It's Not Possible to Fight Fire with Fire, but It is Possible to Put It out with Water.

I've waited a while before I posted my comments on TEDxEXETER which happened on April 20th 2012 because  I wanted to wait until the videos of the talks were on youtube. One of my favorite speeches of the day was by Scilla Elworthy on the subject of peace and conflict, entitled: "How do I deal with a bully without being a thug?" It is a subject which effects everyone from children in the school playground to victims of oppressive dictatorships in the Middle East. There is an important and fundamental question that should always be asked: "How do we deal with extreme violence without using force in return?" She cites Nelson Mandela's peaceful campaign which ultimately over-threw one of the most vicious governments the world has ever known.
This theory is one which I have always believed in my heart, it is not possible to fight fire with fire. If someone bullies us we shouldn't retaliate in the same way. We need to take the high-road and any other maxim I can think of. If war is the answer then we are asking the wrong question. It seems so clear to me that if war starts you can't stop it with more war, the one thing you have when you don't have war is peace. I could go one about terrorists fighting against a hostile Western civilization which is basically an on going battle of retaliation and hatred. Or say that if everyone has nuclear weapons then we will all end up blowing up the world. But, I don't think I am making myself very clear and am basically just making a list of proverbs. So watch Scilla's speech below: