DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Student protests, 1969 | 1969-10-15 ""The New Prairie Primer"" Page 6

Transcribe
Translate

Student protests, 1969

1969-10-15 ""The New Prairie Primer"" Page 6

New Prairie Primer, October 15, 1969, Page 6

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR

Robert Thompson

I think one reason why war is a going concern is that many people are at a false peace with themselves. By a false peace I mean the kind of passive acceptance that comes of being all too ware of the failures of the past and the hypothetical catastrophes of the future. And what is true peace? I envision true peace as a very active thing, a very real and aggressive acceptance and coping with the moment that is in existence right now, with all its grossness, all its beauty. 
My audience here is specifically those young people who are facing the draft and are wondering what to do about it. And my message is that conscientious objection is one of the options that you have, and for the rest of the article I would like to present one argument for it. 
I don't expect to convert you to anything. As far as I know, that would be impossible anyway. Individual change, however small, involves the will, whatever that is, and a change of the will can only be a result of self-confrontation. You can read good words till the cows run away again and if it doesn't happen in your head, it doesn't happen at all. (In the same vein, it does no good to be concerned about and conscious of Viet Nam and "The Establishment". In fact, as far as self confrontations are concerned, those venerable hassles are probably more of a hindrance. Both of them are all pervading and anxiety provoking and, as such, provide an understandable excuse for inaction. To concentrate one's energies on them is to miss the point. As the Beatles say:
You tell me it's the institution,
Well, you know, 
You better free your mind instead,)
So, I can't "free your mind" and don't want to. What I can do is to present one of the major hassles I went through before conscientious objection made sense to me, what with its seven syllables. But this time around I would like to take someone new and non-existent, and I will call him Our Hero. 
Let's say our hero has just received his 1-A classification from his draft board. If he is not going to leave the country and if his health is fairly good, he is left with two choices, One, he can join the army, and two, he can apply for status as conscientious objector. 
What about the army? Our hero confronts himself and asks,. "Do I wish to join or be drafted into a group that participates, for whatever reason, in organized murder?" Or simply. "Am I, if given the choice, a murderer?" And our hero's answer, at least at this point, is , "No certainly not"
Then, what about conscientious objection? He asks himself, "Do I wish to apply for a status as that... whatever it is?" Or simply. "Do I believe in universal brotherhood?" And our hero's answer to this is , "Well, yes, but..." with the three dots representing various hypothetical situations (e.g. grandmother raping) and various quite real doubts of personal worth. 
And why is he worried about personal worth? Because our hero is a reasonably aware fellow. He knows, or thinks he knows, that to be a conscientious objector involves a vision of the world which almost all men have, and further, involves a commitment to that vision. a vision of universal brotherhood, universal peace among men. Such a vision as this, however, is a mixed blessing. Of course, he knows it's a grand thing. It must be. Why he's hearing those grand words ever since he could walk, and there isn't a statesman in the world that wouldn't pay lip service to them, at some length. but our hero is somewhat embarrassingly honest.. 
He is, to repeat, a reasonable aware fellow. He knows he is far from perfect. He doubts, he has anxieties. He has held more than one grudge against his fellow man in the past and nothing had happened that makes him positive that it won't happen again. And besides, he is more  than half afraid that should this universal peace somehow settle itself over the earth, he might be among the very first to become bored to death, or rather, bored into battle. 
Deciding not to join the Army was relatively simple, but how does one presume to sainthood with a straight fact? Yes, he thinks, who am I to claim allegiance to this vision that I am incapable of supporting in my life, who am I claim to be Saint? And this epithet, Saint, is so ridiculous to our hero (as if he, of all people, could be one!) that the confrontation stops here. 
Better luck next confrontation, maybe. Our hero is in an avoidance avoidance situation, and his most probably course of action is to sit and worry about it. Neither murderer or saint, at least he is honest.
But what happens from this point on? In most cases, our hero will go on to be "canonized by the Army by waiting to be drafted. And I mean that in more ways than pun. 
for what has our hero done to preserve his precious humility, his precious honesty? Hasn't he in fact become a saint? Who presumes more, the soldier or the pacifist? What could anyone be so positive about, so assured of, that they felt free to take a gun and kill another? I have no idea. But whatever it is, to know it so well, they must surely be saints, must surely have potent answers, or at least they should be required to announce themselves as such before being admitted to the Army. 
And you know, maybe the soldiers are Saints. 

