Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihlpg.UUCP Path: utzoo!lsuc!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!ihlpg!tan From: tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: The use of nonviolence. Message-ID: <1583@ihlpg.UUCP> Date: Fri, 24-Jan-86 18:57:43 EST Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1583 Posted: Fri Jan 24 18:57:43 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jan-86 22:34:26 EST References: <566@decwrl.DEC.COM> <224@aero.ARPA> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 44 > [Richard Foy] > My thoughts on non violence: > > I believe that underneath their social conditioning all peoples are pretty > much alike. Thus I don't think that the Germans of Hitlers time or the > Russians of Stanlins time are fundamentally any different than the English > or British. -- Maybe so, but their governments were vastly different. -- > Non-violence acts slowly. Martin Luther King was assinated years ago. His > actions are still bearing fruit, but have not fully eliminated the conditions > he was concerned about. A similiar statement may be made about Gandhi. > > Non-violence often leads to the death or injury of those practicing it. People > like Gandhi and King recognized and accepted this. > > Thus non-violence I believe is an approach that requires sacrifices by those > that practice it for the future benefit of all people. > > Is it not possible that, if there had been a German in the 30's > with the abilities and dedication of a Gandhi or King, Hitler would have > been stopped by his own people. ---- No. What about Karl von Ossietsky (sp?), the German Pacifist who won the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize. Hitler threw him in a concentration camp (the extermination camps had not been built yet) where he died. What about Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Your naivete is amazing. ---- > Is it not possible that, if FDR had been a proponent of non-violence, > with his charisma he could have found and implemented a non-violent > approach to stopping Hitler, to eliminating the conflict with Japan in > the 30's with non violence rather than weapons in the 40's. ---- Sure. He could have sent flowers to Hitler instead of destroyers to the British.-) ---- > I think that the more people that practice non-violence in their own lifes > the more chance it has of becoming a world wide mode, and the fewer total > lives will be lost. ---- Maybe so, but we'll all be long dead by then. -- Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL ihnp4!ihlpg!tan