The nuance of this question that allows violence that I would otherwise never condone is that the fight is against a system or a representative of a system that is oppressive. While I have deep respect for Gandhi's work, I do believe that in a fight for justice where the system that should provide said justice is doing the crimes, violence is not only condonable but also arguably necessary. This is because when the fight is against the prevelant system it is a revolution and how many of those have ever been bloodless? V for Vendetta offers the interesting conundrum of a man who can be seen both as a terrorist and a freedom fighter. This distinction can be difficult to make, but in the circumstance in Half the Sky, the situation seems relatively clear.
These women attempted to use the system in place. They addressed the police repeatedly and were turned away, if not abused further. If the alternative peaceful options have been fully explored and found unfruitful, violence is preferable to continued abuse. The actions of these women saved an entire village and potentially its future generations. It also set a precedent for intolerance for oppression. I won't expand too extensively here because we already significantly addressed this in class.
For the same reasons that the Half the Sky decision was clear, the Hunt decision was less so. Mary was acting within the system of justice her village observed. Rape was considered the highest crime and therefore punishable by death; she observed this. The Hunt was the time to seek justice; she did so. Still, the calculating and practically joyful method with which she brutally murdered her assaulter caused me alarm. Even though throughout the story I felt enormous respect and admiration for Mary, her actions seemed callus and manic out of the context of her system. I then conclude that it is the system itself that is too brutal. I do not believe in an eye for an eye--that is if we equate rape and murder. However even this seemingly firm opinion is undermined. What other options for punishment could the village afford? There is clearly no prison. They cannot banish him (due to his economic standing and their lack of apparent military). It seems that the only self defense against rape is murder. Despite my discomfort with the idea, I have come to the same conclusion as I did the Half the Sky story. There remain no other options for Mary to protect herself. She took the only action available to save herself.
I agree with this violence is justifiable when no other option exists conclusion. To further the conversation, I wanted to ask about the difference between morally justifiable and condonable. To condone is to accept/allow behavior that is morally wrong, while morally justifiable seems to imply that the action is fair, that the action is free from moral blame.
ReplyDeleteIs the violence wrong, but acceptable under circumstance, or is it the right thing to do? These are similar questions, but seem to have an important difference.
I find that to be a pretty interesting clarification. From my understanding of the reading and my view on justified violence, I believe that in these situations I would rather condone violence than fully and morally justify the use of violence. Like many of us have mentioned, in both these situations, the women were put in situations in which violence was the only solution; however I believe I couldn't bring myself to say that every time pass say a certain offense/quota, using violence is always justified. The circumstantial nature of these horrid cases sheds light to perhaps why it is so difficult to make good, concrete laws to prevent situations like these to arise again in the future.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I do not think that I am sure. My logical brain is telling me that this violence is condonable. Justice shouldn't be taken by individuals. It should be dealt with by an organized system. Violence is not preferable but it is necessary under certain circumstances. However my love of revenge movies and the gutteral satisfaction I recieved when the town full of women took down their oppressor. I am not sure that I can ignore either.
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