Non-Violent Violence

I don't know how far I'll get on this post because of the late hour, but we'll see what happens. I read a great blog post by Peter Rollins over at his blog. It was about how fundamentalism, contrary to current definitions, is actually not violent enough. Sounds crazy huh? I thought so until I heard him out. What he says is that our status quo is maintained by violence, making it the norm. He says it better, but really he says that by stepping out of the current of violence and standing for peace is actually more violent than what we normally think of when we say violence. Being still is actually more violent than violence? I thought of it like floating down a large river. It's pretty smooth until you try and stop moving with the current. Peter thinks that those that perpetuate violence in today's world, since that violence is really just the norm, are really not violent enough. Quote:

In contrast to fundamentalism it is people like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King who, in their pacifism, are truly violent (who are the true church militant). In their non-participation and uncompromising actions they lived out an alternative vision of how the world could work, directly challenging the foundations of worldy power. In their seductive vision of an alternative world and their unrelenting quest to pursue it they ruptured the systems of power that surrounded them and thus expressed the true violence of Christianity. A violence that shifts the underground by allowing the outsider to be heard.

On the same note, I just read a post by a friend of mine about energy consumption. He and his wife ride their bicycles quite a bit and he talks about how we as a country way over-consume. Per capita our energy usage is off the charts. It seems like the same concept. If you or I were to step outside the car-driving mainstream and figure out how to go as many places as possible on foot or bicycle, would we not be then fighting the current? Sounds like violent protest to me. It will make me think again when I ride my bike to work. And what if you live too far from work to ride? Maybe you are living or working in the wrong place. What do you think?