The Sin of Sainthood
Perhaps all this concern over war is entirely misplaced, and man's true vindication will come as he ascends into heaven in a feast of nuclear mushrooms. 
Well, perhaps. But do you believe it?
Well then, who are the real real Saints:? The conscientious objectors? God held us. 
If you ask a conscientious objector, "Are you, if given the choice, a murderer?" and if he has thought about it, the answer, one answer, would have to be, "Potentially, yes." And it is the full realization of this fact, confronting it and accepting it, that makes his application for C.O status, not a grand announcement of sancity, but simply an honest statement of business-as-usual. It seems that the real real Saints were murdered, by Freud and a few others. Certainly I am a potential murderer, our new hero says, I say, why do you think I applied for C.O. status? If this potentially were not there, right there inside of me in a very real and bloody sense, then I never would have bothered with it. 
Well, so be it. If continued long enough, this type of self-honesty can lead just as easily to despair as conscientious objection. But if you truly realize the murderer in you, the rapacious saint, and if you realize it for just the right length of time, (say about 23 seconds), then you might decide to do something. 
If that something involves conscientious objection, then I can assure you that you haven't simply taken the easy way out. But it's not especially hard either. Unless, of course, you have to go to prison. In the meantime, you needn't worry about your commitment to Universal Love and Peace and Brotherhood (except for the benefit of your draft board, and to learn their semantics. i suggest you go to a draft counsellor, or read "The Handbook on Conscientious Objection") or any of the other capitol letters. We'll find out whether the we all love each other when we stop killing each other, and not much sooner. conscientious objection is not a new way of life, not an answer. It is the same life, but in a slightly different context. You have become more aware of yourself, with correspondingly increased benefits and burdens. 
At any rate, the worst Saint is the fellow who decides to never look into the mirror at all, and , I don't believe that person exists. The difficulty is that many get upset from just peeking at themselves and they think a fuller look would necessarily be worse. Or, the other pitfall, they become engrossed in search for blackheads. 
Good luck!

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK: FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

