Is it in our nature to wage war or is it something created by specific societies in specific times? It is true that wars and conflicts of varying degrees seem to have accompanied human societies since the earliest known settlements emerged in the Neolithic Age. On the other hand, during the Paleolithic Age, which is by far the longest age in human history dating approximately 200,000 years in length, it seems conflict was avoided as the hunting/gathering communities did their best to avoid conflict with other groups. Perhaps their small size gave more reality to conflict -- it wasn't someone else's sons and daughters being killed, but it could be their own or even their entire community at risk in any conflict with another group. For the longest period in our history as a species (Paleolithic Era) conflict was avoided, so I'm less inclined to agree with the view that "war is inherent in our nature" and more inclined to agree with the view that war and conflict is a by-product of leaders too far removed from the needs of society and too focused on the needs of specific economic interests. Since the days of the ancient world when Pharaohs and Kings sought to expand their boundaries and increase the size of their treasuries to more recent times when the British (19th, early 20th centuries) and the United States (now) used its military power to control segments of the Middle East and Central Asia (Iraq and Afghanistan) -- in all these instances royal or national interests have been defined by small groups of people at the expense of the many who fight, die, and are maimed by war. Nationalism and patriotism are used as tools to whip populations up into a frenzy and all of a sudden thousands of troops are sent to war in the name of supporting freedom when the real reasons are far more complicated and have more to do with political dominance and oil/gas extraction-pipelines than anything else. As far as I can tell, war is a creation of conditions shaped by governments and their perceived interests, not by the nature of human beings, who would rather be left alone to live their lives in peace.
Of course, things are made more complicated when racism is mixed in with Imperialist policies to create dis-compassionate, amoral polices that wipe out or enslave entire peoples as was the case with the European dominance of the New World, Africa, and parts of Asia during the 19th and 20th centuries. Generally speaking, that era provided foundations for the 1920s, which further set the seeds for Nazism and the genocidal aspects of the catastrophic Second World War. Was all this mayhem due to our nature as human beings? Or, was it a result of years of warped cultural and ideological thinking that heralded a cultural mentality best described as survival of the fittest at the expense of anyone who was not us? I tend to favor the latter as I believe it is borne out by the historical record. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have time and again shown us the power of nationalism and patriotism to manipulate and motivate populations toward war. We have seen this in the era of colonial wars, the two World Wars, all the way through to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For instance, national security and patriotism have been tapped into for the past eight years as the US continues to wage war even though continuing the wars now seems disconnected from the tragic spark of 9/11.
War usually doesn’t happen overnight, which is only realized once an examination of the conditions leading up to war, minus the nationalist feelings, can take place and provide a clear picture of whether a war was justified or not. It often takes years and specific historical conditions to create the conditions for war and peoples beliefs and attitudes are usually shaped by those conditions, which also means that perhaps what we call our "human nature" toward conflict is actually crafted to suit specific situations and whipped up when those situations require troops and public support. Lots has to be done to get societal war juices flowing. If so much has to be done to bring societies to war, then perhaps we are by nature more focused on survival in peacetime than we think? Or, perhaps we are by nature more a blank slate waiting to be filled up by culture and/or ideology depending on the time and place, depending on how peace or war is crafted?
Of course, things are made more complicated when racism is mixed in with Imperialist policies to create dis-compassionate, amoral polices that wipe out or enslave entire peoples as was the case with the European dominance of the New World, Africa, and parts of Asia during the 19th and 20th centuries. Generally speaking, that era provided foundations for the 1920s, which further set the seeds for Nazism and the genocidal aspects of the catastrophic Second World War. Was all this mayhem due to our nature as human beings? Or, was it a result of years of warped cultural and ideological thinking that heralded a cultural mentality best described as survival of the fittest at the expense of anyone who was not us? I tend to favor the latter as I believe it is borne out by the historical record. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have time and again shown us the power of nationalism and patriotism to manipulate and motivate populations toward war. We have seen this in the era of colonial wars, the two World Wars, all the way through to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For instance, national security and patriotism have been tapped into for the past eight years as the US continues to wage war even though continuing the wars now seems disconnected from the tragic spark of 9/11.
War usually doesn’t happen overnight, which is only realized once an examination of the conditions leading up to war, minus the nationalist feelings, can take place and provide a clear picture of whether a war was justified or not. It often takes years and specific historical conditions to create the conditions for war and peoples beliefs and attitudes are usually shaped by those conditions, which also means that perhaps what we call our "human nature" toward conflict is actually crafted to suit specific situations and whipped up when those situations require troops and public support. Lots has to be done to get societal war juices flowing. If so much has to be done to bring societies to war, then perhaps we are by nature more focused on survival in peacetime than we think? Or, perhaps we are by nature more a blank slate waiting to be filled up by culture and/or ideology depending on the time and place, depending on how peace or war is crafted?
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