November 18, 2008

Just another "I told you so."

A pacifistical friend once criticized me, writing: "You advocate and even celebrate violence, which goes against the commandment not to violently resist evil."

No, I advocate peace. I'm the real pacifist around here. Here's a perfect example. I wrote here about how INSANE we were to not stamp out Somali piracy when it first arose years ago. We avoided using ruthless violence when a small amount of it might have ended the problem.

Now we will eventually be forced to use a much larger amount of violence. The Somali pirates are now ranging much farther out to sea, and have seized a supertanker, 450 miles away from Somalia! Here's an example in a good article of how much better organized the pirates are becoming:

...In a warning to mariners in late August, the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre described three large "mother ships" -- two Russian-made stern trawlers and a tugboat -- that officials suspected were coordinating at least some of the recent attacks. Pirates based on such "mother ships" have typically targeted slow-moving vessels, which are difficult to maneuver. Working in small, fast boats, they typically speed up alongside target ships, fire on them with small arms and then board them with simple ladders and grappling hooks...

Well, of course they are getting better. We have encouraged them. The world paid an estimated 30 million dollars in ransoms. What would happen in your town if kidnappers were raking in that kind of dough?

The civilized nations are in the position of cops in a rough neighborhood. It is our duty to not allow criminals to take over. And the best way is to smash outlaw gangs right away, even if some innocent bystanders suffer. The alternative is much more suffering in the future. And it is the "innocent bystander" types who will do that suffering--the cops get to go home and sleep in much safer neighborhoods.

If the cops practice "turn the other cheek" to the crooks, they are really turning someone else's cheek. That's the sick flaw in theories of "pacifism."

* Update: Even more infuriating to think about is that, even though this is happening near Europe, the USA will probably end up dealing with the mess. And when we do, all our fake Leftists/Democrats/pacifists will, with one voice, declare that America has STARTED a war. With the implication that all was peace until the unilateralist cowboys started attacking. (Correction, not attacking, "bombing." Even if not a single bomb is dropped. And the brain-dead squirrels will display bumper stickers saying "Who Would Jesus Bomb?")

Posted by John Weidner at November 18, 2008 8:56 AM
Weblog by John Weidner