What do you think of this quote? It was sitting on the top of the desk in our coaches office.
"War is an ugly thing. But not the ugliest of things; The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks nothing is worth war is much worse.
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight; nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free; unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
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8 comments:
Pretty strong language. Probably written by a general or something....
I would think it was written by a military man. I am trying to find author. What do you think about quote? I would tend to agree. But think you can fight "wars" without violence every time.
The quote is from John Stuart Mill. He was a utilitarian. His works are widely used in the Military Academies.
I think the quote is overwhelmingly jingoistic. It fails to recognize nuance and opts for blanket statements. It presupposes that there are things where war is the only alternative to doing nothing. The quote suffers from an immense lack of imagination.
Although I do agree that personal safety should not be our primary motivation.
Scott: We need smaller words than "jingoistic" on this blog :)
I would say point of the quote is good. I think at the beginning it says "nothing is worth war". To me that means people who will never fight, but enjoy the freedoms that come with what has been fought for.
To me it is talking more about someone who doesn't care what it costs others for himself to gain things. This is the ugliest thing. It is what is wrong with much of America and politics. Just look at Pelosi - wants to raise minimum wage for everyone except for American Samoa where her biggest constituents have Starkist Tuna headquartered. Keep the wage down there so that I wont' have to pay more in taxes and I can line my pockets while my employees eek out a living.
There are things that are worth war but in light of reading many posts about King and reading many of his letters one has to be willing to believe whole heartedly in that things can be accomplished without resorting to violence. I can fight for something without fighting physically.
I believe this is a thought-provoking statement and I generally agree. You could soften it and apply the principle closer to home (without the passions associated with media-fed perceptions of our current war in Iraq). What if you said "Conflict and confrontation are unpleasant things but not as unpleasant as the unprincipled and undisciplined life that results from the absence of confrontation"?
I like the quote. It reminds me of another quote about a person who nothing worth dying for has nothing worth living for.
Think about the isolationists of the past, specifically about WWII. Isolationism makes sense, until you start thinking about our moral responsibility around the world. I'm not sure we would like the world we lived in where men like Hitler and Saddam are allowed to live free.
also interesting that he criticizes one who won't fight as being interested only in personal safety, but it seems to me fighting can also be a measure taken primarily to preserve safety as well. many people will fight the 'enemy' so they can be 'safe' (where 'safe' could mean a variety of things, including personal, physical safety.)
also, as jon mentioned, many people are willing to 'fight' where 'fight' does not equate to physical fighting.
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