Statement of principles
What’s Pacifist Posse about? Well, of course, it’s about opposing violence. Violence doesn’t solve problems; it usually creates additional problems.
People differ in their interpretations of what counts as violence. To some, war is the only violent action to be opposed, but to others only unprovoked wars are objectionable. Others view the harvesting of un-fallen fruit as violence, but many of their fellow humans draw the line between violence and non-violence in favor of not killing other animals for food.
Not all of the people who subscribe to Pacifist Posse agree that eating meat, felling trees, giving children explicit directions, or walking through an unswept area are violent acts. But those who subscribe do agree, at the least, with the following statements about actions that should be eschewed:
- Combat, including wars, attacks, battles, skirmishes, incursions, retaliations, and similar violent acts made by government or quasi-governmental organizations;
- Fights, including rumbles, melees, fisticuffs, and other violent acts made by gangs, teams, fans, or other loose affiliations of individuals;
- Assaults, including raping, hitting, punching, slapping, roughing up, and other violent actions made by one individual against one or more other individuals.
We understand that sometimes one must take physical action to deter violence (e.g., restraining a child from hitting another person), but we believe that those actions can be accomplished in a non-violent way. Furthermore, we believe that those actions are not analogous to preemptive military strikes on the people of one country to prevent that country from attacking another.