> Violence like this is not the answer.

I know people pretty reflexively downvote questioning this, but I question this. I think some people are afraid that even asking this moral question is somehow inciting violence.

I think it's quite believable that the possibility of force is actually essential to keeping institutions in-line. Certainly a lot of civil rights progress was a lot less peaceful than I was taught in school.

▲ bb88 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That's certainly the implied threat when people show up with AR-15's in the Idaho statehouse. Yes it's legal. But what is the point? This is ruby red Idaho.

I've always said when peaceniks start to carry weapons, it's time to worry. Alex Pretti didn't pull his gun, but still got shot. At what point will some escalation tactic end up in a gun fight between the local police and ICE?

▲ wat10000 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Violence is not the answer if and only if there are non-violent ways to achieve necessary goals.

We seem to go through a cycle where we set up systems that provide non-violent ways of resolving issues, then people get annoyed with the outcomes and break down those systems. They hope that it means they'll always get what they want, but what it actually does is make it so that violence is the only way for others to get what they want.

Like organized labor. We seem to be in a cycle where strong labor organization is seen as inefficient or harmful to business, and it's being suppressed. The people suppressing it seem to think that the end state will be low wages and desperate workers. They've forgotten that collective bargaining didn't spring up from nothing, it's the nicer alternative to descending on the boss's mansion with torches and pitchforks.

All that Civil Rights violence you mention was because those in power did not provide any non-violent way to achieve it. Suppressing votes and legalizing oppression only works up to a point. Eventually people will take by force what they've been denied by law.

Or as JFK said it better than I can: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

The corollary: when peaceful revolution has been made impossible, violent revolution is the answer.

	▲	tw04 an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> it's the nicer alternative to descending on the boss's mansion with torches and pitchforks. And those bosses are hoping a combination of drones and altman’s AI will keep them safe the next time. Meanwhile we’ve got Altman selling his AI to the military with essentially no restrictions telling us we just need to patiently wait for all the good things it’s going to do for the common man. Just keep grinding and waiting, he can’t tell you what the benefit will be for you but he promises it will be amazing!
	▲	throwthrowuknow an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		`> We seem to go through a cycle where we set up systems that provide non-violent ways of resolving issues, then people get annoyed with the outcomes` An excellent illustration of the blind spot