# Ask the pacifist **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006 "2013-10-11T17:45:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/321 "2013-10-16T22:41:48Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > How do pacifists regard the tale of the Moriori people?..Do they represent a failure of pacifism or do pacifists today believe that the Moriori were correct in their decision to let the invaders slaughter them? Dude-I’m just _a_ pacifist-I’m not an elected representative authorized to speak on behalf of some International Pacifist Society. _This_ pacifist doesn’t know enough about that particular situation, but if any other pacifists _do_, they are more than welcome to chime in…but please try to remember that any other pacifist is also only speaking on their own behalf. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/322 "2013-10-16T22:43:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Dude-I’m just _a_ pacifist-I’m not an elected representative authorized to speak on behalf of some International Pacifist Society. _This_ pacifist doesn’t know enough about that particular situation, but if any other pacifists _do_, they are more than welcome to chime in…but please try to remember that any other pacifist is also only speaking on their own behalf. That’s an entirely reasonable response on your part. So how do YOU take their story? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/323 "2013-10-16T22:48:19Z")
> [@HenryDorsettCase](#): > > Even though I consider myself non-violent, I believe the drive to live would force me to defend myself if life-threatened. I also have a drive to live. It’s just that, through necessity, I’ve had to develop different skills todefend myself when my life is threatened. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/324 "2013-10-16T22:50:35Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That’s an entirely reasonable response on your part. > > So how do YOU take their story? What a horrible thing to happen…but as I have already clearly said, I do not know enough of the story to judge it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/325 "2013-10-16T22:53:14Z")
What’s the coolest thing about being a pacifist? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/326 "2013-10-16T22:57:51Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > What’s the coolest thing about being a pacifist? Making possible enemies into friends. Comes in handy when you need someone with a pick-up to help you move. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/327 "2013-10-16T23:00:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Making possible enemies into friends. Comes in handy when you need someone with a pick-up to help you move. This is why people with pickups (i.e., 2006 Skald) grow to hate so-called “friends.” ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/328 "2013-10-16T23:01:30Z")
Are there any celebrities who are pacifists? Who is your favorite pacifist of all time? ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/329 "2013-10-16T23:08:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What a horrible thing to happen…but as I have already clearly said, I do not know enough of the story to judge it yet. Do YOU think the USA should dismantle its military? ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/330 "2013-10-16T23:12:57Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > How do pacifists regard the tale of the Moriori people? I think Jared Diamond talks about them in the beginning of his book Guns Germs and Steel, with IIRC pretty much the same story you presented. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/331 "2013-10-16T23:14:36Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > What historically significant events do you credit to pacifism that could not or would not be accomplished through active resistance or counter-aggression? In Quaker-controlled colonial Pennsylvania there was relative peace between the settlers and the native Americans from 1681 to 1756-a period of 75 years due to a public non-violence policy. Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, an avid pacifist, wrote a book titled _The Kingdom of God is Within You_ that was a strong early influence on Gandhi. Gandhi, using the \* Satyagraha\* Path of pacifism spent thirty years trying freeing India, finally finding success in 1947, and this path of peace continued when Martin Luther King used Gandhi’s methods to overturn racial segregation laws. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/332 "2013-10-16T23:17:09Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > This is why people with pickups (i.e., 2006 Skald) grow to hate so-called “friends.” [It was a joke.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwnwbG9YLE) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/333 "2013-10-16T23:29:16Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Are there any celebrities who are pacifists? Who is your favorite pacifist of all time? For my favorite, it’s a toss up between Tolstoy and Elizabeth Maria Molteno. She fought for civil and women’s rights in South Africa from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Her father was first Prime Minister of the Cape, and she used her influence to introduce Gandhi, of whom she as a great admirer, to powerful people in South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/334 "2013-10-16T23:36:41Z")
Do you know any pacifist jokes? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/335 "2013-10-16T23:45:33Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Do you know any pacifist jokes? Do you know why the farmer kicked his son? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/336 "2013-10-17T00:09:03Z")
No. Why DID the farmer kick his son? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/337 "2013-10-17T00:16:13Z")
I don’t know-I’m a pacifist. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/338 "2013-10-17T00:43:36Z")
_Groan_ I take it making people laugh is apparently considered a form of coercive violence. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/339 "2013-10-17T04:21:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Fighting is not a choice for me. I am not only unable to fight back-I am unable to even _want_ to fight back. It is not a conscious choice I can make. Apologies if you answer this later, I got this far in the thread and this is the part I’m interested in. You made similar statements in post 100 and 129. What is the extent of this physiological block? Leave anger, desire for retribution or even self defense out of the argument, would you be capable of choosing to punch someone in any circumstances? examples of possible situations including but not limited to physical training or when (for whatever reason) someone genuinely wanted you to punch them. Also, you made a point before about how anger doesn’t provide you with any violent symptoms or desires as a reaction. I think the comment you made was about not balling your fists. It may be off topic, but I’m intrigued what IS your physical response to anger, if any. (assuming you do actually get angry). Have you even lost your temper? If so, what did you do? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006/340 "2013-10-17T05:34:56Z")
**Czarcasm** , gimmie your lunch money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-pacifist/671006.md?page=18)