Does War create Peace?

[Ninetailefox92]

I would say war and peace are opposites in balance with each other, you can't have both at the same time in one place but I would also say they are intrinsically linked with each other, you cannot have war without first having peace but you cannot have peace without having war

 

[Writer]

This is more about suffering but it's still the same, but take time to read this. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this thread..

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

The city of Omelas is a city filled with happiness as the whole city comes together for the annual Summer Festival. The young and the old gathered on this day meeting on the north end of the city in the meadow called the Green Fields where they would eat food, the children would play and all would listen to music.
The city was so joyous that even the horses need not a bridle, just a halter. The citizens of Omelas can not be labeled as simple folk or as goody-goody.For whatever brought the citizens of Omelas happiness is what took place, whether it be an (naughty words insert here). However, there is one thing that is not found in Omelas and that is guilt. So how is it that such a place exists where complete happiness is found?
Under neath one of the beautiful public buildings in the basement, or in a cellar in a private home is a room. Behind the locked door of this room, that has no windows and houses old mops is a child. This child is either a boy or a girl, around the age of ten yet physically it looks six. It was either born with a defective or perhaps it became that way through years malnutrition and neglect.
No one is allowed in the room except for when one person or several people come into to either kick the child and refill the water jug and food bucket. The only rule the town has is that no one is ever allowed to speak a kind word to the child, ever. Every one in the town knows about the child and the children of the town are told about it as well at a certain age.
Even though nothing can be done about the child being locked down in the cellar there are some people who choose to sacrifice their happiness and walk away from the city of Omelas.

 

[Zinc // Akash754]

I'll put it very simply: War = fighting = death = not peace.

 

[Scott]

Aren't their families going to cry about their losses tho? You have to look at these kind of things objectively.

I honestly disagree strongly with this viewpoint. Though from a strictly American (or whatever nationality one belongs to), this is a victory, it still does not bring peace. Yes, you have ended a threat to your nation, but you have accomplished that task through the murder of everyone involved. Their families will be heartbroken, their friends will be enraged, and there will be no lasting peace.

You can't think of war just as a matter of us and them. Every single one of the actors in a war is a human being, and that has to be remembered, no matter how misguided, radical, or violent they may be. Though war is sometimes necessary, you can't view it as a cleansing force. However you frame it, killing people is killing people, and just because we do it for a "good" cause, doesn't mean it brings peace.

You also have to look at it this way: How many lives will be saved because of the elimination of terrorist groups? It doesn't bring full peace, no, but it does bring peace to possible future victims and Americans who may have been terrorized if they weren't brought down. And, also, you have to think about whom these terrorist organizations are. Most of them have drug their families into it, and only tantalized their minds into thinking that terrorism is the way to go.

 

[Zeno]

You also have to look at it this way: How many lives will be saved because of the elimination of terrorist groups? It doesn't bring full peace, no, but it does bring peace to possible future victims and Americans who may have been terrorized if they weren't brought down. And, also, you have to think about whom these terrorist organizations are. Most of them have drug their families into it, and only tantalized their minds into thinking that terrorism is the way to go.

And what if you look at it from the other point of view? Families who have done nothing wrong but live in the Middle East live in constant fear of drone strikes, of American soldiers breaking down their doors and ransacking their homes. We do not have any effective filter in our wars; we kill indiscriminately, regardless of whether we are killing violent radicals or ordinary citizens. To the people of these countries, WE are the terrorists, and they are doing nothing more than protecting themselves.

If you ever choose to accept a belief as your own, make sure you examine both sides of the situation. If you accept a belief blindly, you fall prey to the same kind of misinformation that creates radical terrorists.

 

[Blazerboy | Noah]

there is no such thing as peace. war definitely gets us pretty close to it though. not in the war i mean, but after the war is over there is definitely a time of non-violence as rebuilding processes begin. peace is boring though.

 

[Scott]

And what if you look at it from the other point of view? Families who have done nothing wrong but live in the Middle East live in constant fear of drone strikes, of American soldiers breaking down their doors and ransacking their homes. We do not have any effective filter in our wars; we kill indiscriminately, regardless of whether we are killing violent radicals or ordinary citizens. To the people of these countries, WE are the terrorists, and they are doing nothing more than protecting themselves.

If you ever choose to accept a belief as your own, make sure you examine both sides of the situation. If you accept a belief blindly, you fall prey to the same kind of misinformation that creates radical terrorists.

Yeah, once again, I see your point; however, we shouldn't just let these terrorists murder and kidnap these innocent people. We just need to have a better plan, which I hope is being worked on.

 

[BaccaBoy1999]

yes

 

[Col_StaR]

Going to reboot this because I like discussions like these.

I'm a military buff, but I am fascinated by war because of what it accomplishes, both good and bad. There is no question that murder and destruction in the name of an idea or a flag is a terrible waste of humanity's potential, but it is inevitable with human nature. Peace is an idea that every person strives for, but that same human nature sabotages that dream. Peace and War are in constant flux against each other, and that will never change.

