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Letter to the Editor

Violence is bad

I would like to respond to the letter to the editor of last week's S&B issue, titled "Violent resistance can do good." The author brought up some very good points considering the problem of resisting against an unjust system, governmental or otherwise. However, his fundamental point was that violence can be justified in certain situations, which I happen to disagree with.

The idea that violence can be justified in certain situations is a notion which, I think, most people agree with. I don't think that violence can be justified; I think that violence can be explained.

Violence is a product of a social environment, caused by external factors, and not internal factors. Looking at the world today, it would be safe to say this view is correct.

There is an epidemic of violence: terrorism in the Middle East and Europe, gang warfare everywhere and a genocide in Sudan. This cannot be because all of these people actually hate and wish death on the people they are rebelling against (or oppressing). There must be an external trend to explain each different situation of violence, and, most of the time, there is. Therefore violence can be explained.

But explanation doesn't constitute justice. Just because violence can be explained, either in the individual sense or the collective sense, does not mean that there is no other way, or a better way. Violence may solve things in the short run. Revolutions and wars may end the problems of a few generations, and a couple of acts of terrorism may expose corruption of an institution. But in the long run, these violent acts solve nothing.

There are examples of the endless cycle of violence everywhere. The war in Iraq has created, and will continue to create, more terrorists than have ever existed in the Fertile Crescent. These terrorists will then commit their own acts of violence, creating more violent reaction.

The cyclical nature of violence can only be broken by individuals who, in situations that warrant and justify the use of violence, choose not to act in violent ways. There are other ways to do good without violence, as seen in the works of many different people. The people that step away from the cycle of violence are the truly good people, and the people that will make the most difference in our world.

The author of "Violent resistance can do good" says that a person choosing to participate in violent rebellion is making somewhat of a self-sacrifice. Rebelling against any sort of normal institution is an act of self-sacrifice.

The choice that a rebel individual must make is how to rebel. A rebel does no good when they take something for themselves and make another's life worse off. This process just creates another rebel, and continues the cycle of violence.

Violence is never an internal choice, but a reaction to the circumstantial world. This is how violence can be explained, but violence is never right. It only creates more violence and more suffering for all of humanity.

The only way to stop this suffering is to understand the cause of violence, and understand that there is a peaceful way. With this understanding, the world will be a better place.

-Jeffrey Raderstrong '09

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