The real bad thing about war is that it is never clear cut - no matter which side you are on, no matter how just your cause is, it is more than likely that some of your enemies will be good people and that some of your allies will be bad people. More than likely, there are some Iraqi insurgents who honestly believe we are bad, and that they are protecting their families and friends - essentially good people who just want to protect what is precious to them, wrong as they are about us. We saw from that prison incident that our own forces have a dark side, as well.
Still, the cause of all war is intolerance, ignorance, greed, and bigotry - dark and evil things. If we could minimize these things, war would be much less likely to occur. Unfortunately, those things are seemingly ingrained into our species, and it's tough to get over them. War will likely exist so long as humans do - we've all got our somethings to protect, and there are those who would try to take those somethings from us. But in protecting our somethings, we oft destroy the something's of others.
11 comments:
Nice title.
i think you make a really good point at the very beginning: War is never clear cut, you're right. We have proven that not all Americans are perfect and not all Iraqi insurgents are pure evil.
i think possessiveness really is the root of war most of the time, in one way or another. intolerance is probably the cause when it isn't greed.
There are some people who would say the root of all war is money. Like you say, the true reasons for war are all "dark and evil things." However, in a world that is centered around money, power, and influence, it seems war is ultimately inevitable, no matter how terrible it really is.
Obviously war is somewhat inevitable as you stated and as we have seen for thousands of years. But I think that being intolerant has a fine line. In the case of the two wars we are fighting right now, are we being intolerant? Should we not have acted when we were attacked on 9/11? Because like you say, being intolerant means not accepting the beliefs/actions of others, but where do you draw the line?
People who fight in a war believe that they are fighting for a righteous and just cause. We often times forget that our enemies perceive America to be their enemy. Money and power often times construct these contrasting opinions and beliefs. People have become so accustomed to war throughout history that it has become the only method to solve disputes. War is terrible, but it has become a part of human life and existence, or rather nonexistence.
War does suck Sam. But unfortunately, you're right, it is inevitable to humans as a species. Humans are inherently bad, it's true. Pretty much everyone is, to at least some extent, selfish, greedy and capable of doing bad. Abu Ghraib, the prison where American soldiers "mistreated" prisoners, is evidence of that. Those soldiers are probably, for the most part, good people who reached their breaking point and did something horrible. Even the best of people are capable of such acts and because this is unlikely to change, war will remain inevitable.
Of course war sucks. Typically a country is led into war through the decisions made by either a dictator, a council, or senate, ect. The people of the country usually never have a say in the matter AND the people of the country are going to be the majority who die because of the decisions not the people who made the decisions. Yes war sucks
Of course war is complex. Of course we think our enemies are evil and they think we are evil-that is why wars start. And in regard to Will's comment about 9/11, Sam clearly states that war starts because of intolerance. 9/11 happened because we were intolerant to other cultures.
And I agree but war is inevitable. I do wish we would stop all these problems. But its just had it can start with just one person which is pretty much impossible to stop. So much stuff happens behind the scenes, no one can "police" the world, even though the United States really tries to.
I agree completely with the point you made about the irony and sadness that exists between warring people. I agree that inevitably people end up fighting people just like themself and it is a damn shame that people trying to provide for their families die at the hands of other people trying to provide for their families. Good post.
I want to draw a distinction between your two conclusion. I agree that war is inevitable. I disagree that it's a part of all human nature. Some people are just psychopaths and want to kill people: Hitler and Iran's President for example. The problem is other people, good people (arguably) like the US and GB are drawn in by a need to protect others or themselves. I think war is inevitable because some people are psychopaths and some people want to stop psychopaths, not because it's human nature. If there were no psychopaths, arguably there'd be no war
I agree with you Sam all the way. People say that war is the worst thing that the world could ever have and i agree with those people. When you said that in order to protect that thing we love we have to take the other persons thing away. It is in our human nature to do this act. We as humans are selfish people and when push comes to shove we will do anything to make sure that we keep our thing at the end of the day. War does suck and if we are coming out on the short end of the stick, we must remember that "the night is always darkest before the dawn." - Harvey Dent ( I am such a loser)
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