Post a Comment On: Bruce Charlton's Notions

The choice is now and increasingly not so much "kill or be killed", but "be-destroyed +/- destroy". In other words, an evil-motivated large-minority of the world has-been/ is-being trained to fear, resent and hate some other group; then these evil-serving groups are being armed, subsidized, organized, and given-license-to destroy those they have been trained to hate. All this is backed by sheer compulsion: once they have chosen to fight on the side of evil, the agents of evil will not be allowed to change their minds without themselves suffering destruction. 
Those who the evils-side haters have been trained, equipped, encouraged and facilitated to destroy; are principally those who are (to some extent - even a small extent) dissenters from the side of evil; especially those who are on the side of God, divine creation and The Good.
For those on the side of God, divine creation and The Good the choices are not easy. The choice is either:1. Submit to your own destruction. 2. Fight against the agents of your own destruction...
But - and here is the evil-double-bind - in fighting against your own destruction, you will be up-against those who hate you, and who will not be allowed to desist from trying to destroy you until either they themselves are destroyed, or else their capacity to destroy you is itself destroyed.  "Be-destroyed, +/- destroy", leads to destruction either way. Indeed, to defend yourself, to defend The Good results in greater destruction than when Good passively allows itself to be destroyed!
So, the immediate consequence of taking the side of Good is to increase the totality of destruction; and this increase of destruction may be very great indeed - even if the side of Good eventually prevails. yet such a choice is something that will probably come to all who strive to maintain The Good in a world where all major institutions are on the side of evil - indeed the decision has already come to many people, most of whom appear have chosen to join and assist the side of evil. (Which decision the evil-servers are not allowed to revoke without... consequences.)
On top of which; the powers-that-should-not-be always take care to ensure that the actual job of destroying takes place among the little people. And even among the little people - those who resist evil will be up against not just the orcs (those wedded to evil by their natures), but also many coerced and lied-to Dunlanders, Easterlings, Haradrim - that is, up against decent people, brave people, stupid people... who just happen to be doing the work of evil - individually well-meaning, acting on orders, just trying to get-by. These agents of destruction will probably see themselves as taking the path of least-destruction, choosing the lesser of evils; and the agents of evil will regard the designated victims who resist their own destruction as trouble-makers, wreckers, Men of violence; bullies picking on the little people...
Such is the nature of our times. Such is the 'karma' of this Western civilization; accumulated over many generations, and contributed-to by our-selves. Those who look for Good in this world, and who equate Good with material Goods such as peace, prosperity and comfort - will be disappointed.The powers-that-should-not-be have engineered the world so that these are off the agenda. 
To avoid rational despair, and unless we choose and are able to live by delusions and lies; our hopes must be spiritual and located beyond this world; and our faith in these hopes will need to be strong enough to survive and increase without external institutional support.