One common misconception is that “if I do not come into contact with violence in any way, then I do not participate in it.”
Here are five key roles that each of us has in our lives in relation to violence. Check which of them are dominant in your case:
- Accomplice — I condone and by implicit consent agree with the so-called security forces (army, police, secret services, justice system) who are prepared to and do use threats of murder, maiming and torture
- Co-governor — by my own citizenship I unwillingly share in the responsibility for the crimes committed by the state and civil society
- Sponsor — I provide support for the apparatus for violence from my own pocket (taxes, duties, tolls, etc.)
- Victim — at any moment I can face unaccountable professional aggression from armed authorities who are often incapable of empathy and recompense
- Role model — I demonstrate to the people around me (children included) the permissibility and admissibility of staying in a violent society over the long term.
The most shameful of these roles, of course, is our inability and unwillingness to let people be — i.e. our unwillingness to stop forcing neighbors to support threats and murders financially and morally (via citizenship, taxes, education, etc.).