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Giancarlo DiPierro wrote:
Here again one could ask a similar question as before. Who has the right to determine what is "necessary?"
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I do. The participants in the encounter do. Frankly. they both have more than the right, they have the responsibility, it's just a matter that many refuse to take on.
Quote:
Giancarlo DiPierro wrote:
If you give yourself this right, can you be sure you have enough wisdom or information to make this determination?
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I don't give it, I take it. One significant reason I train is to develop the wisdom and information it takes to make an educated decision.
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Giancarlo DiPierro wrote:
If you decide that it is necessary to kill someone because you think that this will cause the least possible harm, how do you know that you have made the right decision? What if it turns out that you are wrong?
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As already mentioned, I take responsibility for it. If it's wrong, I'll willingly stand up and face the consequences and most importantly,
learn.
Too many decisions are made today to follow rules (such as zero tolerance statutes) instead of judge each individual situation for itself, and I think it's because no one wants to be the resonsible party for making a decision. If the decision is wrong, they can point at the rules and say, 'I'm not responsible, I had to follow the rules and they didn't allow me any leeway." I think that it's a real problem.
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Giancarlo DiPierro wrote:
And how is making such a decision about someone else's fate in the context of aikido any different from making in the context of karate, military force, the criminal justice system, domestic violence, etc. Any of these forms of hurting or killing others can be rationalized or justified as being "necessary" and "good" in the long term, although obviously how necessary or good they actually are is a matter that can be debated.
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I think it's the province of another thread to discuss how aikido is or is not different than other forms of martial arts or actual civilian violence. However, it points out that perhaps there is no difference, except in the particularl philosophical and physical nuances that make aikido unique. I know some students of aikido who might prefer to insist that aikido is unique in this particular aspect, but I am not one of them.
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Giancarlo DiPierro wrote:
I think anytime you grant yourself the sole right or responsibility to determine that violence is necessary you put yourself on very questionable moral ground.
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The sole right? I do not exist in a vacuum, I exist with the context of other interacting individuals, a part of a community and a society and I believe that I have a responsibility to act when I deem it appropriate and not to wait for some authority figure to give me that responsibility.
As to moral grounds, there are no moral grounds that cannot be questioned, IMO, and any that are offered as such are questionable by that very assertion.
Regards,