yes- i know it is really 'war what is it good for' but since we are at war against-oh everything in america and beyond- i thought it would be nice to ask a few questions.how would you broker peace in the world? where would you start and why?
why are americans so war hawkish? meaning- not only do we have wars on terror and innocent civilians- but we have the war on drugs, war on families, war on christmas- you get the picture.
anyhoo- i will post my thoughts in my next post. comment away- and do some heavy thinking.
11 comments:
Betmo,
At this moment I think war is caused by heat. People( i think more men) get so hot that they start fighting.
Anyway it is extremly hot here , hotter then it's ever been. I lived in Florida and it wasn't as bad. I might even break my own rules and take the bus home(takes twice as long)because the way my lucks been going we will have another power outage and I would get stuck on a train.
Great question- inspires deep thoughts. I agree with much of what glenda had to say. A few thoughts of my own to add:
1) The biggest step toward peace as I see it is to STOP finger-pointing. Change in the world begins with ME- not the other guy, not the other country, not the media. When each person takes responsibility for themselves and stops blaming their behavior on someone else, then we will see changes happen.
2) Our perspectives need to widen and we need to walk in the other guys shoes for a while. If we could see beyond our own ways, our own thoughts & feelings for a while, we may become more compassionate toward the plight of others.
3) Men seem to thrive on conquests. Both of their object of affection and of material possessions & power. This lust often leads to bloodshed. Just look at Napoleon's fatal march into Russia. Greed is one of the worst enemies of peace. We need to learn how to be content with what we have. Live & let live...
Glenda:
I'd take issue with some of the things you've said there, but I'll do so in part by also posting my thoughts on this subject. But I'm going to use your comment as my launching pad:
1. Americans are control freaks, we get really bad about needing to feel in control, no doubt about that.
2. The world asks us to be their policeman. Evertime some upstart dictator or local tyrant starts to terrorize and oppress people, the world calls on the UN, who then calls on us. Disaster relief almost always falls on our shoulders. I understand the condept of "to whom much is given, much is expected", but that goes both ways. To those we give so much to, they should expect that we will want things in return. The world is not a Commie Share-fest, and there really is no free lunch.
3. Doesnt every nation think their agenda is the correct one? This is the premise of all war on the earth really. What one state wants to do may be in conflict with what another state wants to do. If everyone agreed about it.. there'd be no reason to fight would there?
4. Our TV spends a good deal of time reinforcing how decadent and lazy we are. Want a "Quad-Stacker" burger from burger king to go with your X-Box 360, two cars, four TV's and the air conditioning and cable TV in our welfare projects?
But I've not notice that it tries to make Europe or Asia out to be barbarians.
5. We do seem to have the "Manifest Destiny" of spreading democracy, but I'm going out on a limb to say that it stemmed from the Cold war and the larger fight against Communism. That went for 40 years. We can't expect it to be all gone in 15 can we?
6. ??? Capitalism is the evil theory at work? I think Corporations have a lot less to do with wars than you think. Sure some corps do well in war, but the others suffer. You really think that the boogie man Haliburton could single handedly drive the agenda of the US while GM, Ford, the Steel Industry, the e-Bubble and the rest tank? Paaaaa-Leeeeese!
7. Man, Christian missions have been going all over the world before the US even existed. Converting 3rd world nations has nothing to do with wars. Thats the Crusades you're thinking of, and it wasnt a third world nation.
Churches go and set up soup kitchens, clothing depots, med centers and misson houses in places you wouldnt even sit down in. Dont try to lay this crap at their feet.
I think that Americans are aggresive and hostile part by nature of our limited existance. We've had to fight in some fashion or another pretty much consistantly (2-3 wars per generation) for the last 230 years. Dont let those Euro nations fool you. They've been doing the same thing.
Remember the Balkins? They started taht one too, not the US. Aside from Iraq and Afghanistan, the US hasnt started a war they've fought in since the Mexican/American war.
Suffice it to say that I think Americans are just more blatent about their aggresivness in the world, but I think the root problem is a human sickness, not an American one.
Note: When I said "Hasnt started a war since..." I'm running purely on conjecture, but I'm defining war as to mean the true sense of the word, so please dont argue with me over "the bay of Pigs" or "Iran Contra" stuff.
Peace is good for the economy.
Peace is good for the environment.
Peace is good for mental health.
Peace is good for physical health.
Peace is good for spiritual well-being.
What drives wars? Self-righteous indignation. A sense of entitlement. Ignorance, hatred, fear, and greed. Isolation.
