Originally Posted by
SurlyLaika
Humility, meekness, kindness are not the highest human virtues. They're just other words for weakness. I'm not a hardass but if I caught someone trying to steal my bike, I'd be so angered, I might be moved to take vengeance. Nietzche believed that in the evolution of humanity, the old virtues of Christianity were replaced with a new morality, the will to war, the will to power, to overpower. Strength over weakness is the new arbiter of what is just. That's what Nietzsche thought, at least. Feel free to correct me anyone. I've been reading Will Durant's the Story of Philosophy and that's as much as I understood of Nietzsche.
I'm not saying you're not taking a risk in taking justice into your own hands, just offering a counterpoint to people who are saying violence is always wrong.
Rubbish (respectfully). You can have each of those virtues in spades and still be a savage person in necessary circumstances. Lots of more thoughtful professional soldiers embody both and know when to turn off or on using their brain first and their brawn second. As for Nietzsche he is grotesquely overrated as model for action and is really only fully relevant in the context of his geopolitical time frame. I like a counterpoint but in this case it isn't all that applicable. Violence certainly has its place but this really isn't it. Truly strong people know the difference and make a distinction between situations that warrant and necessitate physical actions and those that simply do not.