Virtuous Violence
When one hears the word violence one typically thinks of sordid images. This is because violence has developed a negative connotation. When one thinks of violent acts or cruel methods like coercion it is frequently correlated with evil. But there are instances in which there is a need to commit brutalities in order to put an end to catastrophes and help the good prevail. Many posit the notion that nothing good will ever come from violence while neglecting the positive things that have emerged from it. It may seem illogical but since kindness is often abused one needs to resort to violent means to demand justice and peace. Violence is gradually converting into a virtue as it becomes an imperative component in making progressive reforms. In order for one to triumph one must be dauntingly assertive even if it means turning to violence. Using forceful tactics should not necessarily make one malicious if the reasons behind them are benevolent. Violent acts are justified as long as they’re done for the greater good, solve disputes, and serve justice. And what better way to prove this than with legit historical facts.
Since the beginning of time violence has always been shun upon since it is viewed as immoral. Its stigma has allowed the majority of people to omit its reverence, for not only tragedies have emanated from it. It is safe to profess that some violent crimes are found as mitigating circumstances especially those committed by an eminent figure. If for example a prestigious person is trying to instill a movement that serves as a greater good to society then the cruelties performed are justified. This can be proven on several different occasions by the...
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...st pleasant approach it sometimes is necessary. While the cliché two bads don’t make one good maybe true it is also true that extreme times call for extreme measures.
Works Cited
Caldwell, Charles. “Thoughts on the Original Unity of The Human Race.” New York: E Bliss128 Broadway, 1830.
"King Tiger": Reies López Tijerina." Journal Of The West 27.2 (1988): 60-68. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Pinsker, Sanford. "He Had A Dream, And It Shot Him: What Happened TVisions Of Racial Harmony, And Why." Virginia Quarterly Review 72.1 (1996): 22. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Youngberg, Quentin. "Morphology Of Manifest Destiny: The Justified Violence Of John O’sullivan, Hank Morgan, And George W. Bush." Canadian Review Of American Studies 35.3 (2005): 315-333. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
¬¬¬Though most American people claim to seek peace, the United States remains entwined with both love and hate for violence. Regardless of background or personal beliefs, the vast majority of Americans enjoy at least one activity that promotes violence whether it be professional fighting or simply playing gory video games. Everything is all well and good until this obsession with violence causes increased frequency of real world crimes. In the article, “Is American Nonviolence Possible” Todd May proposes a less standard, more ethical, fix to the problem at hand. The majority of the arguments brought up make an appeal to the pathos of the reader with a very philosophical overall tone.
... Conference.” Reader’s Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.historychannel.com/. 23 Sept 2001.
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“Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon without cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton proves the point that violence can be justified if necessary. To inflict change in their lives people often fight with violence instead of peace to evoke change. The world strives for change everyday whether or not you like it. How the people create a change in society whether they use peace or war, it is up to them to decide how to modify our ever changing world. Violence and fight between the Socs and Greasers tells us that both can be justified if it inflicts positive change in society. ‘
Conflict is constant. It is everywhere. It exists within one’s own mind, different desires fighting for dominance. It exists outside in nature, different animals fighting for the limited resources available, and it exists in human society, in the courts. It can occur subtly, making small changes that do not register consciously, and it can occur directly and violently, the use of pure strength, whether physical, social, economic, or academic, to assert dominance and achieve one’s goals; this is the use of force. Yet, with the use of force, the user of force is destined to be one day felled by it. “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”
Slotkin, R. Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier 1600-1860. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973.
An Excerpt from American physician, Charles Caldwell’s: Thoughts on the Original Unity of the Human Race Caldwell, Charles. Rev.ed., Cincinnati: J.A. and U.P. James, 1852
The debate over manifest destiny has not at anytime taken place without the issue of place of violence taking the centre stage. Manifest destiny as a belief was propagated by the Democrats in the 1840s and asserted the United State’s expansion over Mexico and the western frontier was apparent and inexorable. As such, the argument posited that there was nothing that could come between this belief and its realization. Though the expansion policy was older, the term manifest destiny was first used in 1845 by John O’Sullivan in a newspaper review, (Adams). The idea was not only expansionist in the territorial sense but in spreading of a world ba...
Tindall, George, and David Shi. America: A Narrative History. Ed. 9, Vol. 1. New York: WW. Norton & Company, 2013. 544. Print.
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
Tindall, George and David Emory Shi. America: A Narrative History Brief Ninth Edition-Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Document.
The role of violence in the fight against injustice is a tricky one. If an oppressor is willing to use violence to maintain control should not the oppressed use violence to achieve liberation? Franz Fanon would argue that the pent up anger and frustration must be released in violent action to tear down the oppressor’s regime. However, there is a better way and that is through non-violence and understanding that Martin Luther King, Jr. champions. Only through creating tension around injustice via non-violent direct action can the conversation begin around mutual understanding and justice. It is this justice achieved through non-violent means that will last as violent action is ultimately unjust in nature.