Comments on: Holding fast to ideals: my conversation with Howard Zinn http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/01/holding-fast-to-ideals-my-conversation-with-howard-zinn/ People-Powered News and Analysis Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:33:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Abram http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/01/holding-fast-to-ideals-my-conversation-with-howard-zinn/comment-page-1/#comment-28868 Abram Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:18:40 +0000 http://wagingnonviolence.org/?p=3479#comment-28868 Here are Gandhi’s words you might have in mind, from The Hindu, 1926: "Taking life may be a duty…. Suppose a man runs amok and goes furiously about, sword in hand, and killing anyone that comes in his way, and no one dares capture him alive. Anyone who dispatches this lunatic will earn the gratitude of the community and be regarded as a benevolent man." The argument is from Plato's Republic, Book I. It concerns how reasoned judgment is necessary to divine the relationship of the demands of justice to the promotion of the good, given the existence of evil in the world. The inability or unwillingness of many on the Left to acknowledge the objective existence of any of these-- justice, reason, or evil--and/or their doubt in our individual or collective ability to judge them, has been a stumbling block. Hence Zinn's equivocality. Here are Gandhi’s words you might have in mind, from The Hindu, 1926: “Taking life may be a duty…. Suppose a man runs amok and goes furiously about, sword in hand, and killing anyone that comes in his way, and no one dares capture him alive. Anyone who dispatches this lunatic will earn the gratitude of the community and be regarded as a benevolent man.”

The argument is from Plato’s Republic, Book I. It concerns how reasoned judgment is necessary to divine the relationship of the demands of justice to the promotion of the good, given the existence of evil in the world. The inability or unwillingness of many on the Left to acknowledge the objective existence of any of these– justice, reason, or evil–and/or their doubt in our individual or collective ability to judge them, has been a stumbling block. Hence Zinn’s equivocality.

]]> By: Poppy (Part 2) « Petrichorus http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/01/holding-fast-to-ideals-my-conversation-with-howard-zinn/comment-page-1/#comment-11611 Poppy (Part 2) « Petrichorus Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:20:24 +0000 http://wagingnonviolence.org/?p=3479#comment-11611 [...] reference to the complex approaches of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. had to do with me reading this article.  Basically, it’s an account of pacifist Brian Farrell’s  discussion of absolute [...] [...] reference to the complex approaches of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. had to do with me reading this article.  Basically, it’s an account of pacifist Brian Farrell’s  discussion of absolute [...]

]]> By: Tweets that mention Holding fast to ideals: my conversation with Howard Zinn / Waging Nonviolence -- Topsy.com http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/01/holding-fast-to-ideals-my-conversation-with-howard-zinn/comment-page-1/#comment-2424 Tweets that mention Holding fast to ideals: my conversation with Howard Zinn / Waging Nonviolence -- Topsy.com Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:18:38 +0000 http://wagingnonviolence.org/?p=3479#comment-2424 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Broadsnark and Waging Nonviolence, Christopher Herring. Christopher Herring said: "Holding fast to ideals: my conversation with Howard Zinn /..." http://tinyurl.com/yea2sce #MLK #ihaveadream San Antonio [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Broadsnark and Waging Nonviolence, Christopher Herring. Christopher Herring said: "Holding fast to ideals: my conversation with Howard Zinn /…" http://tinyurl.com/yea2sce #MLK #ihaveadream San Antonio [...]

]]> By: Coral8 http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/01/holding-fast-to-ideals-my-conversation-with-howard-zinn/comment-page-1/#comment-2411 Coral8 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:43:58 +0000 http://wagingnonviolence.org/?p=3479#comment-2411 I think he may have been sort of right about King and Ghandi. MLK was not a pacifist in his youth but came to it later. MKG wrote many complex words about violence being preferable to cowardice if those were the only two choices. Zin was right to see that this is is a troubling issue. Should a slave not use "violence" to escape slavery? I'm sure that he had items like this in mind when he initially spoke, so did King and Ghandi when they struggled with these questions. Zinn's final analysis is like K & G alike in the conviction that violence is a pandoras box and should best be avoided both on moral and strategic grounds. Thanks for this article. He will be missed. I think he may have been sort of right about King and Ghandi. MLK was not a pacifist in his youth but came to it later. MKG wrote many complex words about violence being preferable to cowardice if those were the only two choices. Zin was right to see that this is is a troubling issue. Should a slave not use “violence” to escape slavery? I’m sure that he had items like this in mind when he initially spoke, so did King and Ghandi when they struggled with these questions. Zinn’s final analysis is like K & G alike in the conviction that violence is a pandoras box and should best be avoided both on moral and strategic grounds. Thanks for this article. He will be missed.

]]> By: Ladd Everitt http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/01/holding-fast-to-ideals-my-conversation-with-howard-zinn/comment-page-1/#comment-2410 Ladd Everitt Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:26:28 +0000 http://wagingnonviolence.org/?p=3479#comment-2410 Great blog, Bryan. "This is a morally awkward issue, and I am not confident I have resolved it satisfactorily." Isn't it wonderful to hear that from a man of this caliber? A man who can admit that there are complex issues that might take years, or even a lifetime, to fully study? I find that so refreshing in today's volatile, "know-it-all" political climate where people assert absolutes before even having a basic understanding of issues. Great blog, Bryan.

“This is a morally awkward issue, and I am not confident I have resolved it satisfactorily.”

Isn’t it wonderful to hear that from a man of this caliber? A man who can admit that there are complex issues that might take years, or even a lifetime, to fully study?

I find that so refreshing in today’s volatile, “know-it-all” political climate where people assert absolutes before even having a basic understanding of issues.

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