Monday, August 14, 2006
"kill or be killed"
DevraDoWrite's post essay today is a "must read" - it's entitled Kill or Be Killed and in it she muses about the murder that began the current mess in the Middle East. It was a friend's friend, if you remember, and today it gives rise to a thought fest on the subject of war and peace.
"War is not waged by a people, it is declared by a handful of men maneuvering for more power and money," she proposes, going on to say that "I don't believe that people are born knowing how to hate or kill - they are taught, or perhaps a more appropriate word is manipulated." Although it may sound flip (I don't mean it to), I suggest she watch kindergarteners at 'play'. Although some are calm and charming, others can be fiendish and violent, although it isn't on the scale or power of anything as permanent or dangerous as Israel and Hezbollah. And let's not forget Lord of the Flies whose point was that we all have horrid emotions from which ghastly behavior can result.
I also don't think all wars are about men flexing their testosterone-laced muscles nor power and money. I think many wars are about asserting a country's identity more than about gaining power - perhaps a slightly subtle point but an important one. More on this sometime when I feel more academic and referential.
I loved the comment, "My first reaction was to wonder 'why they are afraid?' Is there not power in numbers? Naive, I know." Yes, it is a logical first reaction and it is naive. Can you imagine what people say to people who say that about the Jews in the Holocaust? Oh, so much seems clear with hindsight.
War and peace are - at least in part - flip sides of the same coin. In case you don't believe me, just look at the number of self-avowed pacificists who are fascinated students of war. Chief among them is John Keegan who studied and taught at Sandhurst, has written some of the best and most referenced books on war history, and yet insists he is a pacificist. War is an engrossing, intriguing, clever, powerful, destructive and vile activity from which it is highly unlikely we will ever be completely free, regrettable though that is. Peace and quiet just aren't as interesting or effective, are they?
"War is not waged by a people, it is declared by a handful of men maneuvering for more power and money," she proposes, going on to say that "I don't believe that people are born knowing how to hate or kill - they are taught, or perhaps a more appropriate word is manipulated." Although it may sound flip (I don't mean it to), I suggest she watch kindergarteners at 'play'. Although some are calm and charming, others can be fiendish and violent, although it isn't on the scale or power of anything as permanent or dangerous as Israel and Hezbollah. And let's not forget Lord of the Flies whose point was that we all have horrid emotions from which ghastly behavior can result.
I also don't think all wars are about men flexing their testosterone-laced muscles nor power and money. I think many wars are about asserting a country's identity more than about gaining power - perhaps a slightly subtle point but an important one. More on this sometime when I feel more academic and referential.
I loved the comment, "My first reaction was to wonder 'why they are afraid?' Is there not power in numbers? Naive, I know." Yes, it is a logical first reaction and it is naive. Can you imagine what people say to people who say that about the Jews in the Holocaust? Oh, so much seems clear with hindsight.
War and peace are - at least in part - flip sides of the same coin. In case you don't believe me, just look at the number of self-avowed pacificists who are fascinated students of war. Chief among them is John Keegan who studied and taught at Sandhurst, has written some of the best and most referenced books on war history, and yet insists he is a pacificist. War is an engrossing, intriguing, clever, powerful, destructive and vile activity from which it is highly unlikely we will ever be completely free, regrettable though that is. Peace and quiet just aren't as interesting or effective, are they?
Labels: blogs (others'), politics, reflections
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