Peace and Justice?
The other day I was driving past the headquarters of the “Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice.” Here is what the front door looks like, adorned with stickers and announcements from the usual hodgepodge of “progressive” causes:
Later, I conducted a Google search, which revealed that such Centers are to be found all around the country.
I wondered whether it had ever occurred to the occupants of the Centers for Peace and Justice that “peace” and “justice” are fundamentally antagonistic terms. Peace is a state of tranquility in which conflict is absent. If a given realm is peaceful, then it has reached a state of fulfillment, of undisturbed wholeness. If everything were truly peaceful, there would be no need for justice. Justice seeks to right a wrong. In other words, someone has a grievance. In order to satisfy that grievance, force must be deployed (though it may be only implicit). Someone or some group must be compelled to change their behavior, to perform an act that they do not perceive as being in their self-interest. Thus conflict in some form is present.
Enforcing the “justice” envisioned by the Centers for Peace and Justice would necessitate conflict on a grand scale. Peace, such as it is, would cease to exist.
In the old days, Marxists were much more candid with themselves. There was no peace and justice—only justice. True, any section of the world that had been “liberated” could experience temporary domestic peace, at least in between purges. But in essence, peace was nothing but a cynical ploy used in propaganda to demoralize the people. Violent compulsion by the state, strife and war on every level, domestic and international, was seen as the natural condition of human society, the engine of justice. Only at the mythical proletarian end-of-days would peace reign. This is another way of saying that justice takes precedence over peace on a permanent basis.
Another “solution” is proffered by the totalitarian ideology of Islam. In the Dar es salaam, the portion of the earth living under Muslim rule, peace and justice are said to exist simultaneously. This trick can be performed because free human action has been eliminated. By definition, there are no fundamental grievances to redress (other than the permanent, mass grievance against the infidels) because injustice cannot exist where Islam reigns.
But this is nothing more than opiating the people, if I may borrow a Marxist notion. The same effect could be attained by giving a lobotomy to the entire population. Therefore it is doubtful whether they have truly solved the peace vs. justice conundrum. (By the way, this permanently opiated, oppressive condition helps explain why an Arab village can appear to be so peaceful, an illusion that has seduced many well-meaning Westerners.)
Are one of these two models what our friends in the Centers for Peace and Justice have in mind for us? Some of the answer may lie in the mission statement of the Center in Sonoma County, California:
The Center envisions a world of peace, justice, and freedom. It is a revolutionary and empowering vision of a democratic community where differences are respected, conflicts are addressed nonviolently, oppressive structures are dismantled, and people live in harmony with the earth, nurtured by diverse traditions that foster compassion, solidarity, and reconciliation. Therefore, we commit ourselves to replace violence, war, racism, and economic injustice through active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change—personally, locally, nationally, and globally.
This statement is packed with contradictions. How can peace be reconciled with “radical change”? Do they truly believe that being “revolutionary” will result in a world of peace? Can “oppressive structures” really be “dismantled” through nonviolence? Do they expect that the benefactors of these oppressive structures (including, ironically, themselves) will behave peacefully when their ill-gained property is confiscated?
They are deceiving themselves. “Peace and justice” is a gem of Newspeak, a hallmark of totalitarian ideology. In practice, it manifests itself in an extreme form of justice that can be enforced only with excessive ferocity. Peace exists when the individual mind is crushed and paved over.
Would they consider “liberty and justice” as an alternative?
________________________________
Postscript: The sign on the side of the building, written in the elegant calligraphy of urban graffiti, is a harbinger of things to come when the Brave New World arrives:
Bookmark this article!
January 21st, 2008 at 9:14 am
“It is a revolutionary and empowering vision of a democratic community where differences are respected, conflicts are addressed nonviolently, oppressive structures are dismantled, and people live in harmony with the earth, nurtured by diverse traditions that foster compassion, solidarity, and reconciliation.”
You can’t foster ‘tradition’ within a democracy and hope that everyone will somehow magically get along.
