- 24 Jan, 2026 *
“Why is peace always the justification for violence?” That’s the question that Caitlyn Kiramman asks her self-appointed military advisor, the Noxian Ambessa, as she “recommends” her to order mass arrests to capture Jinx on grounds of bringing back Piltover’s peace and prosperity. The Arcane universe is lucky they have a puppet leader who at least in private displays some signs of having a conscience, despite being otherwise blinded by hate, as she’s tweaking the unjust liberal status quo to become a fascist one. We in our universe are not even afforded as much. Looking back, every war in the post-war era—that was dominated by “relative peace”—used “peace” and/or “prosperity” as one of its top justifications for intervention. The entirety of the War on Terror and Israeli Apartheid used “peace” and designated entities endangering the (Emperor’s) peace as the number one justification to invade and slaughter collaterals in the face of progress. Whereas Russia, before invading Ukraine, used “peace” as justification to invade, China accuses its Uyghur minority of disrupting the peace giving cause for sending them to Chinese concentration camps.
However, “peace and prosperity” are not always effective justifications for violence. Sometimes it’s necessary to designate a weaker subgroup that is dominated or endangered by a stronger subgroup first, then unleash unimaginable terror on the latter (or sometimes even everyone). In cases like that one, paying attention to the subtleties is key to understanding the underlying tactic in employ. The UK’s Online Safety Act and similar across many countries designate “kids” as the weaker subgroup that is being dominated by “pedophiles” as the stronger subgroup. The legitimacy this problem provides and the near panic that (rightfully) erupts in many people’s hearts is abused to pass legislation that never intended to protect said kids. Protection (à la “Ministry of Defense”) is a thin veil for domination (where “Ministry of War” would be the more appropriate name). Likewise, ICE crackdowns on people of color, assuming the justification holds on paper which it doesn’t, are not protecting law-abiding citizens from drug dealing “illegal aliens.” This is another pretext that identifies a real problem correctly (rampant drug abuse) and addresses it with a measure that is totally unrelated to the problem.
Do you see the contradiction? There is no peace in war, meaning war can never achieve peace as war disrupts the peace, however just or unjust, to begin with. Every pretext for war or war-like conditions leads to a “guilty until proven otherwise” modus operandi.