February 19, 2003

So, Let’s Talk
About War

Sven Bellamy
Features Editor

Years ago during a conversation
about war, a friend of mine said,
“war is one of life's great neces-
sary evils” Let’s think about this
statement.

War is defined in the Oxford
dictionary as armed conflict
between nations. Armed conflict
implies death, but living things
generally work to maintain life.
War can be argued to be evil—an
evil that has some positive effect,
once the conflict is resolved.

Even if you agree that war has
positive effects, does that make it
necessary?

Could the same effects be
achieved through entirely peace-
ful means? If the positive effects
of war can be achieved peaceful-
ly, then war is not necessary.

What seems paramount to
agree to, is that war is conflict
taken to an extreme. Conflict, in
and of itself, is good, and is part
of life. In an interpersonal con-
text, conflict offers opportunity
for people to learn about them-
selves and others; it can enhance
relationships; it can reduce ten-
sion; create change; enhance self-
esteem; a chance to identify and
meet one’s needs; and it can
teach humility. Running from a
conflict is to deny the chance to
embrace change and growth,
both on an intrapersonal, and
interpersonal levels. So, coming
from the perspective that war is a
conflict, albeit on the extreme
side of the conflict scale, it must
have some benefits.

A professor once said to a class
of students that he disagreed
with war, but when asked about
the war in Afghanistan to remove
the Taliban from power, he
admitted that improved condi-
tions for women might be a pos-
itive spin-off from such a war.

More recently, during an inter-
view with a Canadian journalist
who was in Afghanistan during
the initial battles of the
Afghanistan conflict, he said that
he was surprised to see such a
large number of unveiled women
in the province of Kandahar, an
area that is historically strict with
Islamic law. He also said that
homosexual relationships between
kids was accepted socially and
openly, that heroin culture is very
pervasive, although there is a blan-
ket prohibition on any harmful
intoxicant (that is taken that
recreational use is okay, so long

Features

Section Editor: Sven Bellamy

 

 

as responsibilities to family and
community are not neglected).
Now, I am not saying that
there are not miserable condi-
tions for women in other coun-
tries, but it seems to be easier to
look at what is going on in those
other countries, rather than stop-
ping to look at what’s going on
in our own neighbourhoods. For
example, just look at how many
years it took police to discover
who was behind the killing of
female workers on
Vancouver's East side, and how
many people did not respond to
the screams of a young girl for
help in a middle-class Coquitlam

sex

neighbourhood.
As far as our self-proclaimed
liberal mindset, people in

Canada who are sexually orien-
tated in any way other than het-
erosexually are still discriminated
against, and ignored by impor-
tant social institutions. Use the
United Church of Canada as an
example. Years ago, when it was
first declared that this church
was going to ordain ministers
who were known to be homosex-
ually orientated, congregations
were suddenly torn to pieces, and
the United Church was only the

first in a line of Christian
denominations to. start this
process.

Drug use is another topic that
is revealing. Canada’s reluctance
to embrace cultures that exists
too pervasively in this society is
nothing short of ludicrous. How
many people are recreational
tokers? How many people take
the occasional hoot, but only if
they can keep it a secret from
family, colleagues, and co-work-
ers? (And if they are found out
say, “but I didn’t inhale!”)

Now, what has happened
before this point in the story is
mention of a series of conflicts
that are present within Canadian
society, conflicts that need to be
dealt resolution
found.

The next question to address is
why are we involved in some
other country’s conflicts, when
we have our own important con-
flicts to work through?

It might be something else in
the human psyche, a condition
known as fight-or-flight.

Fight-or-flight is a term that is
used to describe human approach
to conflict. Basically, when

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humans (or any other animal, for
that matter) come under stress,
and adrenalin begins to flow, an
inner conflict occurs, and several
decisions have to be made very
quickly: Do I stand my ground,
or run like hell? Do I face this
problem head-on, looking for
personal growth and community
awareness, or do I run and hide
until the crisis is past? Or
because I am stronger than the
opponent I am facing, do I try to
squash them like the bug they
are? Fight-or-flight is a conflict
that everyone I know has to deal
with everyday, on different levels.
Sometimes it is much easier to
look outside, and find some
problem elsewhere to deal with.
It's much easier to place judg-
ment on others, rather than stop
and take that proverbial long,
hard look at ourselves.

If we elevate this analogy to a
global scale, then that is exactly
what I think is going on in
North America. Allow me to
make this judgment, as a
Canadian, as a North American,
as someone who has travelled to
Eastern countries, and lived in
other cultural contexts: We are
collectively too busy, stuck with
our heads up our asses, to stop
and take that long-hard look at
ourselves. Instead we lay blame
on other people and other coun-
tries, who we conveniently label

terrorists (those people by the
way, call themselves freedom
fighters), and are then, quite
falsely, absolved of all responsi-
bility to deal with the issues that
really need to be dealt with—the
issues close to home.

Some people may tell you,
“Pah-shaw, this guy is talking
gibberish,” but there is one more
side to this story that needs to be
presented, and that is the argu-
ment that war is the greatest act
of terrorism
mankind.

People from one country, two
cities in particular, know this to
be true more than anyone else:
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How
many lives were snuffed out in
minutes—no—seconds? How
many lives, innocent lives, have
been lost in civilian casualties, in
countless wars, especially in the
last hundred years? Some figures:
1.5 million civilians in Iraq have
died over the past ten years
because of UN sanctions. That's
more people than live in British
Columbia, and by civilians, it
goes without saying that men,
women, and children are all tal-
lied in that number. And yet,
there is talk of attacking Iraq, to
remove Saddam, because he is
harbouring — terrorists, and
weapons of mass destruction.

Here’s some more news. The
United States has employed ter-

available to

 

rorists, including Osama Bin-
Laden, Manuel Noriega, Saddam
Hussein, Klaus Barbie, and a
whole host of others, as deemed
fit. This is mind boggling.
Canada is not absolved of guilt
because we so closely support
what the United States does.

We in North America are just
propagating the message put
forth in Rudyard Kipling’s poem,
The White Mans Burden. North
Americans don't seem to think
that people in these other coun-
tries can take care of themselves,
SO we step in.

If the people in Iraq want to
get rid of Saddam, then they will,
on their own terms. If they want
help doing it, then they will ask.
But, the way things are going
right now with the invasions of
Islamic countries by the infidel
nations of the West, instead of
stopping and dealing with our
own social ills, we are creating
more problems for ourselves than
we are going to be able to deal
with. The direction North
America is moving in now is one
of impending conflict, on our
own soil, from many different
fronts, toward a social war that is
going to dramatically change our
society whether we like it, or not.
War is a great evil, but it isn’t
necessary.

 

 

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