People always believe that violence begets more violence, and for the most part that is true. There are plenty of examples where the change is bad, where the results of one war creates the foundation for the next one. But humanity's relationship with war is more complicated than that. I believe is that war simply creates a drastic change, and whether it creates war or peace depends on how people respond to that change.

It took a war to end the bellicose Nazi empire, it took peaceful independence from colonial European powers to lead to many wars in former colonies (much of the unrest in Africa and the Middle East is tied back to colonialism and sectarianism), and it took an unofficial war in Somalia to bring peace and order to Mogadishu, Somalia after 20+ years of anarchy and instability.

War changes everything, but sometimes that change leads to (a temporary) peace.

 

[BaccaBoy1999]

Going to reboot this because I like discussions like these.

I'm a military buff, but I am fascinated by war because of what it accomplishes, both good and bad. There is no question that murder and destruction in the name of an idea or a flag is a terrible waste of humanity's potential, but it is inevitable with human nature. Peace is an idea that every person strives for, but that same human nature sabotages that dream. Peace and War are in constant flux against each other, and that will never change.

People always believe that violence begets more violence, and for the most part that is true. There are plenty of examples where the change is bad, where the results of one war creates the foundation for the next one. But humanity's relationship with war is more complicated than that. I believe is that war simply creates a drastic change, and whether it creates war or peace depends on how people respond to that change.

It took a war to end the bellicose Nazi empire, it took peaceful independence from colonial European powers to lead to many wars in former colonies (much of the unrest in Africa and the Middle East is tied back to colonialism and sectarianism), and it took an unofficial war in Somalia to bring peace and order to Mogadishu, Somalia after 20+ years of anarchy and instability.

War changes everything, but sometimes that change leads to (a temporary) peace.

Col teach my world history please my teacher right now sucks so much

 

[StaticReach]

Ahhh, I have been contemplating such a thought and believe quite contrary from the regular belief of war= bad. After much pondering I came to the conclusion that war is peace and the absence without it would lower the survival of the human race to almost extinction. I am led to believe this for first and for mostly take the instance of a dictatorial leader attempting to take over the world (has already happened). In order for the countries to have gained a reasonable portion of security, they had to fight this person regardless of the person's army size or advantage. It would result in the simple conclusion of a do or die situation therefore, propelling war to happen would be a need in the hope of perusing peace. We also have to take into consideration that mankind generally is not all good and there will be those who will try and harem the innocent causing us to send troops to aid in an occurring war. Many people believe that war does not create peace, but the whole act of going to war is in order to create peace and stability which therefore meaning if war does not create peace then all soldiers who have died have passed away with no gain or cause. Lastly we need to relate to our history, in order for us to even be breathing, men and women had to fight for our survival regardless of the situation. *Just a side note some wars are fought for liberation and are needed for the preserving of human rights*

I do agree the whole act of killing others is wrong and makes me crestfallen just thinking about, but we also need to realize such sacrifices are needed for the survival of mankind. All in all war is unavoidable and needs to happen in order to reach the tedious destination of peace.

 

[Col_StaR]

Col teach my world history please my teacher right now sucks so much

Funny you mention that. In my Sophomore year of high school, I had an Honors World History class with a teacher who was really nice and bubbly but rather young and worryingly naive. As I stated earlier, I'm a military buff and a bit of a military historian as well, so going over the units that involved war were super easy for me. Several times, I knew more about certain topics than my teacher, who got her Master's Degree in this stuff. So there was more than a few times I was teaching the class a thing or two about the world's bloodiest conflicts, World War 2 especially.

History is a lot more interesting when things blow up, but I also learned that people learn to love history the more in-depth you go. Kids who probably didn't care much about history (except for maybe their grade) seemed genuinely interested once you start throwing some interesting trivia at them.

• In order to withdraw the surrounded Allied forces from Dunkirk, France, the British organized a flotilla of eight hundred of ships, ranging from a military destroyer to fishing boats to floating rafts of wood, to cross the English channel and ferry over 300,000 stranded soldiers back to the safety of England. This move was paramount in the Allied war effort, and was called, "The Miracle at Dunkirk".
• General George S. Patton was a strong believer in reincarnation, and he attributes this to his success during the invasion of Sicily and Italy. He believed he was the reincarnation of a Roman foot soldier, and that his military conquests across the Mediterranean campaign were simply him reenacting his former life's work.
• The Japanese Long Lance torpedo was perhaps the best in the world at the time, using wooden fins to stabilize their advanced design to attack targets at long distances with impeccable accuracy. This compares to the American torpedoes, whose design was so bad that it wasn't uncommon for the torpedoes to be shot out of a submarine, have it circle around, and strike the same submarine in the rear.
• There was a battle in which Germans teamed up with Americans to fight Nazis and rescue French people. The battle was known as the Battle for Castle Itter, and in it members of the anti-Nazi German Wehrmacht teamed up with American tankers to fight off fanatical elements of the Nazi SS and rescue 14 French VIP's from a fortified castle. You can read about it in this book, "The Last Battle".

I've got plenty more facts where that came from. Maybe some day, we should have, "StaR Teaches History" lessons on TeamSpeak. Or I can just encourage everyone to read http://www.badassoftheweek.com/