff Tucker (who gave a great talk at the Infinite Banking […]