Happy New Year!!Greta wrote: ↑December 31st, 2017, 6:14 pm Yes, different eras. That was a time when the US were thought to be defenders from tyranny; even Vietnam could be seen as a miscalculation of power and reach, a mistake from which to learn. However, the Middle Eastern military adventurism of the west this millennium has been shocking.I have attended just two demonstrations in my life and one was prior to Australia's amoral involvement in the Iraq war thanks to some desperate trickery, lying and obfuscation by our PM at the time, John Howard. I will never forget how he airily brushed off demonstrations including about half a million protesters with "Everyone has the right to an opinion" and claiming to have not yet made a decision while the warships were already at the Gulf.Count Lucanor wrote: ↑December 31st, 2017, 11:55 amI do find myself compelled to tackle the arguments in favor of war or its rules of engagement. Nothing deserves more condemnation than warmongering, as one the most distinctive signs of human stupidity.
Generally, today, we have more subtle means of conflict, although with a population of seven billion, you have to expect an increasing number to fall to warfare; it's simply too many people to keep peaceful, given resource and systemic limitations.
Decades of war movies propaganda have successfully convinced the general public of the silly idea that the Allies in WWII were the ultimate representation of nobility, honor and integrity, while their counterparts were nothing less than demons. The fact that the atrocities committed by the Allies during WWII, perhaps no less heinous than those of Vietnam, pass the judgement of history almost completely ignored, prove once again that history is written by the victors. Closer to the truth is that the barbarity of war infects all parties involved, because all humans actually have the same potential for sainthood as for wickedness. War just deploys the conditions for the lack of social accountability of individual actions, where the evils of the human condition can surface and develop their full potential. Give some power to a harmless nobody and you're in for the spectacle of a vicious killing machine.
Since I was a child, always knew of wars and entering adulthood I witnessed a military operation, but back then alternative media was scarce. My first real waking up to the lies and systematic manipulation in a major conflict came with the two gulf wars and the period between them. If I had any respect for the military profession, it dissipated right there.
Besides not being a big fan of Malthusianism, I doubt that it is the masses that cannot keep themselves in peace. At least the modern sophisticated forms of war appear to be not so spontaneous, but the planned adventure and instigation of a few political leaders with the help of the media they control.