Maybe we'll get lucky. Hungary seems to be on the mend without a civil war. It could happen.

I recently read an article titled something like "against the guillotine" detailing how, once that watershed had been breached, the various factions of revolutionaries started using it on each other. That's similar to what I wrote, actually.

Also, I personally think cowards are a lot more dangerous than brave people. 1) Brave people can, and almost always do, have honor. 2) Cowards run in packs. They line up behind the bully in order to not be his target. Even without guns, a dozen fourteen year olds with a couple baseball bats are undefeatable for any solo fighter.

So it's better to never open that box in the first place. You wouldn't think so to talk to me, but I came up pretty rough and never had to use actual violence. The only time it would have been acceptable was when I was age 9 to 11 or so, when the entire playground would attack me. 100-on-1 mob attacks, and if I just went psycho on the ringleaders it would have stopped. Unfortunately, I had a pacifist father telling me never to hit anyone. (Side note--I've only ever met one real pacifist. The rest were cowards hiding behind philosophy.) If interested--I solved that problem by flopping. The kids enjoyed the chase a lot more than the kicking, so I'd just lay down on the asphalt with my arms over my head.

OTOH, French Revolution didn't have a way toward a functioning social democracy without executing the Noble class. Nobles stopped each other from devolving their power.

The first result was their execution and the redistribution of their resources. The second was years of traumatic public executions based on rumor and petty dislikes.

Yes, I'm on the same page. We didn't mock them early enough, now we have to get down in the gutter with them.

The problem with that is they're fucking vampires. They turn you into themselves. Look at postwar America, or Israel today. I'm not against violence in principle, it's just usually the cheap shitty solution that sets up the next problem.

I guess it's analogous to the familial cycle of abuse, but on a national level.

Christian moral purity is what got us where we are. Not hitting back makes more violence happen.

Violence has knock-on effects, and it's not the best tool in the box, but sometimes it's the tool that fits the problem. Violence isn't the game. It's a tactic. The game is where we use every tool to make a more just society.

Bullies pick on the people most unlikely to fight back because they're afraid.

You hit back, as hard as you can, and they fuckin run. You put snow down their shirt one time, and they start bowing their head when you pass them in gym class.

And then the other bullies sense not to mess with you.

How Anarchy Works
6:05 Dissecting Authority

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrTzjaXskUU&t=365s

@ireneista @futurebird

Do We Need Leaders
2:54 first mention of force
11:32 second mention

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

(www.youtube.com)

UPDATE: found it.
Let me see if I can find the source. I binged his videos so they are blending together in my head.
@futurebird

My line: By the time you hit a bully, he's already won.

Violence is their game, not ours. The trick is to mock them early and often. Laughter is kryptonite to bullies.

The thing about bullies, as is true with football and baseball players, is that there's always someone smarter, faster, better coming up right behind them. Their hold on power is fleeting.

(* the goal wasn't murder, it was removal as a political actor. Which entirely succeeded.)

@futurebird @JessTheUnstill @ireneista

Yeah, this is all very exhausting and leads to doubt.

I was just thinking of another example of "not playing nice" I didn't mean to tie that to your comment directly.

But it's just that playbook that I'm sick of seeing people go along with as if any of the people calling for "respect" are even sad about anything.

It feels fake.