Quote:
Originally Posted by Hermes
Pacifism is simply not striking them back. In fact, evasion tactics are a great martial art to learn for any pacifist. If he takes a punch, and you block, NOW you are no longer a pacifist
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Actually, blocking an attack is still an act of pacifism. It's still defensive, not offensive, so long as the block isn't followed by a hit of your own. It's probably not logical to block an attack if you're in a fight, though, especially if you can't retaliate with an attack. Dodging is still the better option if you're a pacifist caught in a fight.
That being said, any time that you need to defend yourself in an attack, you're perfectly capable of doing so without being any sort of hypocrite. Pacifism is the belief that violence is the least-preferable solution to a dispute, not a philosophy of self-sacrifice, "Oh, as a declared pacifist, I can't do anything so I'll just let this mugger stab me". Survival always wins out, and it always should.
This is all personal pacifism (which is my philosophy - I never, ever will cause harm to anyone if I can help it). Technically, the term "pacifism" in a more generic sense is supposed to mean a person's philosophy on war, not on personal encounters with violence (though the two bleed into each other, of course).
So the pacifist teacher fast-forwarding through war scenes would be logical... if that teacher was actually encountering a war, not a Hollywood re-enactment of historical events. That's just silly.
On another note: I am watching
Twilight right now, with RIFFTRAX on. Oh god. So hilarious. Seriously, anyone who really love-hates terrible movies, look into RIFFTRAX. They're MP3s of comedians (of
Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame, mostly) making fun of awful films.
Watching this has brightened my day considerably.