Tyrone Jackson : Okay, thanks for the definition. I have a question and a comment. Question: What if someone else “has” the things that you consider necessary for living and are unwilling to share them with you willingly? Would love then justify violence to them to obtain what you need or violence to yourself by denying what it is that you need?
Tom Over : My guess is that it would depend on the situation. This is likely not an answer, but since you mention violence and love in the same breath, I’ve somehow suspected that, as far as social movements are concerned, advocating for love instead of hate is better than advocating nonviolence. Nonviolence often correlates with empathy and compassion, but in at least some cases, refraining from violence amounts to allowing someone else to commit violence. As for love, I’m thinking of it in existential terms, that is, it’s what I strive to have as my basis for what motivates me (as opposed to thinking I am somehow all-loving to each and every human or other creature on the planet.)
Tyrone Jackson : Love cannot be reasoned by the mind that believes that love is separate from itself. Such a mind only creates chaos and ultimately, the same world that they feel compelled to save.
Tom Over : This seems applicable to activism. When he visited Columbus a couple of years ago, Eric Holt Gimenez said that working for justice isn’t a matter of taking power from those who have it so as to put that power to use for our own purposes. He said that, instead, we ought to change our relationship to power, and change the way in which we think of power (if I understood him correctly.)
Tyrone Jackson : Progressives/revolutionaries example this point wonderfully. They often find themselves enslaving mankind to create a more just world.
Tom Over : Are you referring to the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Chinese Revolution in 1949, and the Cuban Revolution in 1959? Do you have other examples ?
As for the enslavement of humankind that you referred to, how much of that resulted from capitalist greed (ie the African Slave Trade) and how much from, as you say, progressives trying to create a more just world ? —–As for progressives enslaving humankind, weren’t the progressives the ones who fought to end child labor and other abuses? Aren’t progressives currently working to address the problem of sweatshops and other forms of modern slavery? ——The manner in which you use the term ‘progressive’ makes me wonder what types of news sources you use and what types of books you read.
Tyrone Jackson : Love is not something that needs to be found outwardly; it needs to be recognized internally.
Tom Over : Can it be both ?
This recognition would answer many of your questions, clarify the world that you live in, and envelope you in peace. As thoughts race to reply to this email, ask yourself “who is it that perceives these thoughts?”
Good luck, Tom. Oh, we have some veggie brats I would love your opinion on.
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