I am as leery today of the far left's self-righteous indignation as I am of the far right. It is not solution-oriented, it is geared on finger-pointing, blame, anger. Doesn't solve squat.
quasar:
You neglegected to mention that those "exhiled" Palestinians are complaining about land that Israel occupied AFTER all its neighbors tried to extinguish it from existance.
The propped up economy charge sounds like sour grapes to me. Why dont you condemn the "warlords" that take the vast oil revenues from their nation's natural resource exploits and then horde it away?
Please go pander your propoganda somewhere else, I'm guessing that 90% of the people here can read through the fog you're trying to impliment with this jargon.
If the PLA could actually act in a orginized manner and police their own, the IDF wouldnt have to occupy all of Gaza and the west bank, but the PLA helps Hamas launch attacks indiscriminately on Jews... because they are Jews.
I think you forgot to clean up your own back yard before you started pointing at everyone elses trash.
Errr, maybe we could dump a gazillion gallons of estrogen in the water supply. I imagine Peace has to be sold just the way war is. The world knows how to sell war, but lacks the creativity to sell Peace. Maybe we were onto something back then, Make Love not war.
When most, if not all, of the people in power who start those wars, do not want peace, it's next to impossible to obtain imo. Yes, they all chatter on TV about "peace." Then why don't they shut up and do something about it? Like call up the people they're attacking and say "I'll stop shooting at you - you stop shooting at me, and let's talk over a glass of wine or whatever."
Further, I believe peace, like charity, begins at home. When we give one war machine anything it wants, then bad mouth the other side, I don't see a lot of peace breaking out anywhere. Lastly, for whatever reason, the Middle East simply does not WANT peace. They have been killing each other since the start of recorded time. So let them. Get the hell out of there, and let them do what they like best. I don't understand them, but that much is a recorded historical fact.
Peace will start at home the same day impeachment proceedings conclude with a finding of guilty, and the guilty parties are turned over to a world tribunal to be tried for war crimes.
Heavy thinking indeed. Broker peace in the world?
We might be tempted to think that the United Nations should be bringing peace to the world, but, at times, they seem to be no more than puppets of the corporate world.
Are the warmongerers more powerful than the peacemongers?
Well, if your company sells armaments, a peaceful world would mean no sales. The war on drugs and immigrants creates an army to check the homes and lives of the populace, whenever required.
Rather like counting the slaves.
I note the comment about the oestrogen, from Peacechick Mary, I think there might be something in that!
Is war a drug? Is America addicted to war?
I would suggest that we british were once addicted to war.
War built an empire, and the empire built the fortunes of certain britons.
Ditto the French, Spanish, the Russians...
But all the while, the population, the plebians, they slowly realised that the fruits of empire were being harvested by serfs and given to the senators, the generals and of course, the kings and emperors.
Then along came the French revolution, trade unions, secular government, oh, and women got the right to vote! Full suffrage to american women came in 1920.
In britain, full suffrage came in 1928. Women tend more to peace, their instinct is to build rather than kill, six billion years of evolution and all that.
Literacy and a secular society are also ingredients to peace, as are self awareness and social and racial cohesion.
That`s just a few random thoughts, but at least we are talking, rather than shooting.
I was giving this some thought myself.
At least as far as the Israeli's and the Middle East this is where I would start.
G is right about how Israel came to occupy foreign land, but it still does not make it right. We occupied Japan after WWII and after they attacked us but we did not stick around for 40 years. I would give Israel 6 months to remove its settlers to locations behind Israel's borders.
I would give Lebanon 6 months to disband Hamas and I would give Palestine the same amount of time to guaranty that Hamas would never again pose a military threat to Israel.
If these conditions were not met, then I would immediately cease all aid to those who did not comply.
If one side decided to attack the other, I would provide financial support to those who were attacked--a lot of support.
It may not mean peace right away, but if one side got hammered because they did not comply and the other side did, they might come around.
Israel should be able to protect itself, but their continued occupation of foreign territory has caused decades of problems for the rest of the world.
We always hear how upset Arab nations are that Israel is on Arab land. Well, if Israel gets off foreign land and they still are attackes, then it will be quite clear to much of the world just who the bad guys are.
Did that make sense? It's late, and I am still a little jetlagged.
Way too tired to talk about Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, and North Korea now....
Thanks for making me think betmo.
Doh! In my 4th paragraph, it should read, "I would give Lebanon 6 months to disband Hezbollah."
I apologize for this error....
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