Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Fighting Evil Doesn’t Make You Good

Fighting Evil Doesn’t Make You Good

Last updated on: September 5, 2017 at 10:14 pm by Tom Swiss

Fighting Evil Doesn’t Make You Good 2017-09-05T22:14:59-04:00 Tom Swiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’d like to talk about two punches: one which was witnessed only by a few dozen people and one which made national news.

A few weeks ago, I went to a semi-underground music show, and ran into a friend — call her Jane. She was having a rough evening; a young relative of her boyfriend had recently committed suicide and it really hit her hard. As we talked, another woman, someone I vaguely know — call her Mary — walked by and insulted Jane.

Now, Mary and Jane have an abusive ex-paramour in common. Call him John. John has been dead for years, and I don’t know all the details. But apparently Mary is of the opinion that Jane should have publicly sounded some sort of warning about John’s behavior. Because as she walked by her insult was “Hey, good job helping to shelter a sexual predator!”

Let me emphasize that whatever happened took place years ago, and that this statement came out of the blue while we were talking about someone’s suicide. So I was a little startled. I said “What the heck?” (okay, I didn’t say “heck”), Jane shook her head, and we continued our talk. But Mary came back across the room and repeated her comment. “Great job helping a sexual predator hide!”

Jane hung her head. Right now she really didn’t need someone starting an argument with her about how she’d handled an abusive boyfriend years ago.

While I have little use for the TSA and the surveillance state, I do try to live by the notion “If you see something, say something.” I decline to remain silent in the presence of abusive or harassing behavior.

So I stood up and walked over to Mary. “Hey. That was inappropriate and you need to check yourself,” I said.

Mary shouted, “You have no idea what’s going on!”, lunged forward, and shoved me.

As I said, I don’t know the details of the relationships. But I did know that this was old business and that Mary’s bringing it up in that context and manner was harassment. And I knew something else, too:

“Okay, that’s assault,” I said. “You really need to check yourself.”

“That’s not assault,” she said, trying to dismiss her act of violence.

“Yes, it is,” I started to explain. Meanwhile Jane had walked over.

Now, usually, I would not be in favor of what Jane said next. But in the context of discussing whether or not one was protecting an abuser, it makes sense.

“Mary, I’m glad John is dead. I’m glad he’s dead!” Jane said.

Mary turned and punched Jane.

I stepped between them and pushed Mary back to the wall, while someone saw to Jane. (She was not injured — but let me remind you that in the right circumstances, a single punch can kill someone.) A scene ensued for several minutes, in which Mary accused every man present of some sort of sexual impropriety; in her reality one friend of mine is running an underground pornography ring, while Jane’s boyfriend had tried to seduce her. I was accused of some unspecified inappropriate sexual behavior.

Mary lunged at Jane a few more times, and I stayed between them. Finally she was asked to leave by the management.

(She refused, and this being an underground event, no one wanted to call the cops to eject her; which brings up interesting issues of the safety of underground spaces and gender differences in how we treat violent offenders. I’m pretty sure that if I punched somebody in a similar situation, I would be picked up bodily and given the bum’s rush, regardless of the underground or semi-underground nature of the show.)

Mary was quite sure that she was right, that she was fighting against the (very real) evils of domestic violence and sexual exploitation. It may be that her twisted perceptions are the result of abuse she suffered, and so we should have some compassion for her.

But her certainty led her to commit violence in the name of social justice — an inherently counterproductive act.

Punching Nazis

Consider now the anonymous protester who punched white nationalist dingbat Richard Spencer during an interview Friday.

The attacker has been widely admired for doing so. After all, he was standing up to evil! Punching Nazis is a grand American tradition, the interwebs have decided, sharing pictures of Captain America and Indiana Jones doing so. (And never mind the inconvenient historical facts about WWII, that it was the Soviet Union that should get most of the credit for the Nazi’s defeat, and that the Nazis had a lot of American support — indeed, their final solution was modeled in part on the American genocide of Native nations.)

From the cover of Captain America #1. Image via fandom.wikia.com. Fair use.

