Just finished watching Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, one of the greatest westerns of all times. Vividest scene is Liberty Valance and his goons trashing Peabody’s newspaper for making fun of him, stuffing his own copy down his throat to make him “eat his words”. Right afterwards, Rans Stoddard faces him down and against all odds walks away alive, with Valance lying dead in the street. France believes in civility and reason in the face of barbarism. When the fanatically civilized strap on a gun and go hunting for the thugs, it gives one hope.
Round up their immediate families and their Immans and offer to trade them for the hostage. Start from there
Stoddard didn’t kill him, it was a rough man who knew the odds and the truth of the futility of pacifism.
Jus like the film V for Vendetta, people think it was the pacifism that won but it really was V’s actions.