Traditional cultures are by their very nature intolerant, ‘oppressive’ to some, and often violent. This is how a people establishes itself, and forges their identity.
At varying points in history, the ‘tradition’ of my ancestors accepted a swordfight as an acceptable way to solve questions of honour, and considered the sacrifice of the king a fine method for blessing the crops. We also created the Tain Bo Cualigne, the Red Branch cycle, and several items of art which are still influential.
Of course, one gets the feeling that these people would like to see ‘culture’ reduced to a list of music, artwork, clothing, and foods, watered down as to be completely inoffensive, and available for everyone.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
Is that Bugs Bunny painted on the side of the building? Will he be our new leader? He must be the new Che Guevara. The peace and justice crowd live in a cartoon world.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:41 am
.. the simple, most basic reality, of all these ‘peace & justice’ groups that promote multiculturalism & internationalism is that they are all bound by their hatred of White America’s prominence in the world.. it’s really that simple, they hate & resent White Americans.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Faolan: Yes, “culture” must inevitably be watered down when it is infected by the disease of multiculturalism.
Elizabeth: Yes, that is Bugs Bunny. You can’t see it in the photo, but on the wall Bugs is saying his famous one-liner about our city: “I shoulda made a left turn at Albuquerque.”
A cartoon world—it is indeed.
Ferdinand: They certainly do hate and resent America and the ideas on which it is based. Creativity, self-sufficiency, opportunities, liberty, fairness; the list goes on and on. I’m not sure this target is all necessarily “white” however. Think of the particularly harsh treatment the Left dishes out to non-whites who dare to embrace traditional American values.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
“I’m not sure this target is all necessarily “white??? however. Think of the particularly harsh treatment the Left dishes out to non-whites who dare to embrace traditional American values.”
Indeed, they’re traitors to their culture! Their people!
I’m having a hard time describing exactly how that bothers me. Besides the obvious, of course, there’s the attempt to boil a culture down to “a list of music, artwork, clothing, and foods…” and yet, becoming riled when an unexpected value shows up. But then, I guess that the values are supposed to stem from the culture of multiculturalism.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:06 am
Brilliant as always
To borrow from Marx again: peace and justice are merely code words for absence of opposition to Marxism, Islam, Multiculturalism etcetera.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
So, we now have a police station for social injustice. A place for the downtrodden to go whenever they are mistreated. God, it makes me sick.
They want to create an atmosphere where differences are respected. Excellent. I’m a white supremest that believes all Blacks, Mexicans, and Chinese should be kicked out of the country or enslaved; where’s my entitled respect?
The want to “dismantle” oppressive structures. Good luck guys, I’m sure Hooters still isn’t hiring fat chicks and I’m sure government is still stepping on the intelligent to pander to the ignorant. Oh wait, you weren’t going to notice that last bit were you?
Ahh, how peaceful it must be to live in harmony with the earth. A place where there is no violence and the sheep sleep with the wolves… Yes this utopian society can only be formed when there is no conflict, i.e. where everyone is the same no matter what the do and there is no winner because there are no losers and there is no economic injustice because there is no money. I for one will be a pig and better myself.
“Therefore, we commit ourselves to replace violence, war, racism, and economic injustice through active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change—personally, locally, nationally, and globally.”
Whatever they are smoking, I want some of it.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
“Peace” and “justice” are obviously code words meant to signify “far left wing” or the equivalent; they have no meaning and only serve as signals to grant givers. I’ll bet if you tracked down their funding, the trail would lead thru some government agency and in due course to your wallet.
January 27th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Zordran: The “values” of which you speak are the phony values of multiculturalism. By definition, if something has value, it is weighed against everything else, and thus has a different weight. But under multiculturalism, all cultures are equal, thus values are equal. We have arrived at a reductio ad absurdum.
Aldair: I like the metaphor of the police station.
Ken: It is indeed unfortunate that many grants do end up in the hands of organizations like these.