Why do we have war?

Originally posted by needlenight
For those who say war is natural and a part of our nature.
Yes it is and have been so for many years. Just like animals fight for the best hunting grounds and territories.

But the difference is, that we humans now have the intelligence and wisdom to see that it is hurting us. And that we are able to live in a world without war. Somewhere down the road, we will be able to face our differences and realise they really are not that big of a deal. That wisdom is hopefully what will save us eventually. We have the ability to change our nature and adapt to whatever we create.

The problem still exists that resources (land, capital and manpower) are limited and when one party reaches the point in which it desires, needs or wants more -- war is always inevitable. This isn't to even contemplate the desire for power over another human being that some people are inherently and behaviorally ingrained with.

Once mankind solves the problem of limited resources, I believe we can begin to evolve into a species that no longer desires to destroy one another to obtain something that which we no longer have a use for.

Originally posted by Blaine91555

Originally posted by NoClue206
reply to post by Akragon

 

War is natural. I say war is natural and not human nature because we just do it better then any other animal on earth. Animals kill each other for territory just like humans, we just do it on a larger scale. There isn't a time where man wasn't at war in known history.

True; Bonobos engage in war for territory, cannibalism and given a choice eat meat when available and prefer it to other foods. In fact they eat their enemy after killing them. We are quite normal as far as Great Apes go. In watching Bonobos we are clearly looking at our past.

Good point; and if what you say is true, judging by the behaviour of bonobos, it would seem getting laid was much easier in the past as well.....



I think the world would be a very different place if those who started wars were also forced to fight in them.

war is older than the written word, spoken language and fire, when man kind first seen the beast of the field as food it was on, one mans game other mans dinner, why hunt when you can steel, not only food but woman food stores and clothes, the reason why have changed from land to oil to beliefs you god vs my god, why?? man likes to spill blood! it does not matter how as long as it is spilled ban guns, no problem, bows and arrows will do, ban them, sticks and stones and then what ban all of earth? cart sticker; people do not kill, sticks and stones do

reply to post by Akragon

We have war because its profitable... yay for governments eh

That's one good reason. In fact most people are aware of Eisenhower's warning as he exited the White House. The Armaments Industry lobbies shamelessly, then when the Generals get their new toys they just have to play with them. Also there has to be a war so the Government can buy more arms, not to mention supplying the other side at the same time. Now I simplify here but consider that the Generals need the wars to justify their paychecks and careers.

Indeed, put yourself in their place dispassionately for a moment. If you had all the military training that it took to get to be a General, then you had the guns and planes and predator drones, etc., wouldn't you, from that perspective, want to use them?

Ever played Civilization the video game? You have built the armies and have whatever level of technology you are up to at that point in the game, but everyone is peaceful around you. Do you get itchy on the trigger? Do you begin the war because of what another nation did to an ally even though it was a valueless ally, and the affront to the ally was slight? Well, it is just a game so...

Absolute power corrupts, absolutely is an old adage but true. After twenty years of kicking around the halls of power on your way up I doubt they have had any seminars on how to care for the little people. That was the old days, the days of supposed innocence.

Money, power, control, all good reasons. But I think if you boil it down all the way you would find that they do it just because they can.

Finally, Thomas Jefferson warned us and answered your question long ago.

“There are rights which it is useless to surrender to the government and which governments have yet always been found to invade. These are the rights of thinking and publishing our thoughts by speaking or writing; the right of free commerce; the right of personal freedom. There are instruments for administering the government so peculiarly trustworthy that we should never leave the legislature at liberty to change them. The new Constitution has secured these in the executive and legislative department, but not in the judiciary. It should have established trials by the people themselves, that is to say, by jury. There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot but in well-defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army.” ~Letter to David Humphreys (1789)

www.rapidtrends.com... ance-opinions-and-standing-armies/

reply to post by Ittabena


The point being... all governments abuse their power...

Put figuratively, one could say war is selfish, and peace is selfless. Those who start war may do it for many reasons, all of them relative to that person(s) life and world perspective.

In these times there are too many of us who believe that their country is the greatest, that their people are "special", or that their own religion is more truthful than another, but what they all fail to understand is that we make our own borders and differences and that we are all inhabitants on a planet, rather than inhabitants of countries.

It doesn't help that there are people who are selfish enough to use the ideals of the country as a mask for their own agenda, and this can be found all over the world.

We have become far too comfortable with "letting someone else deal with it" and now it has left us helpless in the hands of our countries, who may be run by people who's agenda has nothing to do with our security..

Sooner or later those who fail to realize the mistakes of the past, will repeat them. The sad part is there are now billions of lives in the balance..

A parting thought; Imagine being 500 years in the future, and learning of our times..say that somehow we manage survive technologically and most of our information is available.(I know, its ridiculous)..anyway..

What would you read about? How would you view your "ancestors" and their culture?

Peace