> "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and
> degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that
> nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for
> which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his
> own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of
> being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than
> himself" -- John Stuart Mill
>
> I'd like to suggest this is a forerunner to the Gandhi approach of
> pacifism...
>
> Firstly, It is often said that the pen is mightier than the sword.
> Killing someone doesn't convert them to any cause, and they will still
> feel the same way in the afterlife, maybe reincarnate and carry on
> where they left off. Whereas diplomatic effort CAN actually change
> peoples minds permanently through the forces of reason.
>
> Gandhi did fight for his country, in a very patriot manner. After he'd
> moved away from some of the extremist factions in the Indian
> independence movement, he decried the use of terrorism, and he was
> very supportive of the police, who he didn't blame for taking orders
> from above. He spent a few years in Jail periodically for public order
> violations with regard to demonstrations etc.
>
> My view on war, is, again ,that it is game. Whilst conventional war
> involve violence, real wars of mankind consists of fights within the
> mind of each person. It is when that troubled mind is projected onto
> third parties that the conventional war breaks out.
>
> Should we fight for what we believe in? The answer is certainly yes,
> and sadly far for many don't, myself included regretfully. But
> fighting for your beliefs does not have to exercise any form of
> violence, intimation, injury or property damage.
>
> Here in the UK we have elections, you can vote and stand as a
> candidate. All takes a lot of time and effort, but we must do it all
> the same if we are to win this fight!
>
> To refer back to Mill's point:
> The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing
> which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable
> creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by
> the exertions of better men than
> himself