War & Peace

Few would argue that war is entirely preventable.  At least, it hasn’t been to this point in human history.  We can point to a number of circumstances throughout history where war has been considered ‘justified’, or even ‘good’.  We might also find cases of justifiable homicide.  Are these one and the same?  The dynamics of killing at the individual and group level deserve a great deal of study and analysis, but it goes without saying that we should seek to eliminate, if not minimize killing of all of its varieties.

However, if there are ‘necessary wars’, what about these?  In this case we should seek to eliminate, if not minimize the conditions that make these wars seem necessary. These are often of an economic and/or political nature.  And so the practice and justification of killing gets intertwined with a myriad of philosophical and social factors that become increasingly difficult to disentangle.

One thing is for certain: If you are going to kill or be killed in war, it seems best to understand WHY you are doing this.  This is not a trite recommendation: For instance, from the American point of view, being a pawn in someone else’s chess game is against the democratic spirit.  The basic idea is that leaders are accountable to the people for their decisions, and this will lead to both higher quality decisions (for they’ll be motivated to make better ones), and higher quality leaders (for they’ll be replaced if they don’t) in the long run.  But what if the people follow blindly?  This eliminates all accountability from the process, and we know what happens to individuals with absolute power.

Whether you’re for or against War, Some Wars, or only the “Good Wars”, or no war at all, think about WHY this is the case, and encourage others to discuss it with you.  You may find that your perspective contains more than meets the eye!

…and so you may find that your belief system will change in unexpected ways…