November 5, 2007
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Pacifism
I’m a pacifist. I do not believe violence of any kind is ever the answer to anything.
I don’t kill flies – I shoo them out the door.
I don’t kill spiders – I pick them up with kleenex and toss them outside.
I don’t believe in spanking – under any circumstances.
I don’t believe in fist fights to solve problems.
I don’t believe in numbchucks or billy clubs.
I don’t believe in war.
I don’t believe in the death penalty.Someone once asked me if I would change my mind if someone raped, tortured then murdered my grandmother. I can’t honestly say how I would feel. It’s never happened (and never will, as she passed away 15 years ago – my other grandmother passed away 33 years ago.) I feel about that question the way theologists feel about the question “If God can do anything, can he make a rock so heavy he can’t lift it?”
Here is where it really gets weird.
I play World of Warcraft. The last few days I’ve been playing a character I have on a “Player vs. Player” server (usually I play on a Player vs. Environment server – me against the computer, basically.) My character is an Alliance character. The enemy of the Alliance is the Horde. When I see a Horde, I’m supposed to kill on sight (if they are near my level. If they are way below me, that is just bad ‘sportsmanship’ in the game.) But I can’t. I’m such a pacifist that I can’t kill the character of what I know to be a real person behind a computer. Computer monsters and enemies are no problem. (Though they often feel no qualms about killing – or ganking – my character.)
Can one be psychopathically pacifist?
