Unjust War & Pacifism

I would like to write a post on my pacifist beliefs, but since I'm constantly being asked "well what would you have done in World War II?" and I don't have a real answer to that one yet, I'm currently re-evaluating my stance. But I don't believe war solves anything.

I think that fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity. It's completely counter-productive. The best answer I have right now to the aforementioned question is this: killing innocent Germans who have been forced to fight, did not stop Hitler, nor the death camps. Hitler killed himself out of fear. You could argue that was due to our (the Allies) involvement/presence, but my point is even if that were the case, many innocent German lives were taken to achieve that end. Is that justified?

If you're wondering (slightly off-topic) about whether I'm pacifist in the sense of self-defence, the answer is no I'm not. I am anti-war in the sense of: I don't think it's right to police other countries for things such as nuclear weapons, I don't think it's right to pick fights, I don't think it's right to kill/injure innocent people. With breaches of human rights I think we must be careful. We need to know that we can actually have an impact and change something, that the person(s) in question are in definite breach of human rights and won't back down (e.g. policing and censoring internet doesn't count). We can't just storm in willy-nilly and get our people killed. We must also try not to take any life at all, especially innocent lives.

However, if someone comes up to me provoking attack and they will hurt me, they are then guilty and I have the right to defend myself since I am innocent and it is them who have crossed a line by choice. Having said that, I would try not to use overly accessive means.

Going back on topic to my views on war, I most definitely disagree with wars I find bullying and pointless such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq being pointless because we knew full well they did not have WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) but we made some pathetic excuse that they did and we knew, fiddle some papers to make it 'legal' (how you can have 'legal' and 'illegal' war criteria in such a violent and chaotic situation I do not know, who makes these rules? Why should we stick to them? It's war!) and stormed in to the public would think we were cracking down on 'terror' and Al-Qaeda. Afghanistan is pointless because we will never be able to stop the Taliban and even if we did what's to stop another group along the same lines forming?

I hate seeing innocent lives being taken on both sides, I hate seeing the effect it has on people and most of all I hate the propaganda that's spread about how these people are 'heroes' and how shocking it is when they die (deaths are sad but it's war, people will die, why so shocked?), when they signed up of their own accord and really we're picking fights not defending anyone from anything. The worst part is the effect it has on families: wives losing husbands, children losing fathers, wives and children hardly seeing their husbands/fathers, mothers losing sons and worst of all children losing mothers.

At this point I'll stop talking and show you a video that illustrates my point, it makes me cry the whole way through:

My Take on 'Gossip' Magazines

There are many people, especially girls, who enjoy reading 'gossip' magazines. To clarify before I go on, I'll define what I mean by that: magazines that feature scandalous stories about the personal lives of celebrities.

Examples of these are:

• Heat
• Now
• OK!
• Hello
• People
• Star
• Us Weekly

Many girls think it's harmless fun to read these magazines and have no issue spending upwards of £3 per issue on each one. For some reason, our society has got to a stage where we are so obsessed with celebrities that we want to know their every move. People will spend money, sometimes daily, so that they can track what's happening in the life of their favourite celebrity: what they're wearing, who they're dating, who's marrying, who's divorcing, who's cheating, how they're working out and what they're eating.

Here's why I would never spend a penny on said magazines and why I find them sinful to read even if you didn't buy one and you're feeling bored in a doctor's office:

• Gossip magazines are notoriously known for reporting speculation, rumours, lies and distorted or exaggerated facts. So tell me why you want to read something you know isn't completely, if at all, true?
• Would you want people looking at awful photos of you that have been taken without your awareness or permission? No? Then why do you want to look at such photos of other people?
• You are paying companies for the privilege of reading lies. People can actually make a living from creating fake stories about other people. Would you want someone to profit from selling lies about you? It's hurtful to hear something false said about you, before knowing someone got paid to tell it!
• Paying people to write lies also encourages their bad behaviour. Why would they stop if they know you'll pay for it? Why should they report the truth if you're satisfied with lies? They want to get your money not report what's true. The truth is, if you won't pay for it, they won't write it!
• The Golden Rule: seriously, you can't get upset if someone says something nasty about you if simultaneously you're reading potentially nasty stuff about other people e.g. look how much weight X celebrity has gained! Is Y cheating on her husband?
• The Bible also says that gossip is a sin. Leviticus 19:16 says it's sinful to slander someone (definition: the action of making a false spoken statement about a person that's damaging to their reputation). Psalm 34:13 says, 'Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies'

There you have it, why I despise gossip magazines. So please no more comments about how it's over-exaggerating to refrain from reading them. My beliefs are clear and non-negotiable :)