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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2320 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 6, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Where is your line?

I'm not able to articulate it. That's largely because I've never liked the framing of there being a spectrum of bad things that can happen, and everyone draws a line somewhere, and violence is allowed below the line but not above the line. In this framing, pacifism is a totally passive thing that just places the line somewhere very low.

I think if pacifism is going to be viable, it needs to have a much more positive framing than merely as rejecting violence in some circumstances.

So, I don't know what my response will be in every scenario because humans are messy, but I do know at this stage of my life I have responded to violence with passive resistance successfully and not felt like a doormat (regardless of the outcome - though in my world the end result has generally been positive). The line excusing violence isn't very low, it doesn't exist. But that's not simply a rejection of violence as its own thing. It's because violence is a failure response. It cannot be successful (there may be a perception of short term success like eating poor quality food might feel good or like it silences hunger, but it's not an optimal solution). My husband doesn't have and does not agree with this framing, and on some level views it as the excuses a weaker party tells herself knowing even if she engaged in violence she would lose (usually). I think that's not uncommon for non-pacifists, and why many think "doormat." But I don't think they're considering longer term consequences or "win" states beyond the most obvious (if "winning" is even a thing).

Out of curiosity and you don't have to answer: Did your military service contribute to this pacifism?

Yeah, I was discharged from the navy as a conscientious objector.

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