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  • Speaking in terms of the USA, the constitution was built with the intended reasonable pursuit of escalating properly-to violence If need be. Peaceful protests, voting, freedom of speech, etc. are all avenues of reprimand towards an over reaching or overbearing government. Violence was seen as acceptable and even necessary in some cases but was never intended as a first resort.

    This is why right to bear arms exists along with all the other approaches. Now it's a matter or decision by the people of what methods have been exhausted, which are futile, and what is next.

    Revolting, fighting, and force in the name of freedom from a truly oppressive government is a necessary sacrifice for any people who wish to live with the freedoms that brings regardless of nationality, location, or beliefs.

    Clarifications: This is not against any government for any disagreement, just truly oppressive ones that strip human rights from the people.

    Violence should never be a first resort, but has it's place among negotiations.

    Personal opinion: These means should not be used for ones own benefit, you are upset because of the ways of life for all the people, the rights of your people, there is a fair likelihood this method will result in a world you will never see or benefit significantly from, its for others; those that follow. How else would I be able to sit here and eat bugles if someone didn't strive for a world good enough for me to do so?

    • Based and LeftPilled

    • Violence should never be a first resort, but has it’s place among negotiations.

      i agree in the abstract, i'm less sure in reality. SCOTUS makes an unpopular ruling that takes away right to abortion for half the country: doctors in affected areas feel the credible threat of violence "i'll lose my home and i'll be locked behind bars if i perform abortions", but SCOTUS don't feel any threat like that. they're free to make millions worse off because they don't really fear repercussions for it.

      violence isn't a first resort, but organized society as we know it depends on the credible threat of violence. if only one party feels that threat to be credible, then "negotiations" are one-sided. "demilitarize the police" is a great way to balance those threats of violence by reducing violence (yay), but failing that how else to make the side you're negotiating with treat your threat of violence as credibly as you treat theirs other than to actually use violence?

  • Riots are a last resort because people end up dead or in jail if they fail. You want to keep people who are on your side free and alive while achieving your goals.

    • But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.

      MLK Jr. - “The Other America,” 1968

      Love this quote, everyone starts with the last sentence and sometimes include a few sentences after that but I think this section is the most generically useful bit. This applies everywhere for every struggle of the oppressed.

      • For context this is the full quote, where MLK Jr. condemns riots but also equally condemns the conditions that cause people to riot: inequality, injustice, lack of humanity, lack of progress.

        Let me say, as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I’m still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapons available to oppress[ed] people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create more social problems than they will solve, that in a real sense, it is impractical for the Negro to even think of mounting a violent revolution in the United States. So I will continue to condemn riots and continue to say to my brothers and sisters that this is not the way. Continue to affirm that there is another way.

        But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities, as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. And in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. So in a real sense, our nation’s summer’s riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.

      • Wise words, but I think even MLK Jr would say take the peaceful approach first. You have to give peace a chance. If that doesn't work, you escalate from there, but you don't go scorched earth without trying the alternatives first.

    • Yeah I'm not gonna die for what? So others get to reap the reward? The only reward I got to reap is other people's greed. I'm not dying for your kids lol.

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