Why there is war, suffering, dischord and strife in the world.
 

I just realized it. Used to think it was a cosmic balance thing, that evil must exist for good to fight because the struggle makes us feel alive, and that might be part of it, but at heart it's a survival function written into society as a whole; Darwinian laws working on a greater scale.

In a perfect society, we like to think, there is peace and unity and homogentity. The problem, I realized, is that such a society is vurnerable to outside threats. A diverse entity - be it a single creature or a society - is more capable of dealing with changes in its environment. In WarCraft terms, if you build an army entirely of Grunts they can be wiped out completely by a single Gryphon rider.

A society can reach a state of perfection, Marx believed, where no further developments are needed or even possible. It's a pretty thought. I used to dream of it. But it can only work as long as everyone is the same. If we were attacked by aliens or, more likely, dissidents within, we'd be completely defenseless, not even remembering how to fight.

I'm not saying I like fighting. (Well, I do, personally.) I'd much prefer if society as a whole were at peace. I don't like the idea of people suffering. But it's an inevitable part of life as we know it, which strives endlessly to improve its ability to overcome threats; to live on.

Thank you.

Shouldn't this be in discussion?

And if you ask me, there is war and strife int he world because people can never understand each other fully, people don't want to understand each other fully, and because people can be utter fucktards at times.

I remember reading a short story where a man was seeking this exact answer. The final sentence of the story really ring true. "How else would you learn?" If there was no suffering in the world, we would be content as we are, but instead we strive to learn to overcome that suffering.

War is not a survival function 'written' into society. War is a destructive consequence stemming from circumstances both imposed and realized. It is made possible by the sociological condition of dissociation.

Dissociation does not exist in all societies. There are societies that have never experienced war and won't, because they don't understand the concept of war.

Even considering dissociational (ie every modern nation today) societies, there are a wide range of reasons and excuses for the existences of each particular war. It's important to recognize that the sociological condition of dissociation is responsible for the ABILITY FOR WAR TO EXIST. But War itself is a man-made thing. Every war was chosen and created by world leaders.

i personally think it's becuase the human race as a whole is one big asshole...but yeah i guess that disociation thing works too...

And what would that be?

In short, it's the ability to look at a human being and not recognize them as a human being. The ability to get up close to someone and instead only see them for what they represent.

The reason why we can go to war with other human beings is the same reason why we can yell and abuse customer service representatives in stores, hate or dislike cops, be afraid of doctors, etc..

Not to get to deep into it.... but when you look at a cop you don't see him or her as a human being, you see them as a cop. They are enforcing rules, oppressing minorities, running into collapsing buildings, or whatever stereotypes you have of cops be they good or bad.

A huge amount of time we spend in public is dramaturgical. We play a role we are expected to play. We play gender roles, age roles, class roles. When you walk into a store you play a customer role, when you walk into a doctor's office you play a patient role. People who try to break out of their expected roles are punished, outcast, disliked.

This can be transformed onto the battlefield. An enemy soldier represents an animal, a beast to be killed. Nothing more. The enemy doesn't have thoughts, feelings, or consciousness, or at least that's how a lot of veterans of wars describe their feelings toward their opponent. One of the reasons many older veterans have such scarring psychological damage is because as they gain more life experience (it's no secret that most soldiers are 18-25 years old) and after exiting the fog of war they realize that they were killing not animals, but human beings just like themselves and their families and friends.

The ability to "not see a human" is a well documented sociological condition that is known as dissociation. It was studied a lot regarding the Nazis. One Jewish prisoner recalled helping a German soldier put on his uniform. While in his underwear he was nothing but a snot nosed little boy. But after having his dark uniform and tight boots put on, he became a monster. He stepped into his role as a sadist and murderer.

Dissociation makes combat possible between individual soldiers, but it is very important to remember that this has nothing to do with declarations of war between heads of state. When presidents, dictators, fuhrers, or kings go to war it is not out of dissociation. The decision to go to war is a conscious decision geared usually by the individual psychology of that man, his faults, fears and character however weak, strong, or irrational. A great book to read is "Why Nations Go to War" by John Stoessinger. He has several case studies examining the crucial moments before world leaders CHOSE to go to war and what caused them to make that choice.

Moving to Discussion because it's earned it.

Yaay, discussion . . . Eh, I didn't notice there was a discussion forum. >_>

To clarify, I didn't mean "war" literally, just bad things in general.

Heres a fun paradox:

"The only way we may gain peace is by warfare"

Now, if aliens did invade, they would be more advanced, understanding concepts farther than we do, so most likely, they would be peaceful. Peace won't happen till we can embarce each ther and say "We are all man, let us act toghter."

So all ideas of racism, facism, and other such thigns would have to be kicked to the ground and no longer exist.

The reason people will fight is they don't know their enemy personably. If they did, wars would never happen. Would you ever go and kill your mother in warfare? Nope.