Question of the Day

[ayoub]

WAR, Uh, Yeah, What is it good for? (Seriously, what is war good for?)

Comments

[beatzz.livejournal.com]

History tells us that war is handy for a bunch of things. I think, though, that war is mostly fueled by greed. People want things. They want more land. They want more money. They want people to worship the gods they believe in. They want people to speak their language and obey their sovereign.

Basically, war is conversion. It's good, and I use that term so very loosely, for spreading culture. It's not so good for the culture that you're moving in on, but that's a whole different story.

It's really funny that you should mention war. We were just taking up WWI and WWII in our World History class. Nothing good seemed to come from those wars. There was a lot of death and not much else. We stopped a German empire from arising, but we lost a lot of lives because Hitler was full of himself and his Aryan supremacy beliefs. War brings NO GOOD. Yeah, I'm so rambling now... Sorry... >_

[chanphenglew.livejournal.com]

I remember one conversation I had with a government official of a small former colony. I said, "Peace is the best alternative." Although his country had suffered from war, he started on this whole rant, which was basically the you gotta break eggs to make an omelet argument. So that's an opinion but not mine. I work with people who are still getting injured by bombs dropped 40 years ago. There's nothing good in it. Nothing.

[thermalsatsuma.livejournal.com]

If you don't have wars, then what are all of the historical reenactment groups going to do in 200 years time? :-)

[the-ravyn.livejournal.com]

That depends on who starts it.  In a government vs. government situation, not a blessed thing, not in today's day and age, anyway.  As another commenter pointed out, those kind of wars are fueled by power and greed.

However, in a people vs. government situation, it can result in good sometimes.  If not for that type, there wouldn't be one country on this planet who could celebrate its independence.  This kind of war doesn't necessarily have to involve guns and bombs, either.  Think Ghandi's passive resistence.

[mighty-rontor.livejournal.com]

Culling the masses, strengthening people's resolve (either pro- or anti- ) developing technology and medicines, and making those who have survived it appreciate peace all the more. It also keeps people from starting it, which shows its own, built-in irony.

[cmerun12.livejournal.com]

Well... It's a yin-yang thing - you can't have peace without war. By the same token, you can't have war without peace.

[chiropteraclan.livejournal.com]

I honestly do not know. I guess it can be for causing large-scale change, but that can only really be good if you are on the winning side...

[dishapeaches.livejournal.com]

Well, it USED to be that wars were good for the economy at home. Not true anymore though. I don't thinks it's good for anything except to give the Bush Administration a reason to siphon off good taxpayer dollars and send the money to other countries to 'rebuild'. What a crock. They caused it. Let them fix their own shit. We have our own starving children and homeless people and stuff to spend OUR OWN money on.

War is good for nothing. It's just a power trip to *some* countries to gain control of things, like resources (OIL). It's funny - we tell our children to 'play nice' yet we show them how we can invade another country and strongarm them into doing what WE think is right. The ultimate bullies.

You had to get me started, didn't you? LOL!

[amante-donne.livejournal.com]

it is good for 1: if all your buildings are old and you want to demolish them without spending money 2: if your country is over populated and you need to bring it down somewhat. part from that, not a lot

[donnickcottage.livejournal.com]

There will always be Papa Docs, Idi Amins, Saddams, Kim Jongs, Stalins, Khans, Hitlers..... Hell, in Somalia as well as a dozen other countries there are 50 men who are in that category who's names we haven't even heard yet, each one climbing over dead bodies in his quest for a claim to fame. We fight them, or we live under their thumbs. It'd be grand if there were another choice, but there's not. That doesn't mean every war is justifiable or right, but it does mean they are inevitable. I for one refuse to live under a military or theological dictatorship, and I'm willing to die to make sure that doesn't come to be.

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

[alainn-mactire.livejournal.com]

Absolutely nothing. Unless you're a megalomaniac who wants more Oil.

By war, I understand the needless destruction, invasion and murder of another country or your own people, as opposed to the Non-violent Protest of say, Ghandi. Now that can bring about all manner of positive change.

[fox-bard.livejournal.com]

Forced evolution in the face of survival. Power shifts and balance. Territory control. Just plain old making some other fucker do what you want them to do, whether they want to or not, because you have more troops and weapons.

[yndy.livejournal.com]

War, the old-fashioned way, is good for land and resources acquisition.

The way we practice it today, it's simply a drain of resources and people... since it's no longer "PC" to actually take over a country when you defeat them in a war.

Ah, the good old days.

[stalkings.livejournal.com]

absolutely nothing! :p

[spacedlaw.livejournal.com]

Scrabble.
Handy little word, fairly easy to place...

[donnickcottage.livejournal.com]

Lol.

[mishi-ragdoll.livejournal.com]

shit man, im still trying to figure that one out.

[ccupguy.livejournal.com]

War is a poignant reminder that we still have a mighty long way to go on the evolutionary ladder.

ccup

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

If you wanted to teach a baby a lesson, would you cut it's head off?

War is not violence and killing. War is controlled violence, for a purpose. That purpose is to support your government's decisions by force. Be it a policy, the supposed "greater good", economics and the good of your people over their people, or defense of your way of life, or life period. The purpose of war should never be to kill the enemy simply for the sake of killing him.
War seems selfish, but people are inherently selfish.
Which is why H-Bombs, and Atom Bombs, and Thermo-nuclear-7th dimension-hyper-cyber-kill em' all- McBoom sticks make no more sense then paddling a baby with a battle axe. I see war as an inevitable, but sometimes we (as a race) go too far. The greatest challenge that humans will ever face is controlling our own inventions, from the crossbow up to the Atom Bomb, not to mention the truly powerful inventions, like society, sovereign franchise, and government.

Will we ever, as a race, get to sing "We ain't-a-gonna study no war no more"?

Maybe. And I bet, when we do, some other aggressive race will come and wipe us out for our real-estate.

if you wanted to teach a baby a lesson, would you rip it's teddy bear's head off?

[aylan.livejournal.com]

yeah, that is a purpose. but it's still violence and killing, whatever the purpose. when the smoke is clear and the guns have cooled, it is quite obvious that violence and killing have happened on a huge scale.

Re: if you wanted to teach a baby a lesson, would you rip it's teddy bear's head off?

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

And when the smoke clears, when the screams of the dying stop, when the fires die out, yes, there is evidence that violence has happened.
And somewhere else in the world there are people walking down the street talking about music, last night at the coffee shop, Hunter S. Thompson, or whatever without fear.
Those fortunate people have wars and violence and death to thank for their little piece of peace, for their right to have their own opinion, to speak when they wish, worship who (or what) they wish, sing what they want, and only read the first couple sentences of anything and then form an immediate opinion and rebuttal.

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

Damnit. I hate when I can't reply to a comment that I can't see, but know is there.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

You should be able to now :D

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

Plus:

War begets invention.
An opinion that I can back up with many, many historical references.

[aylan.livejournal.com]

population control

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

A culling of the herd?

[eternalxwhisper.livejournal.com]

Killing assholes.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

Good reason :D

But the asshole supply is endless...

[eternalxwhisper.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I think this is why there will always be some type of war. History has proven that.