Ghandi: What a Lunatic

[mburbank]

I'm pretty sure Ghandi wasn't about what chance you have.

If you are an raical pacifficst, killing is wrong, period. Violence is wrong, period. It's a very stearn set of principles.

And what he believed about reincarnation or afterlife is immaterial. You're still looking at this from a western "What are the rewards" perspective. So do I, I'm just saying it's a silly angle to Judge Ghandi from.

You don't let someone kill you because you'll get rewarded for it in the next life. You let someone kill you because that is what they are set on doing. You can't control their actions, but you can control yours. If it would take violence to stop them, you don't stop them. We are all going to die. That's beyond our control. But the actions we take while we are alive are not.

Sure Ghandi wanted rights and freedom for Indians. Sure he thought non violence would achieve it, and it turns out he was right. But it's not like Pacifism is a technique where you say "Well, we'll give non violence a shot, and if we don't win, we'll start using guns." And it's also not "I won't hurt anybody ever because if I don't I get a pony in the next life."