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| The Sea of Ice by Caspar David Friedrich |
Animals, in the wild, fight to mark territory, to prove strength and ability to protect; in summa, they fight for power. This is Animal Nature.
Humans, as part of the animal kingdom, display a similar demeanour; however that which distinguishes them from primordial animals is the intelligence and ability to build (and use) tools to use during those battles. Aristotle said that a man who lives alone is either a god or a beast; meaning that humans were created to live in community. But living in community does not necessarily imply a 100% pacific co-habitation; for this goes against the nature of existence (on earth) and the principle of duality.
To know peace we must know war. To know war we must have the notion of peace. These two concepts cannot be learnt from history books; they can only be absorbed through experience (of any sort).
Knowing that war is part of the human condition, what are we to think of Pacifism?
Personally, I see pacifism as an ideal, one that can be as detrimental as the ideal of socialism, whose implementation can generate more conflict than peace.
Jimmy Carter is a person who speaks his mind (a feature I very much admire in any human being) however he is a pacifist. A fortnight ago I watched him on BBC, speaking about his achievements as a President – he stressed the fact that he sought to bring peace about in the whole world. After listening to him talking, I was under the impression that President Carter is/was blinded by his ideal: his dream of a 100% pacific world led him to make mistakes and trample upon the history and cultural identity of certain People. What was the result of his attempt to solve international disputes peacefully? Further resentment, tension, dissension, conflict and war.
Pacifists’ ideal blurs their reason. It’s easy to say, “I am against wars and guns!” and “Make love not war!” while at the same time waging sub-wars: bigotry, oppression, corruption, cancer, famine, idleness, addiction, loss of values and disrespect. These sub-categories of war can be annihilated; however wars intended to protect, to reaffirm power, conquer and mark territory will never cease to take place as long as there’s human beings on earth.
No one loves War, not even soldiers. Our Spirit comes from a peaceful place so the concept of Peace is engraved in our Soul; having said this, we try to bring a piece of peace to our virtual Paradise, however to do so humans many times have to resort to conflicts and battle.
Immanuel Kant, in “Perpetual Peace: a philosophical sketch” [1795], imagined a league of nations (the forefather of the UN) to control conflicts and promote peace between states; but looking at history we easily reach the conclusion that perpetual peace, on earth, is not possible and it is nothing but a philosophical sketch indeed...
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Dissecting Society™ welcomes all sorts of comments, as we are strong advocates of freedom of speech; however, we reserve the right to delete Troll Activity; libellous and offensive comments (e.g. racist and anti-Semitic) plus those with excessive foul language. This blog does not view vulgarity as being protected by the right to free speech. Cheers
Imagine what would have happened if the United States had not gotten involved in World War 2...... Sometimes war is necessary.
ReplyDeleteHi D! :D
ReplyDeleteThere's an excellent example! I totally agree with you.
Thank you so so much for your input :D.
Cheers
If there was no conflict, there could be no natural selection (social Darwinism). If countries couldn't compete, then the best countries wouldn't be able to come out on top. This is what has led to so much democracy around the world- democracy gives warring countries an advantage, because the leaders can be held accountable for mistakes so they care about winning more. If there was no war, countries would have less incentive to improve.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, if there wasn't war there would be a good deal less technology; rockets and steel had ancient wartime purposes. Without war, the quality of life for humans over all would suffer.
Hi Max,
ReplyDeletePeace is a nice ideal, alas there are too many forces (people) who make sure that it's not possible. While in my heart of hearts I wish it were possible. Chaos and fear are driven by cash (unfortunately). When people are distracted, it leads to confusion which leads to vulnerability and dominion. Certain factions are wheeling and dealing the world economy and we have to pay for it through war, famine, desolation, insolvency, death, etc. War is not pretty by no means but it's a necessary tool for survival.
Marvelous post my dear.
Peace Cheers!
Max, the world is safe from peace as long as we have manufacturers of arms and ammunition who finance our politicians and as long as we allow drug cartels to operate with impunity and as long as Alpha male behaviour is acceptable to the ordinary people. Peace is a concept that is outdated.
