Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on…

Anecdote(s) from a Neutral party:

“You’re evil, you know that?” I said.

She grinned and shook her head. “Chaotic Neutral, sugar.”

― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One (on Amazon)

“First they came for the communists, 
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the socialists, 
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, 
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the catholics,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a catholic. Then they came for me ,
and there was no one left to speak for me.”

— Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Etymology of Passive & Neutral

“Passive” people accept or allow whatever happens or whatever everyone else does without response or resistance. In Middle English, the “passive” was someone exposed to suffering. This word comes from the Latin passivus meaning “suffered,” which shares the root pati with patientia where we eventually got our term “patience.” Passive people suffer through whatever happens and wait for it to end.

“Neutral” comes from the Latin neutralis which denoted verbs of neither gender and is a close brother to the word “neuter.” Neutral people take neither side of a conflict and so neuter their response.

Three famous people who practiced Neutrality:

1. The Swiss
2. The Spanish during WWII
3. Americans in WWII Prior to Pearl Harbor

List of the terms: Who? Where? When? Why? How?

• Who remains neutral? Anyone who want the effects of resource/exploiter, victim/conqueror, friend/foe relationships to have no effect or bearing on their way of life. Those currently unaffected remain neutral.
• Where remain neutral? Out of the way of the primary conflict.
• When remain neutral? From the initial ideation of conflict until the last treaty is signed.
• Why remain neutral? To look out for number one, to care for self.
• How remain neutral? By removing oneself from any locale, terms, or relationships involving primary, secondary or tertiary conflict. Thus, “nonconfrontational.”

Three positive tendencies of Neutrality

1. Neutral people do not add to the problem
2. Neutral people do not get in the way of progress
3. Neutral people mind their own business

Three negative tendencies of Neutrality

1. Eventual victimization
2. Apathy– “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” ― Desmond Tutu
3. Ambivalence — “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” ― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

Fantastic example:

Tree Ents before the burning of Fangorn.

Further reading:

The Neutrality Imperative, Richard H. Owens