A Shorten Response
I do not have much time today, but I wanted to get this out before I take a short business trip and forget about it.
Today, 12/12/06 is my birthday. Ol’ Blue Eyes and I share the same date of birth, and in my opinion the same level of cool. But that is not what I want to write about today. Instead, I want to concentrate on something that has been rolling around in my head since 12/07/06.
December 7th is the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The sneak-attack brought America into the war. A war that started with America as an isolationist country and ended with it being one of two global superpowers.
On this blog, one of the readers asked: why do I think war happens? Are ‘isms’ the reason we fights wars, outside self-defense?
I agree self-defense, both real and imagined, is one of the main reasons we fight wars. America knew that if it did not fight back against Japan, Japan would continue to attack. While on the other hand, America ‘knew’ Iraq had WMDs in 2003 and would give them to terrorist. So, while self-defense can be a legitimate reason for the use of violence, it can also be a rallying cry aggressive action.
Are ‘isms’ the cause of war? Does communism, capitalism, socialism, fascism even feminism cause strive? I do not think it as simple as that. In fact, I think it is much simpler. War/violence is caused by man’s inability to live together, man’s inability to tolerate one another’s differences. It is possible for a fascist state and socialist state to live together-see France and Spain, or a communist and democratic state-see China and Japan. What makes tanks roll and bullets fly is the thought that the country next to you either has something you need or acts inhumanly. It is the inability for people to tolerate different thoughts next to one another or a state’s inability to tolerate descent in their own nation forcing others to fight to defend others’ rights-see World War 2 to save the Jewish nation.
It is not ‘isms’ that cause war, but the same question of: why can’t we all just get along?
posted by Luka at 2:22 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, Luka, I'll say if this is a shorten response, I can't imagin what a proper one would be!
What I tried to express was that governments or the leader that tried to start an war always have to stand on a firm ground and propagandize their and their fellow citizen (soldier) the right to fight! What they won't do is to spell out the intrinsic benefit. Using the grand word(s) not only sounds beautiful, giving their followers the strength and keeping in faith, but also have a benefit for the ease of memory... You should know better from your civil war.
I am not the kind of person who can turn my left cheek if anyone strikes me on the right cheek and few people is willing to do that, so I suppose, just as you do, a defensive attack is just as necessary. But wars for other reasons have no other excuses.
I am not trying to judge any involvement of wars by US government, afterall, it is US citizens' problem. And only US citizens have the right to discuss this problem caused by the government they elected.
However, I would like to stress my point here. I'm not saying any -ism is the CAUSE. They are NOT the cause. I believe the cause is the human nature, the greed, the need, the unlimited stupidity and unwillingness to sit down and solve problems intellectually.
However, these causes, are COVERED, SUGAR-COATED with some invented words, finished with -ism. That is the sad part. All those followers who can not see through the invented words, who don't really understand what the fight is, are fighting for fighting's sake!
For the last question, relate back to Matthew 5:39, can you find some inspirations?
Of course I am not asking anybody to achieve that state, and in my opinion, that response is faky. But as I age I view people are getting along in a way that I may not agree with, and this is what I should learn, to observe and understand their interacting patterns. Asking people to adopt our values is always too violent a task. Just as I can't expect why the person I just strike on his right cheek can't get along with me. Disturbance always cause rebound. If can't take it, don't do it.
5:27 PM
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