War and Peace and Everything in Between: The philosophy of war

SPC David S. — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 03:54:10 -0500

In watching the movie Fury there was a line, "Ideas are peaceful, history is violent".
Is peace just a noble idea caught in the middle of conflict or will it ever be achieved? We seem to want peace but yet we reluctantly forfeit it for many reasons. We also seem conflicted with the approach being that we have ROE's, the GC, and other restrictions that all try to clean up war and make it pretty. To me it seems that these limitation on how war is conducted drag it out resulting in more harm, thus why we used the a-bomb in WWII - to end the war and save lives. Would dropping more a-bombs make the world a more peaceful place in the long run? Is our philosophy on war flawed? Or I'm i just punch drunk crazy?

Response by SPC Angel Guma made Mar 28 at 2015 8:48 PM

SPC Angel Guma — Sat, 28 Mar 2015 20:48:13 -0400

The problem with peace is that in my opinion, too many people are too stupid for peace.

People really mistake non-involvement and ignorance with peace. To really have any sort of peace on this planet, people have to really want it, and that means letting go for racial or religious hatred, political lunacy, and out right theft/exploitation. What happens is, a core group of charlatans, usually with a core group of malcontents do their best to take with force or political backstabbing what really doesn't belong to them. When the aggrieved group gets angry, smear campaigns begin.

In the middle east, there are dozens of groups doing this to each other on a daily basis for thousands of years. Its impossible to sort out who threw the first stone.

Worst still are the religious nut jobs and their pastors/imams/rabbis. Here, if only people really believed in and followed their doctrines of peace, there would be no laws because all would be angels. But as recent history shows us, Christians and Muslims are vying for the top spot in religious hatred and persecution, the only debate here is who is worse at the moment. Its a neck and neck race here. Either way, the graveyards long since ran out of space for all the people killed in the name of both of these peaceful religions. Again- the only real debate now is who is worse at the moment.

I don't think you are crazy either. Peace is possible, but it just can't be done until people as individuals really want it, and are willing to give up their crap. When they are willing to stop taking advantage of others and doing wrong to them, peace will happen. I don't think its impossible. When you think of all the progress humanity has made in the last 1,000 years, you have a different perspective. What we all the barbarous regions of the world- really today, only the Middle East and Africa, and consider that even these places are making trends for the better, you have some hope. Will it be within our lifetimes? Nope.