1968 R.COBB ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Saving...

New Prairie Primer, October 15, 1969, Page 6 CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR Robert Thompson I think one reason why war is a going concern is that many people are at a false peace with themselves. By a false peace I mean the kind of passive acceptance that comes of being all too ware of the failures of the past and the hypothetical catastrophes of the future. And what is true peace? I envision true peace as a very active thing, a very real and aggressive acceptance and coping with the moment that is in existence right now, with all its grossness, all its beauty. My audience here is specifically those young people who are facing the draft and are wondering what to do about it. And my message is that conscientious objection is one of the options that you have, and for the rest of the article I would like to present one argument for it. I don't expect to convert you to anything. As far as I know, that would be impossible anyway. Individual change, however small, involves the will, whatever that is, and a change of the will can only be a result of self-confrontation. You can read good words till the cows run away again and if it doesn't happen in your head, it doesn't happen at all. (In the same vein, it does no good to be concerned about and conscious of Viet Nam and "The Establishment". In fact, as far as self confrontations are concerned, those venerable hassles are probably more of a hindrance. Both of them are all pervading and anxiety provoking and, as such, provide an understandable excuse for inaction. To concentrate one's energies on them is to miss the point. As the Beatles say: You tell me it's the institution, Well, you know, You better free your mind instead,) So, I can't "free your mind" and don't want to. What I can do is to present one of the major hassles I went through before conscientious objection made sense to me, what with its seven syllables. But this time around I would like to take someone new and non-existent, and I will call him Our Hero. Let's say our hero has just received his 1-A classification from his draft board. If he is not going to leave the country and if his health is fairly good, he is left with two choices, One, he can join the army, and two, he can apply for status as conscientious objector. What about the army? Our hero confronts himself and asks,. "Do I wish to join or be drafted into a group that participates, for whatever reason, in organized murder?" Or simply. "Am I, if given the choice, a murderer?" And our hero's answer, at least at this point, is , "No certainly not" Then, what about conscientious objection? He asks himself, "Do I wish to apply for a status as that... whatever it is?" Or simply. "Do I believe in universal brotherhood?" And our hero's answer to this is , "Well, yes, but..." with the three dots representing various hypothetical situations (e.g. grandmother raping) and various quite real doubts of personal worth. And why is he worried about personal worth? Because our hero is a reasonably aware fellow. He knows, or thinks he knows, that to be a conscientious objector involves a vision of the world which almost all men have, and further, involves a commitment to that vision. a vision of universal brotherhood, universal peace among men. Such a vision as this, however, is a mixed blessing. Of course, he knows it's a grand thing. It must be. Why he's hearing those grand words ever since he could walk, and there isn't a statesman in the world that wouldn't pay lip service to them, at some length. but our hero is somewhat embarrassingly honest.. He is, to repeat, a reasonable aware fellow. He knows he is far from perfect. He doubts, he has anxieties. He has held more than one grudge against his fellow man in the past and nothing had happened that makes him positive that it won't happen again. And besides, he is more than half afraid that should this universal peace somehow settle itself over the earth, he might be among the very first to become bored to death, or rather, bored into battle. Deciding not to join the Army was relatively simple, but how does one presume to sainthood with a straight fact? Yes, he thinks, who am I to claim allegiance to this vision that I am incapable of supporting in my life, who am I claim to be Saint? And this epithet, Saint, is so ridiculous to our hero (as if he, of all people, could be one!) that the confrontation stops here. Better luck next confrontation, maybe. Our hero is in an avoidance avoidance situation, and his most probably course of action is to sit and worry about it. Neither murderer or saint, at least he is honest. But what happens from this point on? In most cases, our hero will go on to be "canonized by the Army by waiting to be drafted. And I mean that in more ways than pun. for what has our hero done to preserve his precious humility, his precious honesty? Hasn't he in fact become a saint? Who presumes more, the soldier or the pacifist? What could anyone be so positive about, so assured of, that they felt free to take a gun and kill another? I have no idea. But whatever it is, to know it so well, they must surely be saints, must surely have potent answers, or at least they should be required to announce themselves as such before being admitted to the Army. And you know, maybe the soldiers are Saints. The Sin of Sainthood Perhaps all this concern over war is entirely misplaced, and man's true vindication will come as he ascends into heaven in a feast of nuclear mushrooms. Well, perhaps. But do you believe it? Well then, who are the real real Saints:? The conscientious objectors? God held us. If you ask a conscientious objector, "Are you, if given the choice, a murderer?" and if he has thought about it, the answer, one answer, would have to be, "Potentially, yes." And it is the full realization of this fact, confronting it and accepting it, that makes his application for C.O status, not a grand announcement of sancity, but simply an honest statement of business-as-usual. It seems that the real real Saints were murdered, by Freud and a few others. Certainly I am a potential murderer, our new hero says, I say, why do you think I applied for C.O. status? If this potentially were not there, right there inside of me in a very real and bloody sense, then I never would have bothered with it. Well, so be it. If continued long enough, this type of self-honesty can lead just as easily to despair as conscientious objection. But if you truly realize the murderer in you, the rapacious saint, and if you realize it for just the right length of time, (say about 23 seconds), then you might decide to do something. If that something involves conscientious objection, then I can assure you that you haven't simply taken the easy way out. But it's not especially hard either. Unless, of course, you have to go to prison. In the meantime, you needn't worry about your commitment to Universal Love and Peace and Brotherhood (except for the benefit of your draft board, and to learn their semantics. i suggest you go to a draft counsellor, or read "The Handbook on Conscientious Objection") or any of the other capitol letters. We'll find out whether the we all love each other when we stop killing each other, and not much sooner. conscientious objection is not a new way of life, not an answer. It is the same life, but in a slightly different context. You have become more aware of yourself, with correspondingly increased benefits and burdens. At any rate, the worst Saint is the fellow who decides to never look into the mirror at all, and , I don't believe that person exists. The difficulty is that many get upset from just peeking at themselves and they think a fuller look would necessarily be worse. Or, the other pitfall, they become engrossed in search for blackheads. Good luck! BLESSED ARE THE MEEK: FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH 1968 R.COBB ALL RIGHTS RESERVED