Chuck Noell is not the first person to call non-violence a martial art, only the first to say so with a straight face. The pacifist Richard Gregg called non-violence “moral jiu-jitsu” to describe what Gandhi was doing in India. This wasn’t Gregg’s main point. The obsolescence of war was his main point. But his metaphor stuck, although if you Google non-violence you’ll find the metaphor’s been updated to aikido for the Twenty-First Century,

The Difference Between…

“Non-Violence, viewed as a martial art, stops being the exclusive province of saints, heroes, martyrs and gurus. It turns into something the Least Qualified Soul in the Room (I am Exhibit “A”) can learn how to do, one practice ground ball at a time. Good graces of my very patient friend Errol Sadlon, who hit several hundred of the little suckers my way every summer.  In the Climate Change Century the effective practice of Non-Violence – or the ineffectual malpractice of it – will come down to a single question. How many hours have we logged on the practice field with Errol?”