Indeed it’s a social media judgment that decided that Spencer is a Nazi, a charge he denies despite quoting Nazi propaganda and despite his famous “Hail Trump!” moment. So who gets to decide whether his vile and stupid ideas are Nazism or not?

Surely not all vile and stupid ideas involving race deserve the label “Nazi”. But if punching Nazis is something to celebrate, the more Nazis the better — a perverse incentive is created. All I have to do is get you believe that someone is a Nazi, and we can all enjoy a little lust for violence

This notion that it’s fine and good to assault people we decide are Nazis is disturbingly similar to the idea of glorious struggle that fuels fascism.

Fascism tells people that they face an existential threat that can only be met with extraordinary and violent measures. It invites them to put rationality aside and jump on board the wave of emotion.

Violent anti-fascism — “antifa” — simply casts fascists in the role of existential threat and invites people to join an anti-rational violent leftism.

As the Principia Discordia says of the sort of people susceptible to being caught up in Grand Causes, those “hung up on authority, security and control”, “A person belonging to one or more Order [of Discordia] is just as likely to carry a flag of the counter-establishment as the flag of the establishment–just as long as it is a flag.”

The Problems With Vigilantism

There is a word for unilaterally deciding that a person is guilty of a crime, determining the appropriate punishment, and imposing it. The word is vigilantism. And I wonder how many people who rightly condemned vigilantes like George Zimmerman are cheering Spencer’s unknown assailant.

Due process is becoming less and less important to both the American left and the American right. To the right, it gets in the way of cops controlling street criminals. To the left, it gets in the way of bringing college rapists and human trafficers to justice, and interferes with controlling terrorist’s access to firearms.

And whichever sort of crime troubles us more, that lack of concern for due process should concern us all greatly.

None of this is meant to deny the right of individual or collective self-defense, or to suggest that our current criminal justice system is at all adequate. (For the record, I teach people how to use defensive force, and have called for the end of policing as we know it.)

But assaulting people is a lousy way to try to bring about a more peaceful world. Punching people does not change minds, and turns people who are on the fence against you.

Megan Phelps-Roper knows a thing or two about having vile ideas. The granddaughter of Fred Phelps, founder of the contemptible hate group the Westboro Baptist Church, Phelps-Roper grew up saturated in that hate. She led the WBC into the social-media age with tweets like “Thank God for AIDS!” — but ended up being changed by her exposure to social media and left the hate behind.

In response to the assault against Spencer, she tweeted “I was grown & promoting the death penalty for gays. Rage was justified, but made me MORE intractable. Dialogue—pointed but kind—changed me.”

And, “Righteous indignation is such a seductive feeling. But is it more important to feel that? Or to change [heart]s?”

I hope that is a question you will ask yourself if you ever find yourself contemplating an anger-fueled attack on someone espousing vile ideas.

You can keep up with “The Zen Pagan” by subscribing via RSS or e-mail.

Please consider supporting this blog with a donation or purchase. The Zen Pagan Merch-o-rama has t-shirts, mugs, posters and prints, and stickers designed by yours truly.

If you do Facebook, you might choose to join a group on “Zen Paganism” I’ve set up there. And don’t forget to “like” Patheos Pagan and/or The Zen Pagan over there, too.

Ethics, Virtue, and Right Living

Previous Post

January 22, 2017

"Metal and Velvet" (Digital Art, "52 Makeup" Week 3)

Next Post

January 26, 2017 Random Wednesday: Captain America's Love of Free Speech, Inauguration Ratings, and Police Homicide

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2017 52 Makeup 2020 52 Makeup Always Roaming With A Hungry Heart Art Because I Could Not Stop For Death Caught On Video COVID-19 Culture Discordianism Ethics, Virtue, and Right Living History Magic(k), Ritual, and Mysticism My Blogging Life and Times Philosophy Podcast Poetry Random Wednesdays Religion & Politics Seasonal Musings Techno-Pagan Theology Uncategorized Warrior Path Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 September 2024 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 June 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who is described as the "son of encouragement" and traveled with Paul?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Silas Barnabas Mark Luke