If I put myself in the shoes of Mary from "The Hunt" or in the shoes of the women who stabbed a man to death in chapter three of "Half the Sky," I find myself agreeing that violence is an "okay" solution in the face of systematic injustice. The part of me that thinks about "the greater good," however, disagrees. That is to say, on a small scale maybe most acts of violence or murder are justified in some way. Didn't someone once say that murder is the greatest act of passion? For me, violence is never justified, as "an eye for an eye makes the world go blind." (Ghandi, I think?) If all crimes are avenged on an equal level, then how is the world progressing and becoming a better place?
Thus, although I agree that an unjust judicial system gives plenty of reason to become violently vengeful, the real problem that needs to be fixed is the judicial system itself. If we continue to excuse acts of violence that are in response to a lack of action by governmental systems, then society moves not towards justice but towards lawlessness. Though I think that the solution to fix all corrupt judicial systems around the world is far from being found, I still believe that it exists. Finding this solution will not be easy, but breaking the law to fix it only impedes the process.
Two "wrongs" do not make a "right."
While I do agree with many facets of your arguement, I have an issue with your assertion of what is the greater good. Wasn't the town as a whole in Half The Sky, maybe even the region (if the gangster had planned on expanding) better off with him dead? Not just that the lives of the people could be carried out with greater convenience, but lives were saved and dignity preserved. And furthermore, Mary's act of violence not only saved herself from sexual abuse, but also saved the other women of her tribe. Maybe most importantly she saved the trees, preventing the gradual and overwhelming corruption that was on its way. The untouched forest and native workers alike would have been exploited. I think in this circumstance the greatest argument for nonviolence is in the individual, that it is individually wrong to commit these crimes regardless of the potentially "greater good" they were working towards.
ReplyDelete