John Wayne Syndrome

In this world there are two possible responses when the bad guys show up: you meekly submit to the bad guys or you fight. . . .

Evil threatens and your choices are the way of the coward or the way of the warrior. There are no other possibilities.

This mindset is the John Wayne Syndrome. . . .

Much of our entertainment (books, TV, and movies) reinforces this syndrome. . . .

If our responses to evil were truly limited to the way of the coward and the way of the warrior, it is clear that the way of the warrior would be better. Even Gandhi said the way of the warrior is preferable to the way of the coward.

A person operating within the John Wayne Syndrome can’t comprehend why any reasonable person would advocate nonviolence. . . .

The nonviolent stories are out there, and the people of the world have been living them; all we have to do is write them up and get them into the public’s imagination.

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