Back to the review. Edition 4:
4. Justice does not mean the same as revenge. If you are wronged you do not gain justice by wronging another. If you insist that you can only have peace of mind when your pain is felt then you lead yourself inexorably to war.
Another difficult one. Going to take a slightly different tact with this one though and rely on your knowledge of literature (which I can only assume will be vast since you are obviously very intelligent). So for instance, I assume that you caught the reference in the title and knew what this one was about before you even started reading (in case you didn't, this is a reference to the plot of "The Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare).
Ok, down to business. This point is one of the more important ones for the world to realize. Pacifism does, in a sense, mean turning the other cheek, but it is important for world peace and harmony that justice is observed. Unfortunately, most people don't really understand the concept of justice. It isn't that everyone lives the same life that you do or that a person who does wrong is wronged the same way in return.
We often wonder where justice is when we notice the inequalities in the world. People ask if it is justice that there are people dying of hunger when others spend thousands of dollars on a single bottle of wine. The truth is that this isn't an issue of justice, but one of equity. We want to see a world where issues of inequity are solved: until it starts to effect our own property. If we want to see this kind of equity we need to make the choice to contribute, which means giving some of our property or time to make the world a bit more equitable. Even though equity isn't equivalent to justice it is one that is important to the pacifist. One of the main causes of violence is inequity. Inequity among nations leads to jealousy and a sense of being wronged, particularly economically. Inequity in cities leads to a lack of the basic requirements for a sense of security; shelter, food, and stability. This is particularly noticeable in the inner cities. High levels of poverty cause a low sense of security. In order to feel more secure, people in poverty form together into support groups to try and help each other. In one case they form communities where each member pledges to provide for the others in times of need. One problem with this form of support (often found in community centers or churches) is that it becomes difficult to support each other when everyone is already struggling to support themselves. Another form of support group is a gang. In this case the members of the group see themselves as marginalized because of their poverty and seek protection and money in the form of violence and crime (please note that this is not a blanket statement about all people in poverty, just those in gangs). An unfortunate side effect of gang "protection" is the sense that anyone not in your gang is against your gang. People in authority are a problem because they are seen as the source of the lack of security, other gangs horn in on their territory and means of gaining some form of support through crime, and anyone else is either inconsequential or a source of money and property.
It is in the gang culture that we see the most obvious example of justice as revenge. When a member of a gang is hurt or killed the other members of the gang, like all people, feel a need for justice. However, when you see authority as corrupt and a cause of you state of poverty then you won't trust them to act on your need for justice. So justice is left up to you. The problem is that justice in the hands of people is very rarely just. More often it becomes a means of revenge. What was it Sean Connery said in "The Untouchables": "He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue."* This idea of justice is pervasive in the world. We see justice as this leveling of circumstances. If we are hurt we want the other person to be hurt as well. However, that kind of thinking only leads to more violence and destruction of life. Think about "The Count of Monte Cristo" or "Hamlet". In both cases justice, or more appropriately revenge, led to the destruction of the main characters. "Romeo and Juliet" beautifully show the dangers of this idea of justice. Mercutio, due to the deep seated hatred of the Capulets, chooses to fight Tybalt who kills him. Romeo, enraged by this, chooses to seek revenge and kills Tybalt leading to his exile. We all know what happens after that.
When justice is interpreted as revenge you give someone else a reason to seek "justice" in kind. It doesn't always happen this way and it isn't always the case that revenge leads to war. However, when we choose violence we raise the chances of more violence. Violence leads to violence. Hate leads to hate. Peace leads to peace. In "Romeo and Juliet" Mercutio dies not because Romeo advocates for peace. If he had chosen to back down instead of fighting Tybalt when Romeo first tried to stop the fight then he would not have died. If Tybalt had listened earlier to Benvolio that fight could have been avoided. If all of their parents had chosen to stop the feud and seek reconciliation then there would have been no fight between Mercutio and Tybalt. It's a bit academic to think about this, but the truth is that the feud could have been resolved if justice had been seen as something more then just revenge. There is a great quote used, though not originated, in "Fiddler on the Roof". A man in the crowd shouts out, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!" to which Tevye responds "And then the whole world would be blind and toothless."+ When we misunderstand justice as revenge we only propagate more revenge.
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*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094226/quotes
+http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/eye_for_an_eye/
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