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Is having a parabolic reflector a violent action? The only way it could hurt someone is by reflecting the pain they were trying to put on you. If I had armor t

Is having a parabolic reflector a violent action? The only way it could hurt someone is by reflecting the pain they were trying to put on you. If I had armor that ricocheted bullets back at the shooter, I wouldn't consider myself culpable if someone who tried to shoot me shot themselves.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> Is having a parabolic reflector a violent action? The only way it could hurt someone is by reflecting the pain they were trying to put on you. Yes, violent retaliation is still violence. Violence only in retaliation and/or self-defense may be a valid approach to protest in some circumstances, but it's not non-violent protest.
- ambicapter 6y ago
  This looks like self-defense to me. It literally doesn't do anything unless you are attacked.
- mdorazio 6y ago
  You have a strange definition of 'retaliation'. If you throw a ball at a brick wall and it bounces back and hits you, the wall didn't retaliate or act in self-defense. The entire impetus and result is 100% on you. The same applies here.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    The first use of “retaliation” should be “retaliation and/or self-defense”, like the other. I was staying a broader principle which applies to but extends beyond the immediate case. I will agree that the proposed device might (if targeted appropriately) be more defensive than retaliatory, though the fact that it only causes harm to the focussed-on target if someone attacks it doesn't make it purely defensive or non-retaliatory, in fact, if not carefully targeted it makes it quite indiscriminate retaliation.
ISL 6y ago
There is a difference between a parabolic reflector and any other reflector. Reflectors that concentrate energy make the damaging effects more intense. It is difficult to find an analogy -- it is as if the LRAD operator has thrown a punch and the reflector turns that punch into the stab of a rapier. If and only if the reflector is properly aligned will the redirected-and-concentrated beam have the reflector-bearer's desired effect. If not, someone else may get harmed. The reflector-bearer must accept responsibility for the change in consequence between the punch and the rapier. There is a third option -- one can readily design reflectors that disperse the energy or generically attempt to reflect it upward. Those are the tools of true pacifists.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> Is having a parabolic reflector a violent action? The only way it could hurt someone is by reflecting the pain they were trying to put on you. Yes, violent retaliation is still violence. Violence only in retaliation and/or self-defense may be a valid approach to protest in some circumstances, but it's not non-violent protest.

ambicapter 6y ago
This looks like self-defense to me. It literally doesn't do anything unless you are attacked.
mdorazio 6y ago
You have a strange definition of 'retaliation'. If you throw a ball at a brick wall and it bounces back and hits you, the wall didn't retaliate or act in self-defense. The entire impetus and result is 100% on you. The same applies here.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  The first use of “retaliation” should be “retaliation and/or self-defense”, like the other. I was staying a broader principle which applies to but extends beyond the immediate case. I will agree that the proposed device might (if targeted appropriately) be more defensive than retaliatory, though the fact that it only causes harm to the focussed-on target if someone attacks it doesn't make it purely defensive or non-retaliatory, in fact, if not carefully targeted it makes it quite indiscriminate retaliation.

ISL 6y ago

There is a difference between a parabolic reflector and any other reflector. Reflectors that concentrate energy make the damaging effects more intense. It is difficult to find an analogy -- it is as if the LRAD operator has thrown a punch and the reflector turns that punch into the stab of a rapier. If and only if the reflector is properly aligned will the redirected-and-concentrated beam have the reflector-bearer's desired effect. If not, someone else may get harmed. The reflector-bearer must accept responsibility for the change in consequence between the punch and the rapier. There is a third option -- one can readily design reflectors that disperse the energy or generically attempt to reflect it upward. Those are the tools of true pacifists.