News Reason for conflicts in the world?

[Darken-Sol]

Why would any nation capable of enforcing this agree to these rules?

who knows, honor maybe? the rest of the world could make them? i just thought it would make people less eager to go to war, while also satisfying our blood lust.

 

[OmCheeto]

who knows, honor maybe? the rest of the world could make them? i just thought it would make people less eager to go to war, while also satisfying our blood lust.

Star Trek, episode 23. A Taste of Armageddon.

The crew of the Enterprise visits a planet whose people fight a computer simulated war with a neighboring enemy planet. The crew finds that although the war is fought via computer simulation, the citizens of each planet have to submit to real executions inside 'disintegration booths' based on the results of simulated attacks. The crew of the Enterprise is caught in the middle and are told to submit themselves voluntarily for execution after being 'killed' in an 'enemy attack'.

I believe the moral of the story was that if war is made too sterile and clean and no one has to look at blood and guts and brain bits, it will go on forever. Even after no one alive knows what started the fight, nor why they are still killing each other, other than, it's just the way it is supposed to be.

My apologies for not reading through the entire thread before posting, but this one just jumped out at me.

 

[OmCheeto]

"Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." Golda Meir, 1957.

That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard.

Sounds like Andre's quote to me:

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.

I don't find anything absurd about either one of those quotes. hmmm... Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[DaveC426913]

I don't find anything absurd about either one of those quotes. hmmm... Maybe I'm missing something.

Golda's comment is absurd because it's so naive. (It was the 50's...)
It seems to suggest war is entirely their doing. America loves its children yet still meddles in the politics and future of Middle Eastern nations. If they loved their children more, would they decide their children don't need oil to power their cars?

Andre's is naive in the same way, yet spoken in the 21st century.

 

[OmCheeto]

I can't believe no one mentioned http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalomania" .

The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.

Alexander the Great

During his final years, and especially after the death of Hephaestion, Alexander the Great began to exhibit signs of megalomania and paranoia. His extraordinary achievements, coupled with his own ineffable sense of destiny and the flattery of his companions, may have combined to produce this effect.

 

[Andre]

I can't believe no one mentioned http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalomania" .

Not everybody is a megalomaniac and if such a person got the power he wants too, he still had to convince a large group of people that he should be the leader in the holy war against the made-up enemy, as I elaborated upon here. He would not stand a chance if the world around him reacted as Dr Spock

One could also consider that group think is the same as herd instinct as ultimately it's groups against groups, etnic, race, nationalities, anything you can make your own group distinctive of others.

Think also about primitive survival instincts, the urge to survive as individual, to have offspring survive and have the group (species, tribe, etc) survive.

Maybe think a bit about naivity too.

 

[OmCheeto]

Not everybody is a megalomaniac and if such a person got the power he wants too, he still had to convince a large group of people that he should be the leader in the holy war against the made-up enemy, as I elaborated upon here. He would not stand a chance if the world around him reacted as Dr Spock

One could also consider that group think is the same as herd instinct as ultimately it's groups against groups, etnic, race, nationalities, anything you can make your own group distinctive of others.

Think also about primitive survival instincts, the urge to survive as individual, to have offspring survive and have the group (species, tribe, etc) survive.

Maybe think a bit about naivity too.

Hmmm... I imagine you are referring to Dr. Benjamin Spock, but the google image selection makes sense too:

We always referred to him as "Mr Spock".

I am as usual, in general agreement with your analysis, and would expand upon my thoughts, but as always, am late for work. Ciao!

 

[DaveC426913]

We always referred to him as "Mr Spock".

So did the rest of the world - before the internets came along and every idiot could attach any old metadata to an image.