Peace, at what cost?
Someone recently wanted me to state that "peace" was my goal. It isn't.
Sure, peace can be nice, but liberty is better.
After all, no one is more peaceful than a corpse.
Bad guys who want to violate you without risk to themselves want you to be peaceful. They want you to go along to get along, and let them do what they do. They don't want you to fight back or defend yourself from them. Peace always depends on what someone else is doing. No matter how compliant you are, there's no peace if you are being violated. So, peace isn't really up to you.
You can, however, choose liberty. Exercising it won't guarantee peace, in fact, in this Era of Authority, it will pretty much guarantee the opposite. That's not your fault. You can't let the bad guys set the tone for your life.
So, yeah, peace is OK as long as you don't sacrifice yourself on its altar. It isn't worth it.
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I'd welcome peace if they allowed it. I'm resteeming this too, friend!
If you're referring to our conversation, you should know I didn't want that, I just wanted clarity.
Exactly. So if we truly have "peace," we must also have liberty, right? Maybe when some people say "peace" is their goal, they're implying (in their minds) something like "peace via liberty." Instead of including all the prerequisites for peace, they simply say "peace" because it's their ultimate goal. It's not like they're mutually exclusive.
One could turn your argument around and ask, "what good is liberty without peace?"
Just a thought.
What you wrote was:
That seemed to me (and still does) that you wanted "peace" to be my goal, or "at least part of" it.
Not necessarily. You could also have resignation. If you give up, you can have "peace" as most people understand it: the absence of conflict.
Still better than peace without liberty. Yes, I would prefer both, but I would scrap peace in a heartbeat if it meant losing a shred of liberty.
Unfortunately, not many seem to agree with me. They would rather get groped and porno-scanned at the airport than boycott flying until it doesn't come with a requirement to submit to molestation. They would rather tolerate cops and the abuse that is inevitable with such a gang than take responsibility for their own security. They would rather allow bullies to impose their opinions on everyone (they call those opinions "laws", but they aren't) than to be inconvenienced in the slightest by people exercising their liberty in a way that makes them uncomfortable. This is their idea of "peace" ("Don't make a scene!")
Oh, okay. Thanks for explaining. Yeah, I guess what I meant was something more like your goals "align" with peace. Maybe peace isn't your goal, but your goal seems to align with peace in that it facilitates it.
Oh, I see. I guess my definition of "peace" is a little deeper than simply "absence of conflict." But I would agree that that is likely how many people generally think of it.
I can identify with this perspective, but I would rather have peace regardless of my circumstance, rather than only under the condition of liberty. Again, I'm talking about a deeper "peace," something more like "lasting contentment and lack of anxiety." Seems like a matter of opinion and personal values.
Don't get me wrong, I am willing to fight when I see opportunities to make the kind of difference I want to make. But I want to do it with peace inside me.
Yeah, that seems to be the case. We all have our breaking points. It seems like on a larger scale, our society's is approaching. For some people, the line has already been crossed. For others, it's close. And of course, there are still others who are not even aware there is a line or that they have rights. The advances are made in steps spread over years, so most people don't even notice.
I believe this comes from inside and is (or is mostly) immune to outside conditions. You can have peace in the midst of a war, if it comes from inside you. My older daughter was killed in a car wreck a year and a half ago, and although I am still sad over losing her-- and I will always be-- I am at peace with it.
I understand most political problems through principles of free will and consensus. If you can exercise free will without losing your life then you have liberty. If you and your community agree that this is important than you have consensus and that will help establish peace.
As usual, Nice insight! :D
I wish the state would leave me in peace, but I gave up any realistic hope of that long ago...
😄😇😄
I'd be happy finding a place where we could be left alone, but I'm not sure if it is possible. I don't want to be secluded on a seasteading ship either.
The Cossacks come to mind by the way. They are good fighters and are allowed to govern themselves for the most part in exchange for their "services" as high quality mercenaries.