22. OMNI: WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, May 19, 2021
JOHN HORGAN ON THE END OF WAR by JOHN HORGAN
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/john-horgan-on-the-end-of-war AUGUST 26, 2014
War is a fact of human nature. As
long as we exist, it exists. That’s how the argument goes.
But longtime Scientific American writer John Horgan disagrees. Applying the scientific method to war leads Horgan to a radical conclusion: biologically speaking, we are just as likely to be peaceful as violent. War is not preordained, and furthermore, it should be thought of as a solvable, scientific problem—like curing cancer. But war and cancer differ in at least one crucial way: whereas cancer is a stubborn aspect of nature, war is our creation. It’s our choice whether to unmake it or not.
In The End of
War, Horgan examines dozens
of examples and counterexamples—chimpanzees and bonobos, warring and peaceful
indigenous people, World War I and Vietnam, Margaret Mead and General
Sherman—as he finds his way to war’s complicated origins. Horgan argues for a
far-reaching paradigm shift with profound implications for policy students,
ethicists, military men and women, teachers, philosophers, or really, any
engaged citizen.
The
End of War is now out in resplendent paperback form, with a brand new introduction
by Douglas Fry. You can pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore, or
here at the McSweeney’s Store. Recently, Horgan
wrote about the book for the Scientific American Blog Network.- - -
War Is Our Most Urgent Problem.
Let’s Solve It
Is there a more urgent problem in the world today than war?
And when I say “war” in this post, I mean also militarism, the culture of war,
the armies, arms, industries, policies, plans, propaganda, prejudices,
rationalizations that make lethal group conflict not only possible but also
likely.
My answer to
the above question: No, there is no more urgent problem than war. Not climate
change, pollution, overpopulation, oppression, poverty, inequality, hunger,
disease.
If you seek solutions to any of these problems, you should
also devote at least some effort to ending war, for several reasons. First, war
exacerbates or perpetuates our other problems, either directly or by draining
precious resources away from their solution. War subverts democracy and
promotes tyranny and fanaticism; kills and sickens and impoverishes people;
ravages nature. War is a keystone problem, the eradication of which would make
our other social problems much more tractable.
Second, war is more readily solvable than many other human
afflictions. War is not like a hurricane, earthquake or Ebola plague, a natural
disaster foisted on us by forces beyond our control. War is entirely our
creation, the product of human choices. War could end tomorrow if a relatively
small group of people around the world chose to end it.
Third, more than any of our other problems, war represents a
horrific moral crime. Particularly when carried out by the U.S. and other
nations, or by groups that aspire to or claim the legitimacy of states, war
makes hypocrites of us and makes a mockery of human progress. We cannot claim
to be civilized as long as war or even the threat of war persists.
Yes, annual war casualties have
declined sharply since the cataclysmic first half of the 20th century. Over the
last few decades, war has killed far fewer people than cancer or automobile
accidents. But in our heavily—and nuclear—armed world, war is a few decisions
away from becoming exponentially more destructive. And even the killing of a
single child by a U.S. drone, Israeli rocket or Syrian tank is an abomination
that corrupts us all. MORE
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