ID: 4 panels:
-
A self righteous person holds their hand up and says “Violence is never the solution.”
-
Stephie replies with a smile “Oh! So you agree that we shouldn’t give weapons to the police?”
-
She adds “And that we should dismantle the army?”
-
Stephie is now right up behind the other person, looking angry, saying “Or did you mean that violence is only a solution when it helps maintain the status quo?”. The other person looks deeply uncomfortable.
Credit: Sophie Labelle
Violence is the solution to violence.
The threat of defensive violence can act as a useful deterrent to prevent violence.
Nuclear weapons are massively violent. Although they have caused harm in a number of ways (offensive use in WW2, experimental use, indirect harm from the threat of use), I believe they contributed more to peace in the world today.
Open carry in the US has successfully been used to deterr police from harassing innocent people.
Or to encourage them (not that they needed any encouragement) to summarily execute Black and other marginalised people.
I generally agree with your point about the threat of violence being effective, but also feel like you’re missing the mark slightly, since the threat of, and actual violence have been held over our heads as the working class for millennia, rather than us using our combined power to hold that threat over the heads of our oppressors until there are none and threats are no longer needed.
And this is the case because the state has a monopoly on violence, and why us threatening is no longer (and has never really been) effective, only actions will be.
How many protests in 2020 were busted up by the cops when the protesters were open carrying? How many were busted up when the people had no means to defend themselves? The answers are zero, and a shit ton.
Violence is the one true power from which all other power is derived.