So far, the global feminist movement has been as effective at
stopping violence towards women as the Catholic Church, prior to the Protestant
Reformation, was at halting sin, and by the same means. In both instances, the
clergy collected a large sum of money for sins for which the public was
supposed to repent, as dictated by the solitary authority of the Church. Prevention
became a pretext for punishment, and humanity had to learn the hard way, yet
again, that the latter is no means by which to arrive at the former.
How then are we to proceed in combatting violence, if not
with greater violence in a hopeless and depraving arms race? Well, it’s one of
those questions so simple that a child could answer it, and perhaps only a
child would. A man attacks a woman, insisting that she treat him with the
kindness that he feels entitled to. He fends off all of her defenses by arguing
that this is not “what a good girl does”. The feminist, naively, concludes that
by attacking his convictions she can disarm him. The child, profoundly,
listens, trying to set a kinder example, knowing that her assailant just might
follow it. After all: he clearly needs someone to show him the way towards
kindness, and he’s literally asking for it. Maybe that is why, when met with
arrogance and dismissiveness, the assailant knows what example to follow in his
next encounter, thinking “if this is what kindness is, let me show them a taste
of their own medicine, except for the few who prove exceptional. If love is
what anyone would want, then THEY are asking for it, too.”
It’s not as though gentleness is ineffective. Judo is the
Gentle Way, after all. Only what you resist seems truly to persist.
Dm.a.A.
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