Why do we have armies?

reply to post by American-philosopher


Both. It is not war per se, but rather, our immature approach to war that is the cause of dis-honourable combat, thus cruelty and the torture of innocents. Looking into the way we treat our animals, we seem to have a childish perspective, usually we become all emotional in order to save the majestic creatures, yet become cruel and bait and poison the ones that we think are "out of control". When it comes to the process of killing and eating, we are equally immature as a species. I remember showing a five year old child (yes, five) at a zoo that what they call a chicken (he saw the animal) is the "chicken" that we eat for dinner - he then proceeded to cry and wail in disbelief. We are incredibly shielded, however the industries that literally put food on our table and manage the vast economic system that we are are part of are ultimatley the source of countless wars, bombings, cruelty, and unrest in the world. And ironically, we are the ones that seem to be trying to play the "good guys" in all of this...

Originally posted by American-philosopher

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."

reply to post by Noncompatible

 

Thats probably one of the only statements of washingtons that I disagree with. A show of force is supposed to make the opposing party peaceful? The protesters grow more peaceful when they see the riot police decked out in full riot gear?

Not peaceful. Submissive. Armies are basically just an extension of the dominance displays you see in nature.

We cannot rise above our nature, as yet. Civilization is but a thin veneer that coats it and adds varying reasoning to enable us to justify the dominance display.

After all we fight for "peace". Oppress to protect "freedom" and kill to protect "a way of life".

Water, oil, food, land, ethnicity, political systems, religion...the list goes on and on...We can always find a way to fight for what is "right".
To do so we need armies.

"As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of exalted characters."
~Edward Gibbon

reply to post by SystemResistor


I agree with that. That reminds me of a scene in the movie Inglourious Basterds, where a nazi guy was talking to mana who was hiding jews in his house. He said what is your reaction when you see a rat? and the guys says I want to kill it. The nazi says why? has the rat done anything to you? and the guys says no? there just said to carry disease. I found that interesting because I would have that same reaction if came upon a rat in my house.

Originally posted by American-philosopher
So I came upon this question, of why do we have armies when I was reading Nietzsche. He says that the nation state tells its people we need an army for self defense. (Even though some governments will never admit the army is there for occasional conquest.) So the army is there and is made because morally who can be against self defense.

But what does this say of the neighboring country? Does it automatically imply that your neighbor is evil or bad? So then what is to stop the neighboring country from saying look what our neighbor is doing they are raising an army we need an army for self defense! And so on and son the ball kepps rolling and picks up steam for all countries to have armies for "self defense".

So my humble ATS collegues, I ask would it be possible as Nietzsche was advocating that if all armies are dissolved we could have a measure or a thin slice of peace?

Peace is an illusion, something humanity would never,ever know what to do with(well except maybe the Amish).

Heck the ATS moderators could even do a test to prove my point. All they need to do is create a "peace" forum and just see how long before a psychopathic,sociopathic troll does something to stir everyone up. Or until people begin to step on each others toes and nature takes it's course. We just have to accept the fact that we are inherently violent, destructive beings. More demon then angel I am afraid.

But we are also capable of something else besides unchecked aggression. We are capable of self awareness.

I guess it all boils down to Kirk's line: "All right. [War is] instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands... But we can stop it! We can admit that we're... killers. But we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill... today!".

Instead of focusing on world peace we would be better off focusing on "inner peace".