War is a wasteful atrocious monstrosity and it is a blemish on the greatness of human intellect.
People say that the world is not a safe place and that people who think the way I do are hippies. That is hardly the whole truth though, because there are things that those same people don't realize. By agreeing that there is a need for war, you are insuring its continuance. The only way peace will ever be a reality is not through war.
Diplomacy could easily fix the problems of our global society. People that "need" to have war upon them are not crazy, or fanatical, as the stereotype suggests. They are people that believe they are fighting for something worth dying for, just like our soldiers. But the problem is that both sides have been tricked into believing that either of them have to die. Anyone who disagrees with me at this point probably will not have their minds changed, but I urge you still to consider this.
During a war, lots of people profit, greatly. I think the conservative number for the increase in profits is somewhere around 300 % for businesses that profit on war, but some businesses have been known to make over 900% more during war, compared to peace time. The numbers are not important though, using lots of numbers and statistics are a tactic that would detract from the message in this topic. The important concept to realize is that steel factories, banks, oil companies, and many others, profit from war. This is common knowledge, I don't feel like I need to prove it, but I will if necessary.
Knowing that these types of companies directly benefit from war, you've got to ask yourself, which companies are the most powerful(and rich) in the world?
So, we come to the conclusion that the most powerful companies in the world are the ones that directly benefit from the conditions that exist in war. Some companies that benefit are innocent, I believe, but I also believe that other's do not have the interests of humanity in mind, but instead the interests of personal wealth.
It's ironic that that war makes some people so much money because for most people it brings loss. And I don't just mean loss of life, but also destruction and waste of property, land, families, communities, natural resources, fuel, and labor, to name a few things. It's because the person who foots the bill for a war is the nation who is willing to go to war. The government pays the steel companies for ammunitions, and the oil companies, for the fuel, and if it is a government that is not in surplus(like ours), it is financed by big banks, the government will have to pay all of these loans back, of course, which results in higher taxes for tax payers.
Most people don't realize this, but a government can run perfectly fine without tax money, ours survived without taxes right up until the Civil War. It's a waste, and just because the world isn't a safe place doesn't mean we should make it more dangerous.
If you still believe that war is necessary, then I have one more point to bring up.
To properly illustrate this point, I need to recall the events of the 1980's and the American military assistance of the mujahideen(some of whom became Taliban members).
In the 1980's American politician's thought of a way to bankrupt the Russian economy and "win" the Cold War. The Russian government invaded Afghanistan in the early 1980's, American politicians secretly gave weapons and aid to mujahideen soldiers. Mujahideen roughly translates into holy warrior, or someone on jihad. And that is exactly what these people were, the Russians invaded them, completely unprovoked, these religious people were fighting invaders of their country, for their own safety. We equipped a lot of them with rocket launchers that were highly capable of shooting down Russian helicopters, and we trained these people how to use these weapons. We were not fighting a war against Russia, we were providing weapons to the people who were fighting a war against Russia(we did the same thing right before entering WWII). Well, long story short, the mujahideen shot down enough Russian helicopters over the ten year occupancy that Russia decided to pull out.
After Russia pulled out of Afghanistan, we did too. We left without helping them rebuild roads, or buildings, or homes, or anything. Our politicians were in a tight spot, because this operation was secretive, and if Russia found out, the war might not be a cold one anymore, therefore they were not able to justify to the American people the need to finance the rebuilding of a country destroyed by Russia.
Today, a good majority of the people that hate us enough to want to kill us, and the people that we kill, were born and grew up during this ten year period of war. If you're born into a society that is at war, you know little else. And combined with a tool as powerful as religion, and the fact that the only chance at education is from a religious school, the conditions start to appear that breed holy warriors. These people began to think that blowing themselves up for the glory of Allah is a noble act(just as our soldiers believe that dying while fighting terrorism is a noble act).
Anyway, I'm getting off track here, the last point I'm making is that war creates an environment that produces soldiers. Our occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan have undoubtedly created the environment for a lot of people to hate America in the future. We see it as us doing the right thing, but a lot of them see it as us invading their country, and forcing western style democracy onto them. I give credit where it is due, we are doing much closer to the right thing today, we build roads, and buildings and homes, and I am absolutely one hundred percent proud of that. But how will we ever convince a son that we orphaned that we are a good people that is trying to help him(even if that isn't exactly a fair way to say it, the child who has lost a father to war will not have a rational mindset, his emotions will drive him, not his intellect)?
War is a business. We hated the Germans during WWII, now they're our friends. In 1904 we were allies with Japan, during WWII, we weren't, and now we are again. Great Britian was our enemy during the Revolution and the war of 1812, but now we have no closer ally. Propaganda will make any people believe that the enemy is somehow less than human, or unintelligent, but it's not true. We're business partners with Germany, Japan, and Great Britian now, THAT'S why we don't hate them anymore, not because they are somehow less evil, or more intelligent, or better, or worse, it's all just business.
I rest my case, I'm willing to debate this as much as anyone would like. And I'll admit that I'm wrong if you point out a hole in my logic.
P.S, sorry for the text wall.
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