I am often asked by friends that do not share my non-violent views how would your world work without war, how would you defend America from the godless hordes that would certainly invade at our first sign of weakness, and lastly how would you get the violent hungry masses to go along? One person at a time is my standard answer. I do not claim any on high wisdom that raises my awareness above others nor do I claim any superiority over anyone. I do however believe that an idea for peace has to be worth further investigation. What we are doing as a society is clearly not working on any level. I do think that we have an opportunity in this moment of history to turn the tide but it will take a series of unfortunate occurrences to shake us out of this us versus them mentality that all of the world esp. the U.S. is locked into.
1. How would my version of non-violence and anti-war work in todays world? This is of all the questions the hardest to answer. In all of history non-violent protest has only worked a few times. The greater truth is that in most cases it has only worked in environments that have allowed it. If you sat in front of one of Stalins tanks as a protest you would have been destroyed. Nazi Germany would not have allowed peaceful protest. There are exceptions (The Rose Revolution in Georgia, The overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia, and a few others) the exceptions that only prove the rule. Although I do believe they are a step in the right direction. King and Gandhi are the greater and more widely known examples and although we know what happened with Gandhi we will never know how King could have changed this country. A global economy is sighted by many to be the path to peace, but I fear universal marshal law would soon follow. Ideally keeping your cultural identity with global co-operation is the key but who are the leaders that would or could carry this out?
2. How would we protect America from the godless hordes that would certainly invade at our first sign of weakness? As a matter of principle this way of living will work only through time and mental evolution if you will. America as a state of mind is a faux reality. Americans either will not or cannot think in terms of one world. I find this both disturbing and sad. I find it disturbing because we are doomed to repeat the failures of past societies. We have become arrogant and blind as a people and we forget what is truly important. The barbarians are knocking down the gates and Rome will certainly burn again if we continue on the current path. We label progressive thinkers the enemies and allow very bad men to make policy. I find it sad that potential brilliance may be squashed my ignorant teachers.
3. How would you get the violent masses to go along? I try not to think to hard on this one in fear that my brain will pop. I do believe that we have become a violence driven society. I do not believe that man has always been this way or that it will remain this way. The native people to this continent had violent tendencies but were wholly unprepared for the wrath that the white man brought with him. Remember, we may have been the first people to bring upon genocide through biological weapons in the form of small pox. We bought and sold humans as livestock or worse. This grand American experiment is a grand failure up to this point. There are turning points in modern history that have produced some of the greatest ideas of all time. The greatest accumulation of modern philosophy came from the real threat of Nazi Germany. The new wave of philosophy may arise from the real threat of Imperial America.
I remain hopeful that something grand will happen soon. I remain doubtful that it will come from any of the current western leaders. It will get worse before it gets better is not a sentiment that I want to express only one that I fear is oh so true.