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The Non-Martial Artist: Pacifist or Man-Without-Choice?

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Thorsteinn:
Thoughts?


--- Quote ---"How easy is it for a man who cannot fight to choose the peaceful solution? It is the ONLY solution he has! He is not being good, because he has no choice. In other words, in order to choose not to do something, you must first be able to do that thing. Do you know how many people I have seen talking about spiritual improvement and the "non-violent" way out, only to scream "kick his ass!" when a situation arises and then run away and hide when that person came to kick their ass? Those people were not martial artists. They did not have the ability to destroy, and therefore had no choice when it came to the question, "Violence or Peace?" -- Mike on IAIDO-L
--- End quote ---

Sir James A:
The pacifist is often only able to make that choice because others choose to take the front line, and defend other peoples choice to be a pacifist when battle comes (instead of a slave / prisoner / victim).

Sir William:
Is it a man who cannot fight, or who chooses not to?  A pacifist does not auto-equate to unskilled or unable to defend one's self, Sean.  One doesn't need to be a martial artist in order to 'destroy' as the quoted person puts it; I have a number of impact weapons that'd destroy your day if I hit you with one of them, and all it'd take is one hit, no matter how well versed  you are.

A pacifist isn't necessarily a punk either- just someone who would rather pursue peace than war.  If anything, that is how we should all be- but we aren't.  We glorify violence in all its forms, practice at it and in some cases, worship it.  And yet, we all claim to want peace.  Well, for the most part.

However, all it takes is a cause- if you give a pacifist enough reason, they'll fight- but you might not like the outcome.  ;)

Aiden of Oreland:
Sargent York was a pacifist. He kicked some serious ass in the Great War. I don't think he knew any martial arts. Then again, I could be wrong.

Ian:

--- Quote from: Page Aiden on 2014-08-27, 01:46:10 ---Sargent York was a pacifist. He kicked some serious ass in the Great War. I don't think he knew any martial arts. Then again, I could be wrong.

--- End quote ---

Of course he was a martial artist.  He was a soldier.  You're misunderstanding the deeper meaning of the term Martial Arts.  Martial, means of or pertaining to Mars, the god of war.  Martial Arts are literally the "Arts of Mars" or in its purest form, the Art of War itself.  We've come to use martial artist to mean someone who practices a specific system of fighting now-a-days (like karate, fencing, mma, etc), but it really means anyone who practices and trains in the art of war.  Every professional fighting man is a martial artist in the historical sense.

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