I was walking outside with my gf on a pedestrian crossing when a guy on a scooter didn’t feel like breaking and almost hit us when crossing the street. I’m a calm person but at the same time I can feel intense rage with stuff like this and my first thought is to kick the guy off his scooter and beat him to a pulp. This, of course, never happens and I can remain calm. I did a civil fuck you symbol to the guy to get my point across.

I was discussing my rage feelings with my girlfriend and we got into a rather heavy discussion about violence. So, I get called gay a lot because of the way I dress and act sometimes. Especially in my smaller hometown. I said to my gf that I could reach a point where I just beat the next guy calling me gay for being a homophobic shit. She could not agree with me on this and she got mad about it, and we had a debate on using violence (with gay people, minorities and Palestina vs Israel as examples being used). She could follow me on supporting armed resistance in Palestina but she could not accept gay people snapping and beating a homophobic guy, which I can totally understand. Eventually we agreed to disagree, sort of, and we let the topic rest.

Which made me wonder how you guys think about this. Is using violence against injustice acceptable? Is there a certain line for when you can use violence and when not? We socialists fight against injustice, and violence may be a part of that fight somewhere along the line. How should we view the use of violence?

  • @Kultronx
    14•1 year ago

    Note: what I am saying is hypothetical and only of an academic nature. Unfortunately, I don’t think real change is possible without violence. In all the socialist revolutions, having a greater materialist control of violence and propaganda surrounding it was the deciding factor. However, individualist violence is extremely risky and not advised. Imprisonment is not worth it. Getting arrested or worse, killed, is a huge blow to the movement considering how much was invested in your life by those around you.

    I think it is morally right for those who are abled bodied/strong to stand up for those who are not. You need heavy hitters if you want to win the baseball game.