In the weeks following the 11 September attack, organizations across the nation– especially on college campuses–have gathered to rally in support of Adolf Hitler. They’ve posted signs, handed-out leaflets, and written editorials proclaiming their steadfast support. Of course they’re not praising Hitler specifically; that would be narrow-minded. Besides, he’s dead. Instead, they’re pledging allegiance to his 21st century counterparts everywhere. They argue that the best world–their most blissful ideal–would be a world ruled by the most hideous, murderous, monstrously evil man imaginable.
Who are these frightful people?
Pacifists.
The essential idea of pacifism is the total and complete abstinence from violence, and two corollary rules of action arise from this: 1) Abstain from the initiation (unprovoked use) of force against another individual, and 2) Abstain from the use of force in self-defense (provoked use).
The first corollary is healthy and easy to accept, but to accept the second corollary takes an acute case of self-loathing. In fact, pacifism is an inherently self-destructive concept.
Imagine, for a moment, that being a pacifist is the ideal. Now imagine someone attacking a pacifist with the intent to rape and kill her. At this point, the pacifist must make a choice: should she defend herself from the attacker, or should she lie back passively in an attempt to set a good example? If she defends herself, she has denied pacifism by violating the second corollary. If she does nothing to defend herself, she promotes the destruction of pacifism by *willfully* allowing her attacker (obviously a non-pacifist) to annihilate the ideal (a pacifist). Pacifism, by definition, promotes the destruction of pacifists.
Pacifists would argue that they are idealists, as if being an idealist meant being excused from having to defend those ideals. Consider an individual engaged in the following line of reasoning: “It would be ideal if all people knew how to perform open- heart surgery, so I am going to behave as if everyone is a heart surgeon. I am an idealist.” Although this may be idealism, it is also idiocy (and self-destructive).
Pacifists think that by pretending that violence doesn’t exist, eventually it won’t. This is not just silly; it is a vicious, deadly lie. Aggression cannot be defeated by rewarding it. Organizers of “Don’t turn tradgedy [sic] into a war” rallies across the country would have Americans believe that the proper response to the murder of thousands of innocent lives is a candlelight vigil and impromptu poetry readings. This is mass suicide. It is an invitation to the Hitlers, the Stalins, the Attilas, and the Bin Ladens of the world to slaughter the American people and to gut their corpses.
Implicit in the pacifist’s drivel is the implication: “may the worst man win.” Only two types of people can accept a philosophy like this: a fiend or a fool. A fiend hates everyone, including himself, and so doesn’t care if the “worst man” wins. A fool believes that if he smiles sheepishly at Adolf Hitler, Hitler will suddenly change his mind and decide to take-up knitting. They are both wrong, and they are both evil, [because in both cases such a policy can only lead to the destruction of the good.]
To promote this evil in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, pacifists have added a few extra deceptions to their arsenal. One of these is the equation of war and racism. “War and Racism are Not the Answer,” reads an anti-war poster at a San Francisco university. This statement blatantly implies that those who support war against terrorist-harboring nations are racist. It relies on the insecurity of the reader by convincing him to oppose war for fear of being (unjustly) labeled “racist.” A war against the Afghan, Iranian, and other terrorist-supporting governments does not constitute racism. It constitutes self-defense. Racism is clearly wrong, but pacifism doesn’t hold a monopoly on that idea.
Another pacifist deception is the love-hate alternative. Pacifists often assume that a person must either “love” everyone or “hate” everyone. In a fit of confused self- righteousness, they then proceed to denounce “hate” and appoint themselves as champions of “love.” “Love is stronger than hate,” reads a university-sponsored banner condemning US retaliation. What pacifists do not chose to (or cannot) understand is that one cannot truly love everything and everyone.
Love is based on a value-structure: one loves someone in relation to how one’s own values are reflected in that person. A man who tried to love everyone indiscriminately would place himself in the following predicament: he must feel emotions towards Joseph Stalin that are similar to the emotions he feels for his spouse. If he ever reaches such a deranged state, it is certain that whatever emotion he is feeling, it is most definitely not love. It is acceptable and proper to hate Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and the terrorists who leveled the World Trade Center; those people were evil. They do not deserve the same emotion due a spouse or a friend. Stay away from a person that claims to “love” everyone; they necessarily stand for nothing and value nothing. Such people are incapable of loving anyone at all.
In light of current events, one of the most loathsome deceptions that the pacifists have adopted is the labeling of the World Trade Center attacks as a “tragedy.” Choosing to describe the events of 11 September as a “tragedy” instead of an “act of war” or an “attack” puts them on the same level as a freak earthquake or sudden hurricane. This is shameful. The destruction of the World Trade Center was not some haphazard, uncontrollable act of nature; it was a deliberate massacre orchestrated and carried-out by evil men with evil intentions. Referring to it as a “tragedy” is not simply sloppy word choice; it is despicable.
On the day that the United States drops the first bomb in retaliation for the World Trade Center attacks, pacifists are planning to meet at locations in several cities around the country at 5:00 p.m. When they hold-up their “Global peace and unity” signs, remember that their version of “peace” means standing in a circle singing “kum ba yah” while terrorists murder your loved ones. When they shout, “War and racism are not the answer,” remember that they are willing to label you “racist” just to promote their demented agenda. When you see a banner proclaiming, “Love is stronger than hate,” remember that they are asking you to love a murderer. And when they warn, in their condescending sneers, “Don’t turn tragedy into a war,” imagine that it is 1939 and you are a Jew in Poland.
