Thoughts on War

[unspeakablehorror]

There is no such thing as a good war.  I'm not a pacifist because I don't view the violence of an aggressor as morally equivalent to the violence enacted to defend against them, but no one really wins in a war.  Wars are never glorious, but always brutal and destructive. 

Comments

[unspeakablehorror]

I really don't know a huge amount about pacifism (or a lot of other ideologies) in a more formalized context. Looking up a bit, it seems there's something of a range of beliefs there, but I still don't know if I'd quite fit in that category. I probably do have a very pop culture understanding of it, and that conception of pacifism is one I am certainly very critical of due to how it seems to frame any act of violence as equally unconscionable.

I do know that I simply can't support the numerous atrocities the U.S. military is responsible for, including the ones committed during WWII (I don't mention WWI only because I don't know anything of substance about it, which seems kind of sad to admit, but it's true). I also do think that war is always terrible no matter what.

Presuming I did think a war was necessary, would I personally be willing to act in a military capacity myself? Probably not, but I also don't know that I'd consider that a moral decision in my case rather than a pragmatic one. I also have serious doubts about the overall efficacy of civil disobedience even if I don't think it is an entirely useless tactic, either. So I don't know that I could meaningfully call myself a pacifist, especially as I'm no longer quite certain what that term even means!