ReplyDeleteHey Max! I love, love the new look!
ReplyDeleteEverything's fine except that I got sick. It took more than a week before I got better from the flu.
I hope all is well with you sweetie.
Kisses and hugs
Hi Vid :D!
ReplyDelete"If there was no conflict, there could be no natural selection (social Darwinism)."
I am not a fan of Darwinism and so I am not sure I agree that conflict is a form of natural selection (if we give it a little thought, this is kind of an oximoron) but I will invest more time thinking about it :).
"If countries couldn't compete, then the best countries wouldn't be able to come out on top."
Being the most powerful doesn't necessarily mean being the best...
"This is what has led to so much democracy around the world- democracy gives warring countries an advantage, because the leaders can be held accountable for mistakes so they care about winning more. If there was no war, countries would have less incentive to improve."
That is one point of view.
"Beyond that, if there wasn't war there would be a good deal less technology; rockets and steel had ancient wartime purposes. Without war, the quality of life for humans over all would suffer."
It is true that the military industry developed a huge amount of technology and it still does.
Vid, thank you so much for your input, mate :D.
Cheers
Hi Lady A :D!
ReplyDelete"Peace is a nice ideal, alas there are too many forces (people) who make sure that it's not possible. While in my heart of hearts I wish it were possible."
Peace is a wonderful memory, but pacifism is an ideal.
"Chaos and fear are driven by cash (unfortunately). When people are distracted, it leads to confusion which leads to vulnerability and dominion. Certain factions are wheeling and dealing the world economy and we have to pay for it through war, famine, desolation, insolvency, death, etc."
Another excellent point of view.
"War is not pretty by no means but it's a necessary tool for survival."
True.
"Marvelous post my dear."
Thank you, darling *bowing*.
Lady A, thank you ever so much for your input :D.
Peace & War Cheers
Hi Rummuser :D!
ReplyDelete"Max, the world is safe from peace as long as we have manufacturers of arms and ammunition who finance our politicians and as long as we allow drug cartels to operate with impunity and as long as Alpha male behaviour is acceptable to the ordinary people."
Sarcasm, eh? However, your criticism is a valid one.
"Peace is a concept that is outdated."
I wouldn't go that far. But Peace is a memory of the Past.
Rummy, thank you ever so much for your input :D.
Cheers
Hi Liza :D!
ReplyDelete"I love, love the new look!"
Thank you, I am glad you loved it *bowing*.
"Everything's fine except that I got sick. It took more than a week before I got better from the flu."
I am so sorry to hear that! I wish you a speedy convalescence, my darling *hug*.
"I hope all is well with you sweetie."
With me, everything is peachy, thanks :D.
Liza, thank you so much for your visit - you were missed *big hug and kisses*.
Cheers
Max, for us to have peace we have to relentlessly fight and wage wars - that is the reality of any Jew (specially in Israel). For us to have the only place where we can live freely without having to justify ourselves and our identity, we have to keep fighting until the day comes when we will experience Peace...in a sense that we won't have to be constantly in a state of emergency and run to shelters.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, no one likes wars but they are necessary. Perpetual peace is an illusion, but we can experience it in the After Life.
Well life is all about being making it eventful. We all hate one-dimensional life so to spice up our life...both peace and war should go hand-in-hand else the world will be just one boring place. There are so many advantages of a war...Atleast we can keep our minds busy...Governments keep splurging on defence budgets and we continue to debate on the justness of the funding increases....Then atleast for a few days we can forget fighting with our own neighbours, and rather getting united in the spirit against our neighbouring country till the hostility continues. And when the war ends, even if we are in the losing side we can still take pride in the fact that either we were the first to have the courage to attack the victorious country or to the extent our fighters could have entered our enemy country or how that Big brother country cheated on us in the last moment and helped our enemy country....Then the first pages of the newspapers and the headlines in TV finally has something new everyday to show rather than those frontpage Page3 stories and the newspapers selling like never before... Then after the war ends you will have a breed of authors who otherwise would have never written a letter also, writing about the in-famous conflict and war....Oh, well It seems I can go on and on...now I should stop and say that I completely agree with you Max...Pacifism exists only because there is something called War exists else the debate ends there itself...At the end of the day we need to fight not only to stop the onslaught of the other but also for our own survival, albeit in a number of ways!
