I’m sure you’ve heard of the expression to “fight fire with fire.” Let me start this missive off by saying the most common use of this phrase these days qualifies as what I would delicately label as stupid. It’s like saying, “Let me clean up this spilled milk by spilling some more milk.” Or maybe you prefer something more like, “let me clarify how much of an idiot you are by being an idiot myself.” How about, “Oh you think that’s stupid. You haven’t seen anything yet!”
“Hey, man. You gotta fight fire with fire.”
The expression makes me cringe as much as “Hold my beer.”
Now that I’ve gotten that off my hoodie-layden chest, we can address the etymology of the phrase. Like most phrases, there’s no universal agreement about the origins of “fight fire with fire.” The two possibilities that make the most sense to me are in regards to starting back fires while fighting wildfires or returning gunfire on a battleground context. Fighting fire with fire makes sense in both of these contexts.
But in general, I find the sentiment behind this expression to be ridiculous. Even the battleground context of “fight fire with fire” indicates the futility of the phrase. It’s like throwing up your hands in exasperation and concluding the best way to stop people from shooting you is to shoot them. It reminds me of good ole’ Gandhi’s famous soundbite: “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
Fighting fire with fire is not a solution. It strikes me as a rationalization. I’ve had an ongoing debate with a friend: Is violence ever a solution for ending violence? Can a violent act ever result in peace by reducing the overall scales of violence? If you could assassinate a specific individual would you? If you could eliminate your enemies through violence should you?
Or does all violence simply beget more violence? Does the murder of a murderer stop that person from murdering others or simply add one more murder to the world? And make you a murderer at the same time?
Is it okay to play god? And if so, who decides who gets to play god? We know the only answer is whoever has the most power. Fight fire with fire. Whoever has the biggest bombs…and bombs the other first is the winner.
Hey, man. You gotta fight fire with fire. I didn’t start the fight. I’m just gonna end it. I didn’t make the rules. I just enforce them. My actions aren’t evil, because I’m the one doing them. And they did them first, so what choice do I have? I don’t know the answer.
What choice do we have?
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