He was calling himself a pacifist. But he had no idea what the word "pacifist" actually means - the people who use it today use it without knowing the actual meaning. I did actually ask him to tell me in our language (not English, but he was using the English word) what "pacifist" means and he could not tell me. It's an excuse, not a belief.
But I'm not ranting about pacifists. I'm ranting about how many words are phrases are being redefined. Another one is the word "shame" in my country. Those is favour of judicial reform are using the word as if it has a positive connotation for the past few weeks.
I love Etymology online, I use that site often. You need to read between the lines to understand the context that the site provides. The root of the word "pacifist" is "peace", the word means one who promotes or supports peace and peaceful methods. The ancient phrase that I referenced literally means "if you want peace, prepare for war" - meaning that if this pacifist really believes in peaceful methods, the way to persuade for the other side to use peaceful methods is to be prepared to wage war. There is a good reason that this phrase has stood the test of the centuries.
the way to persuade for the other side to use peaceful methods
But being a pacifist has nothing to do with persuading other people to be peaceful. He's describing himself and his own attitude. I agree with the para bellum saying but it has nothing to do with an individual being a pacifist.
If his own attitude is to prefer the path of peace to the path of war, history has shown over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again that one must demonstrate that he is prepared to fight back. Hence the well known ancient proverb. And I would argue that it is far more true today than it was in an age when the aggressors couldn't readily determine one's preparedness.