ReplyDeleteJust here to say hello and thanks for all your support :-)
ReplyDeleteMax, nice post. I especially like the notion that pacifism isn't necessarily for honorable reasons. Certainly many wars are senseless, but I feel the modern pacifist argument is different: It is wrong for me to go to war on behalf of my tribe because it is wrong for me to be compelled to do anything on behalf of my tribe!
ReplyDeleteHi Ana :D!
ReplyDelete"Max, for us to have peace we have to relentlessly fight and wage wars - that is the reality of any Jew (specially in Israel). For us to have the only place where we can live freely without having to justify ourselves and our identity, we have to keep fighting until the day comes when we will experience Peace...in a sense that we won't have to be constantly in a state of emergency and run to shelters."
I hear you, darling.
"Perpetual peace is an illusion, but we can experience it in the After Life."
True.
Ana, thank you so much for your input :D.
Cheers
Hi Kalyan :D!
ReplyDelete"We all hate one-dimensional life so to spice up our life...both peace and war should go hand-in-hand else the world will be just one boring place."
lol interesting line of thought, no doubt.
"There are so many advantages of a war...Atleast we can keep our minds busy...Governments keep splurging on defence budgets and we continue to debate on the justness of the funding increases....Then atleast for a few days we can forget fighting with our own neighbours, and rather getting united in the spirit against our neighbouring country till the hostility continues. (...)"
It's like wars, although dreadful, they are entertaining and a deflection from certain uncomfortable issues....yes, your perspective is very good.
"Then after the war ends you will have a breed of authors who otherwise would have never written a letter also, writing about the in-famous conflict and war...."
LOL so so true, mate! *nodding*
"Oh, well It seems I can go on and on...now I should stop and say that I completely agree with you Max...Pacifism exists only because there is something called War exists else the debate ends there itself...At the end of the day we need to fight not only to stop the onslaught of the other but also for our own survival, albeit in a number of ways!"
Yes, the examples are endless. Absolutely, man!!
Kalyan, brilliant! Thank you ever so much for your input :D.
Cheers
Hi Renny :D!
ReplyDelete"Just here to say hello and thanks for all your support :-)"
Aaah, my friend! Thank you for having dropped by :D.
You know I'm with you :)!
Cheers
Hi Looney :D!
ReplyDelete"Max, nice post."
Thank you *bowing*.
"Certainly many wars are senseless, but I feel the modern pacifist argument is different: It is wrong for me to go to war on behalf of my tribe because it is wrong for me to be compelled to do anything on behalf of my tribe!"
Very well said *applauding*!
Looney, outstanding! Thank you ever so much for your input :D.
Cheers
Tout cela est l'actuel monde, il fonctionne (mal) et cela est habitude, fatalité, desespérance, indigeste mais consommées quand même.
ReplyDeleteL'évolution, l'éveil n'est-il pas de comprendre et de faire ce qui est nécessaire à une progression teintée d'amour persévérent, très persévérent, afin de renverser...un jour, le malheur que l'on s'est donné.
Que voulons nous?
Apparamment les forces occultes de nos contes de fées ont la partie belle puisque cela nous plait tellement que nous acceptons de les transposer dans notre vie.
Tendresse pour toi.
Salut Sérénité :D!
ReplyDelete"Apparamment les forces occultes de nos contes de fées ont la partie belle puisque cela nous plait tellement que nous acceptons de les transposer dans notre vie."
Ce paragraph est trés trés beau, je te dis moi.
Sérénité, je te remercie ta sagesse et beauté verbale.
Je t'embrasse