General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with the burning of stores and vehicles. [View all]npk
(3,660 posts)You cannot fight violence with violence. It only leads to more destruction. Just like you cannot put out a fire with more fire, you must extinguish the heat to put out the fire. History has shown time and again that violent protest and destruction has accomplished nothing. It has never moved us forward, only backward. Can you imagine what would have happened if Martin Luther King Jr. and those civil rights leaders who joined him on his march from Selma to Montgomery had started throwing rocks, bricks, or molotov cocktails at the police. Can you imagine what would have become of the Civil Rights era if King and those brave men and women has set fire to the buildings in Selma on that fateful day. Do you think the Civil Rights legislation would have been passed if that had occurred. Of course not. The Civil Rights Bill would have been pushed back a decade or more. What made the march in Selma so powerful is that it was precisely a bunch of thuggish cops attacking a peaceful march. That image helped convince the country that it was time for a change.
If King and the civil rights activist on that historic march had used violence and destruction to set fires to the buildings in Selma, they would have been branded as thugs and their message of peace and change would have been completely lost. They would have been effectively dismissed and their voices silenced. The only way to affect real, lasting change is to convince the greater majority that your position is just and worth fighting for. And to do that you must show them that the cause you are fighting against is a greater threat to their security and freedom than the cause you are fighting for. It's the only way.