"who ever said that the pen is mightier than the sword never encoutered automatic weapons." do you think this quote is can be true?
by 
Wannabe Superhero
ANSWERS: 17
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Not true. The written propaganda by dictators, political fanatics and their cronies have killed more people than any single weapon would be capable of, and that includes an A-bomb.
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The idea of the pen being mightier than the sword holds with the idea of how powerful a person's words can be. In literal meaning, a person with an automatic weapon can easily kill a man with a pen. But so can a man with a sword. The real power of the pen is in influence, as well. If something is printed in the paper, everyone can read it and choose to support the story. The man with the pen can then have hundreds of people backing him up. If you had that sword or weapon, would you really attack a man with a pen who has the support of hundreds?
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I sure do. Every major political movement has started with the written word. Most major religions have texts. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf while sitting in prison. A thought unrecorded is a thought unremembered. Yes the pen moves the heart. The heart moves the hand and the hand holds the sword...you see?
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Only one person has ever launched nuclear weapons in anger, President Harry Truman. Did he do so with the pen, or with the sword? Did he sign an executive order, or did he threaten to kill his officers if they didn't launch the attacks?
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With a pen the history of a people could be erased; or at the very least altered enough to creat confusion or do literary damage to it beyond recognition.
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Well if they did their homework they person that was talking about the pen and the sword thing would have know they were actually talking about writing.
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Imagine this situation. You encounter a tribe of 10,000 cannibals with a modern arsenal of weapons who want to wipe out the rest of the human race. Now you've got two choices: (A) You can get your automatic weapon and take on the cannibal tribe yourself. (B) You use your pen to write to a newspaper (or use the Internet, or any kind of writing) which publishes the story and brings attention to the cannibals, causing the military to come with tanks and planes and, of course, many automatic weapons. Which do you think has more power here?
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It's a difference between strategy and tactical. Strategy is the planning and use of the pen, and tactical is use of the weapon. I've been in the position where a pen stroke has caused me to encounter automatic weapons fire, as well as use weapons fire (not a big fan of automatic weapons, I like controlled fire). So at an individual level, weapons fire is mighty, but the reason for it is a pen used by someone higher up.
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A weapon is only mighty for that one period of time, that bullet, that stab of the knife, that bomb going off and only people within it's range. But the pen can affect people now, and for many years to come. The pen is about words and words are more dangerous than any weapon, and as a weapon the tongue is the most powerful. A pen or word can still the guns, or set them loose. It can destroy or ban them or sign the order to produce more.
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The 21st Century equivalent of this old saying could be: "The internet is mightier than the bomb." Or put another way: "Education beats indoctrination, incarceration and detonation." But yes, the spirit of the old saying is true as ever.
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General Douglas MacAurthur. yes I do think it is true. If a country have their mind set on invading you, no amount of diplomacy will save you. When the diplomats fail, the soldiers take over.
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That is certainly true in some countries. The USA and Afghanistan spring to mind.
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But if you think inversely, the weapon makes the pen. A lawless country full of weapons does more damage than a law filled (ruled by the pen) country without weapons
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I think the real power lies in the quote, "Gun control is a steady hand."
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Automatic weapons will fade. Words are timeless, assuming literacy.
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If the pen is mightier than the sword, then he who lives by the sword should die by the pen.
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No. You can't convince anyone that you are right and make them support your cause by using automatic weapons ...but the written word can influence people and events even after the writer has passed on.
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