This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: Actual Pacifist: From YKTTW
Terminus Est 13: The word "actual" here is a misnomer. There's numerous different schools of pacifism, as with any philosophical belief—just because someone's "actually" a pacifist instead of "technically" doesn't mean they automatically will throw down their arms. Might I suggest renaming this to "Absolute Pacifist"?
MadrugadaIf you read the YKTTW, you'll see that this is people who are "actual pacifists" as opposed to "sort-of pacifists" or "limited pacifists" or "pacifists up to a point".
Terminus Est 13: I did, and all of those sort of/limited/to a point examples are still examples of pacifism in actuality. Again, philosophically, there are many different schools of pacifism, and it seems the (mistaken) idea here is that "actual" pacifism is a complete and total removal of violence. A person can fight only to defend himself and still be a pacifist. A person can fight to save a country/world and still be a pacifist. Pacifism is the belief of superiority in non-violence, not the total abstinence of violence. Consider Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Someone who refuses to hit a woman ever no matter what wouldn't be an "Actual" version, just an "Absolute" version. Someone who refuses to hit a woman unless defending himself from death wouldn't be a "Non-Actual" version, because he still believes it to be morally superior despite circumstances pushing him otherwise. Actually, should I move this to the YKTTW discussion?
(WALL OF TEXT hits you for 9001 TEXT DAMAGE!)
Vampire Buddha: Removed a bit of natter (15:21 GMT, 17/5/2009)
- He was still trying to make up for the revelation that the US had been arming and training the group for years. When the Lamas were in power they ran a society with monks on top and everyone else a slave or enforcer.
- Not slaves. The British empire passed through the area in 1904 and in a case of Even Evil Has Standards the empire was firmly opposed to slavery by that point. Tibet was indeed quite stratified, though.
