Some Thoughts on Violence; E. Opitz

SOME THOUGHTS ON EDMUND A. OPITZ MOST HUMAN differences are set tled peacefully. Collisions of in terest occur sporadically, but when intelligence and good-will com bine we work out a modus vi vendi. Conflicting opinions are resolved by an appeal to reason; patience and persuasion ease the frictions arising out of personal encounters. Thus it is in most areas; we carve out survival pat terns and get along with each other. But there are periods of history more violent than others when arbitration works poorly and conflict intensifies; we are living through one such. Warfare of unusual ferocity has plagued the West for· more than half a century - despite lip service to peace in the form of nominal pacifism and humanitariThe Reverend Mr. Opitz is a member of the staff of the Foundation for Economic Educa tion. This article, slightly abridged, appeared in The Lutheran Scholar, October, 1970.

anism. But international strife is not the only plague; domestic ten sions break out of bounds with increasing frequency; riots, dem onstrations, assault, kidnappings, bombings, strikes, and acts of sabotage barely make the front pages, so commonplace have they become. Out of the woodwork come spellbinders to lecture uni versity audiences on gunbarrel politics, revolution for its own sake, and the beauties of violence. Professors of philosophy are in voked to provide a specious ration ale for destructionism. A cult of violence and systematic terror comes into being. There's no longer time to take thought, we are told; men must act. Incessant and strident calls to action are directed toward the base emotions of hatred and fear, drowning out quiet appeals to the mind. The demand that we do something re195 196 THE FREEMAN April suIts in thoughtless action, and mindless violence breeds more of the same.

Violence Displaces Reason What has brought about this state of affairs? How shall we ac count for the increased violence that mars our land? It is obvious that violence and the cult of vio lence expands as faith in reason declines - only when people are convinced that differences cannot be worked out intelligently do they resort to force. The restoration of reason to its proper role in human affairs is essential if we would live in peace, but first we must try to understand what has caused men of the modern era to distrust reason. History is not simply what Gib bon called it, a catalogue of "the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind"; but the human record is spotty and there has been vio lence in every era. People differ, and occasional conflict is thus a built-in feature of human action. The species could not have sur vived, of course, were there not a preponderance of cooperation and mutual aid in human affairs, but traces of friction remain even un der the best of co'i1ditions. Abra sive contacts between men may be eased by good will plus a disposi tion to argue it out rather than fight it out, but when all stratagems fail and flight is impossible human beings do resort to force.