Add Memory | Add To Friends
Beagle147 (profile) wrote,
on 1-30-2006 at 4:26pm
Current mood: optimistic
Music: "Dancing Through Life" -Wicked
New favorite class is Writing and Love. Today we watched a movie about Gandhi's Salt March, and then talked about nonviolence for a while. Vikram asked us all how nonviolence could work against terrorism. I was really hesitant to answer, as was, apparently, my entire side of the circle. Well, it wasn't really a circle or it wouldn't have had sides, now would it? It's a rectangle. But anyway, Vikram kinda turned to us and asked if we just didn't care. Then he said well, maybe I'm asking the question wrong; maybe it should be can nonviolence work against terrorism. I didn't want to talk, pretty much cause I thought my opinion on the matter was invalid...most of the class is some kind of other culture, and that got me in a bit of a pickle this morning in Social Problems, but that is a story for another day. So I raised my hand after a few seconds of hesitation, and he called on me. I said that I think there's an important distinction between oppression and terrorism. Nonviolence has proven very effective against oppression, for example the British in India in the 30's, and Martin Luther King's approach during the Civil Rights Movement. I said that all of the nonviolent protests I had heard of/studied are, at their core, a series of marches, boycotts, sit ins, etc. What exactly are we going to do, boycott al quaida? The actual individuals are dead...they crashed planes into the sides of buildings. So who are we to take a stand against? I said I think America took the most effective form of nonviolent response to terrorism that we could, we internalized it and united ourselves rather than externalizing it. At least for a time. I think if we would have continued that kind of action, or inaction, it could have been a successful nonviolent protest of terrorism, because we would have rendered the terrorism ineffective. At this point in time, I think that's the best we can hope for. I said I think that nonviolence is not an option against terrorism, but would be extremely effective instead of terrorism. Vikram took a second, then kinda said yeah, that's really good. He said "You articulated a popular argument. I mean, people have written whole books about this subject, and I don't think any of them have stated it as clearly as that." ^.^ This class is proving to be an enormous boost to my confidence. We've only had three freaking classes. I keep coming back to the point that somewhere along the line I've lost confidence in myself, and didn't even realize it. I think since going to college I've just grown incredibly unsure of myself. I'm more indecisive, if that's possible, I have more problems with public speaking, or, more specifically, articulating my ideas in front of groups/classes. I'm thinking maybe going from top dog in a lot of situations (senior, officer in everything under the sun) to being a freshman again contributed a lot to it. I'm really glad though that this class has begun to put my feet back under me.
Post A Comment