86 lines
4.5 KiB
HTML
86 lines
4.5 KiB
HTML
<p>Much of today's political discourse, regardless of faction, is
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focused on presenting one's own faction as being <i>pure</i> and
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impeccable, while presenting any other as either innocently cooperating
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with evil, or directly malicious. That is to say, all atrocities
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committed by the faction we favor must be either justified or denied,
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while all atrocities committed by opposing factions must be emphasized,
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exaggerated, or even fabricated.</p>
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<p>If this behaviour is viewed with (a lot of) charity, it could be
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viewed that the denial of the evils our factions commit is because we
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recognize that it is evil, and the emphasis on the evils of the other
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factions is precisely to show the dangers of those ideas. But the
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problem with this kind of strategy is that absolutely every faction,
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even the ones we believe to be the most benign, is riddled with a
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history of atrocities and evils. Even our modern-day Liberal
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Democracies, which we put on a pedestal as the most <i>humane</i> of
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systems of governance was only able to come about through violent
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revolution, mass executions, and persecution of the Church. Even today
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we see its violence in the form of the killing of children in the womb
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and of the elderly or sickly (i.e. abortion and euthanasia).</p>
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<p>The truth of the matter is that atrocities and violence are not
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particular to any given faction or ideology, nor are they absent in any
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faction or ideology. The only ideologies without a history of violence
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are those which have never had the opportunity to act. This is because
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violence is the result of the fallen human condition. It is but a naïve
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dream for anyone to believe that their particular solution for the
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administration of the public sphere (i.e. politics) will be free of any
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kind of violence. Truly, it is the silly dream of those Utopian
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Socialists who aimed to create a <i>Kingdom of God on Earth</i>. For
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only through Christ's <i>Parousia</i> will we reach such a state. Any
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other attempt to do so, being only by the strength of Men alone, will
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ultimately culminate in disaster.</p>
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<p>All this does not deny, certainly, that certain ideologies lead to
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more violence than others - or simply ideologies in general. It is
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undeniable that certain ideologies have founded themselves upon the
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justification of violence by denying that it is violence to begin with.
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But to simply say that there are worse ideologies out there is no excuse
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for the violence committed by another.</p>
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<p>All this is very much akin to Puritanism. We portray ourselves as
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pure and impeccable. An inherently Pelagian idea. Therefore, to say that
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a given faction is worse than our own because it has more atrocities,
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while all of ours are justified, is negligent and a justification for
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violence in and of itself. The argument means as much as a drop of water
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in the desert.</p>
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<p>So how should we approach atrocities? Because obviously they are
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evils, and we should denounce them and try to avoid them. Firstly, we
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must refrain from comparisons. To compare our evil with the evil of
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another does nothing more than to confirm the human condition. It is
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another thing if another is purposefully justifying evil, which is
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condemnable. But we must refrain from a <i>holier than thou</i>
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attitude in this regard. But secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the
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solution to Puritanism in the political sphere is exactly the same as in
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the personal sphere (as with so many other things): the great virtue of
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Humility.</p>
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<p>Yes, we must denounce our own atrocities and violence. We must
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confess them, and as they are political (i.e. public) in nature, our
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confession must also be public. Let our opponents not have a single evil
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to hang over our heads, as we ourselves have put them there for the
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world to see. This is ultimately needed so as to avoid making the same
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mistakes again. There are five steps to the <i>Sacrament of
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Penance</i>:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Examination of Conscience</li>
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<li>Repentance of Sins</li>
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<li>A Promise to Make Amends</li>
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<li>Confession</li>
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<li>Penance</li>
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</ol>
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<p>We must do this as a society as well, and not be driven by pride.</p>
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<p>Ultimately, as mentioned before, violence is a result of fallen human
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nature. So long as we live on this Earth over which the devil has
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dominion, we will suffer violence. Our objective as a society should be
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to work towards helping to diminish these acts of violence, these
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assaults on the dignity of Man, such that every man, woman, and child,
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from their conception until their natural death, may live a life in
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accordance to their innate human dignity, which all Men have, being made
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in the Image & Likeness of God.</p>
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