I don't talk about war much. This is because war scares me, not because of the death, that can be found everywhere. Rather, I see it as hopeless.
Say you want to get something done. Why would anyone do anything for you, unless they have an incentive? Now, there are two kinds of incentives. Positive and negative. Positive being, of course, money, or a service. Negative is a threat. The threat of destruction, usually. Sometimes of property, sometimes of family, but most often, of someone's own human body. I'll go out on a limb and say you already know what that's called, violence.
Wars are, quell surprise, based off violence. The whole concept of war is we get some violence sticks and you get some violence sticks and we whack each other until someone says enough and hands the other one something of theirs (money, land, their nuclear warheads, whatever). Pacifists want us to lay down our violence sticks, (or at least the nukes) and all live in a pleasant world free from all the terror that a war represents.
I'd love that, let me be honest. As a teenage boy, I still have some of that childhood love for guns and the good guys beating the bad, but I'm level-headed enough now to realize that that's a childish enamorment. It's been said before, I'll say it again. War is hell. /Hell./ No shit, sherlock. That's why pacifists are busy telling us to put the violence sticks away.
The pacifists, in this case, miss the important thing. Remember the incentives I mentioned earlier? "Ahh," you say, you don't need me to make the last leap for you. Say everyone puts away the violence sticks. Say we establish a worldwide organization to make sure everyone keeps them away. Say we even hand them some money for being good little countries. Well, here's the thing. If one of them. /One/, takes out the violence stick for any reason, then the only thing we can do is take our collective sticks out, and collectively beat the shit out of him. And then it's war.
You can't honestly expect people to forget violence. It's always there. Smug idiot in your face? You bitch slap that little jerk into next week. Need an incentive everyone always understands? Violence. Violence. Violence. VIOLENCE. It doesn't go away. I'll go as far as to say it's an instinctive part of a human being. So you know that someone is going to take out the ol' violence stick at some point, probably not to long after the peacekeeping thing was established, and go ahead and whack the hell out of the poor schmuck who wasn't looking.
War is a terrible, terrible thing. I have the deepest respect for those soldiers who fight in it, or at least those who liberate or defend, and nothing but contempt for those who start it (not necessarily the first to invade, just the first to wrong us to the point that we have no other option). It isn't going away. In an ideal world, we'd have never even learnt of violence. Unfortunately, we have. Violence begat War, and now the two are part of an untouchable cycle of hate and destruction.
The only solution that ever held water, at least for a little bit, was the Ultimate Weapon. Mutually Assured Destruction sprang from this concept. Both basically represent the same thing, that if you can assure that /everyone/ dies, no one will. The thing is, though, I think you know deep down that /someone/ would try to use it, to cheat MAD. Try to wipe the enemy off the face of the planet with whatever hellish weapon was the latest when they went apeshit enough to try.
Humanity, you sadistic bunch of fucks. Why did you have to create this hell on Earth?
12 comments:
Wow Johnny. That was... that was awesome. Like, not the "Dude that ride was awesome!" kind of awesome. Like, the ancient sense of the word. I watched Brothers At War with Jenna last night, a film about a guy who follows his younger brothers to Afghanistan to make a documentary about their lives in the war. It was a really good film, and my head is still reeling from it, so this post could not have been better. It was freakin genius man. Seriously. That /rocked/. Epically. My mind is officially blown. Can't think of any better things than my teenage phrases, but in the Hurtlocker, they say "War is a drug". So unfortunately true. Again, great post.
It was a great post, and enjoyed reading it. But it also seemed a little torn. Half of it was about how its inevitable and it will always be there, and the other half is about how you think it should be gone.
but whatever. great post, enjoyed reading it very much, for my opinion cuz im too lazy to type here, check the topic on kagels blog about war :D
That's the thing, Conor. I want war to be gone, I'm just saying how it never will be. Perhaps that wasn't very clear, my apologies.
yea this is kinda unavoidable :( but watcha gonna do.
MAD makes me laugh!
Don't click, that appears to be porn. I have no idea why they're linking here so much, but whatever, am I the only one amused by that?
hmmm... it seems so much of the world today accepts the general consensus that violence is an instinctive attribute to the human condition. the only adequate rebuttal to that assertion is that, if violence begets more violence, does violent behavior really pay? you slap the jackass in the face, he does everything in his power to slap you back so you punch him in the face, he punches you back, etc etc etc... and the fight goes on and on until both of you have gained nothing but black eyes a couple broken ribs and a few missing teeth. oh and a little pride. now the rebuttal I've taken all of 20 seconds to supply is simple, surface level stuff that I'm sure you've factored into your position on the subject of war before you even wrote this article. what I'm curious about is the solution.
i feel your argument is on it's own, surface level thinking. it provides a basic concept, war and violence, and explains your position to a fifth grade level. however, wheres your depth?
i understand I'm missing the point, it's a blog. your a teenage kid whose purpose isn't out to change the world he lives in, just one who wants to enjoy himself by expressing himself through the online medium.
but i cant help but wonder what your getting at. a problem like this one is a roadblock anybody with half a brain must consider regularly in their own day-to-day thinking. so are most of the subjects you discuss in your blog. but what do you offer? what do you change? what does YOUR writing upon this so entirely digested topic have to offer to the reader? these are the things i think your writing too regularly lacks...
after all, if you dont bring anything to the table how can you stand apart from the shitstorm of social monotony?
don't get me wrong, you're a fantastic writer with great talent and i know you that as well as any. just take this as a little insight from another critic out there who wants to help out somebody he sees has tremendous potential (as lacking as his insight may be).
First, I'd love to know who you are, so I can thank you for the complements to my writing in person.
And thank you for the criticism, as well. You're right, this post, at least, suffers from a lack of originality. (Life, I feel, is a post that does not suffer from the same thing).
Really, though, who are you? I want to thank you in person.
to random asian.
what the fuck.
that is all. good post about war.
Whoah there Austin. While I respect your opinion, I think this random anon was fairly kind in their criticism, and it was nothing if not constructive.
im wishing i hadn't skipped over the "life" post, that one did reveal a lot of unique thinking and powerful insight on your part, i apologize for the ignorance. "war" is just such a flashy title i overlooked it.
nobody of much importance, just a guy that stumbled upon your blog. i do wanna say this though, your truly gracious attitude toward my highly critical and unnecessary response (as constructive as it may be) was a refreshing break from the online flaming community.
PS. i repeal my "insight" comment in the parentheses
Frankly, 'Life' is, hands down, my best post. Ever. So it may be an outlier, but it does (arrogant moment here, one second) reveal my talent. Thank you for saying so.
And in my opinion, the criticism was nothing but helpful. I don't know if you'll keep reading, random asian, but thank you for the complement anyway.
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