Reply #26: My Goals, Mr. Joad

[The Magistrate]

Do not really extend very far beyond a marked reduction in the number of people killed over the dispute. Those who are not killed, and those they are near and dear to, doubtless will count that a good thing as well. Persons who seek to prolong the hostilities by reference to concepts like "justice" bear a degree of responsibility for any consequences of the prolongation of violence, and if you are to call my comments into question over the ground in dispute not being my homeland, you must be willing to accept someone calling your commitment to a prolonged struggle on the similar ground that you and yours are under no risk from the thing, no matter how long and how bitterly the thing may be prosecuted. It is, therefore, a pretty sterile line of argument, we can probably both agree.