Fighting Against Violence

A character in a show I recently started watching said that "fighting for peace" is a contradiction, and when she said that, I had to pause the video to process my thoughts about that. I understand that fighting to defend oneself and others is sometimes necessary, but I have to admit that fighting for peace does sound like a contradiction. A peaceful person would never resort to violence, would they?

I suppose it depends on how they stack their hierarchy of values. It's good to believe that hurting others is wrong, but I also believe that it's wrong to allow someone else to hurt others. If I see someone attack someone else, and the only way I can stop the attacker is by using violence against them, then I have to make a choice. I have to choose whether to exercise violence or whether to allow violence to persist. It's a difficult choice, and I don't fault anyone for making a different choice than I might make. Heck, which choice I make may depend on the specific details of the situation. I believe that neither violence nor nonviolence are always wrong. Some situations call for violence, and others don't.

Yet, I can understand why some people might, on moral grounds, commit themselves to nonviolence. I'd say that this stance is the better one most of the time. And if everyone agreed to solve their problems nonviolently, then violence would cease, and the world would be better for it. But some people do decide to try to solve their problems with violence, and sometimes it is necessary to use violence to stop them. Granted, this won't be true in all situations, and when there is a nonviolent solution, it should at least be considered, but there are times when using violence to stop violence is the best choice.

I don't want to hurt anyone, but I don't want to let anyone hurt anyone else, either. If I had to hurt someone in order to stop them from hurting me or someone else, I very well might. I'd like to think that I'd be brave enough to fight to stop a violent person. Any good paladin should. Yet, I have to admit that I can understand why some people would hold a different opinion. It's not quite a contradiction, but it is a bit ironic that it is sometime necessary to use violence to stop violence.