NP . . . Pacifist Claptrap

[David Morris]

This editorial puts some context to that 1942 George Orwell quote on 
Pacifism:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26290-2001Sep26.html

There can be truth in the pacifists' claim to the moral high ground, notably 
in the case of a war that is waged for manifestly evil purposes. So, for 
instance, a German citizen who declined to fight for the Nazi cause could be 
seen (although not likely by his family and friends) as occupying the moral 
position. But in the situation where one's nation has been attacked -- a 
situation such as we are now in -- pacifism is, inescapably and profoundly, 
immoral. Indeed, in the case of this specific situation, pacifism is on the 
side of the murderers, and it is on the side of letting them murder again.

In 1942 George Orwell wrote this, in Partisan Review, of Great Britain's 
pacifists:

"Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If 
you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help out that of the 
other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the 
present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me.' "

England's pacifists howled, but Orwell's logic was implacable. The Nazis 
wished the British to not fight. If the British did not fight, the Nazis 
would conquer Britain. The British pacifists also wished the British to not 
fight. The British pacifists, therefore, were on the side of a Nazi victory 
over Britain. They were objectively pro-Fascist.



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