The difference between many, if not most activists and pacifists, is an
activist would kill in order to look like something other than weak, or
passive.
The activist wouldn't suffer the humiliation and shame of being called a
pacifist by others, he/she couldn't handle it, so he/she became an
activist who appeared to be active and ready at all times instead, and tried to be the persecutor, rather than the persecuted.