Violence is a tool like any other, and it has not disappeared or been replaced. It’s still very much alive, it’s just that the state has a monopoly on violence (among other things) and so they’re the only ones who can prescribe it. A police officer can beat you up all they want and you’ll have to say thank you at the end. But if you strike back, they’ll murder you. Likewise, they can hit someone who is resisting arrest but you are not allowed to hit someone that committed a crime against you (barring very specific cases).
The police is violent against people who are minding their own business every day. The USA and NATO is causing never-ending conflicts and they are violent every day too. Violence is all around us, but our governments are trying to make it seem like it’s a tool for uncivilised people. We are so overprotected in our capitalist strongholds (which is not a bad thing, but it’s very privileged and not the reality for most of the world) that we are sheltered from violence and rarely see it in action.
Was the violence against feudal lords wrong too? Were proto-capitalists violent people too when, after enduring repression from monarchs (for example the various massacres committed against Protestants, who were represented by the working class and emerging bourgeois class, at the hands of Catholics, the old order, represented by the Vatican and followed by Kings and lords). Was it bad when they decided to do the French or American revolution and kill their enemies? Did that make them bad people inherently, or was the violence legitimate in this case?
We don’t want to be violent people. If I could march to parliament today, say “we are now a socialist country” and they instantly disbanded and gave my party power, I would. Everyone would. But they will never, because we represent the opposite of their class interests. They make money owning private property, and they make a shitton of it. We want to prevent them from making so much money, we want them to become workers like everyone else. So they won’t just disband and give us power, and that’s why a revolution is necessary. If you study history, you will find all major changes in society happened after revolutions. We destroyed feudalism and replaced it with capitalism through revolutions. And so did feudalism transform slave societies (ancient Rome for one) with violence.
Violence has a context, and not all violence is the same. Violence against a helpless child is not the same as being violent against the abuser to protect the child.
It’s the same with fascists. We don’t want to kill fascists. But they certainly want to kill us. And believe me, I’ve seen them. They have nothing to lose because they are overall very maladjusted people who don’t fit in society. If they could get you alone in a dark alley they would murder you. Or maybe they’ll just beat you up within an inch of your life. It’s hard to say.
I guess I’m violent then, don’t see why its wrong though.
Fascists are horrible people. I know a few of them; horrible people racist, sexist, Islamophobic monsters. They would kill me if they could get away with it I’ve no problem with wanting death or violence on them.
Advocating violence on violent people means you are violent, regardless of the reason.
Violence is a tool like any other, and it has not disappeared or been replaced. It’s still very much alive, it’s just that the state has a monopoly on violence (among other things) and so they’re the only ones who can prescribe it. A police officer can beat you up all they want and you’ll have to say thank you at the end. But if you strike back, they’ll murder you. Likewise, they can hit someone who is resisting arrest but you are not allowed to hit someone that committed a crime against you (barring very specific cases).
The police is violent against people who are minding their own business every day. The USA and NATO is causing never-ending conflicts and they are violent every day too. Violence is all around us, but our governments are trying to make it seem like it’s a tool for uncivilised people. We are so overprotected in our capitalist strongholds (which is not a bad thing, but it’s very privileged and not the reality for most of the world) that we are sheltered from violence and rarely see it in action.
Was the violence against feudal lords wrong too? Were proto-capitalists violent people too when, after enduring repression from monarchs (for example the various massacres committed against Protestants, who were represented by the working class and emerging bourgeois class, at the hands of Catholics, the old order, represented by the Vatican and followed by Kings and lords). Was it bad when they decided to do the French or American revolution and kill their enemies? Did that make them bad people inherently, or was the violence legitimate in this case?
We don’t want to be violent people. If I could march to parliament today, say “we are now a socialist country” and they instantly disbanded and gave my party power, I would. Everyone would. But they will never, because we represent the opposite of their class interests. They make money owning private property, and they make a shitton of it. We want to prevent them from making so much money, we want them to become workers like everyone else. So they won’t just disband and give us power, and that’s why a revolution is necessary. If you study history, you will find all major changes in society happened after revolutions. We destroyed feudalism and replaced it with capitalism through revolutions. And so did feudalism transform slave societies (ancient Rome for one) with violence.
Violence has a context, and not all violence is the same. Violence against a helpless child is not the same as being violent against the abuser to protect the child.
It’s the same with fascists. We don’t want to kill fascists. But they certainly want to kill us. And believe me, I’ve seen them. They have nothing to lose because they are overall very maladjusted people who don’t fit in society. If they could get you alone in a dark alley they would murder you. Or maybe they’ll just beat you up within an inch of your life. It’s hard to say.
I guess I’m violent then, don’t see why its wrong though.
Fascists are horrible people. I know a few of them; horrible people racist, sexist, Islamophobic monsters. They would kill me if they could get away with it I’ve no problem with wanting death or violence on them.