Do we really understand?

The Norman Transcript

April 12, 2008 12:23 am

— Our world is filled with so much that is beautiful -- especially art, music, literature, architecture and the
precision of mathematics and science. These should be sufficient to command our allegiance for a lifetime.
Unfortunately they do not. We devote much of our talent to acquiring and spending money, to accumulating
more of what we have and don't need. And in our complex world where high-principled government is so
necessary we waste huge quantities of energy and resources pursuing what is irrational. War is the most vivid
illustration. And all this deflects attention from fundamental social needs.
One of the curious aspects of war is the inclination of all participants to rationalize what they are doing. That
is they make up excuses -- reasons, "logical" justifications -- for what they are about. This maneuver casts
them on the side of virtue, goodness and truth. Each party in conflict affirms it is moral and that their enemy
is immoral; that their cause is just and that their enemy is unjust. This produces sanctimonious certitude that
leads to barbarism. If our cause is right then whatever means are required to advance it are justified.
"Whatever means" translates into ruthlessness. And compounding this absurdity is the conviction that God is
on "our side." How one knows this is not clear. Nevertheless in World Wars I and II Catholics and Protestants
on one side of the battle line prayed for victory, while Catholics and Protestants on the other side of the battle
line did the same. They prayed to the same God in similar ceremonies and rarely saw the contradictions
involved. Not only does war lead to massive destruction, but it also warps the mind, reduces moral theory to
gibberish, and makes an absurdity of theology trying to defend it. The miracle is that the human race can go
through the endless ordeals of war and still come out with a scintilla of emotional or intellectual balance.
The causes of war are endless -- nationalism, ambition, quest for power, economic greed, revenge,
Lebensraum... But there are always unrecognized emotions -- disguised, powerful, muddled and manipulated -
- underpinning the drive to war. And they sustain that drive until it is supplanted by "victory" or a recognition
of futility. Determining the cause of any war is controversial, involved, snarled in rhetoric and blurred by
irrational emotions. Reflect on World War I. All the major participants had made rich contributions to music,
art, literature and science; many of their universities were world-renowned. The trouble was their leaders were
talking in tongues while letting their emotions get out of control. Look how fast international relations got
confused. The Austrian archduke was assassinated on June 25, 1914. The Austrians issued an ultimatum to
the Serbs on July 23. Most of the demands were accepted, but Austria still declared war on Serbia on July 28.
A day later the Germans in a state of anxiety declared a "preparatory state of war" -- a threatening and
ambiguous declaration. August 1 Germany declared war on Russia and on Aug. 3 declared war on France.
The latter had no direct interest in the Balkans; her ties to Russia involved her in the war. August 4 Germany
invaded Belgium; Aug. 5 Britain declared war on Germany. August 17 Japan, coveting German concessions
in China, declared war in Germany. President Wilson's idealistic illusions carried us into war on July 6, 1917.
And from Versailles to Baghdad today we have been warring and substantially failing in "defense" of
democracy.
One of the complicating factors in this political inferno was the confusion among bureaucrats. Czar Nicholas
differed with many in his cabinet and the cabinet itself was divided. They pulled him first one way and then
another, confusing not only themselves but also European powers generally. Most governments were equally
ambivalent. Three governments published self-justifying books. Britain published the "Blue Book"; Germany
the "White Book"; France the "Yellow Book." In each case carefully crafted propaganda sought to portray the
enemy as perfidious while putting themselves on the side of virtue and goodness. Anyone trying to be
objective finds it all but impossible to identify "truth" in studying these documents as well as coping with the
self-justifying propaganda of other governments -- including our own. Politicians and bureaucrats always tend
to shade fact in the direction of personal and national purity.
There is no universal agreement among historians as to the causes of World War I. But the Germans got the
blame and it tended to be disparaging, focusing on selfishness, brutality and ruthlessness. This is what comes
when nations get emotions entangles with fear, militarism and nationalism. The result distorts judgment and
corrupts religion. And few explanations of the causes of the war are more perceptive than that of Sidney Fay
of the Smith College History Department who devoted two volumes to the subject. Asserted this information
historian, "One must abandon the dictum ... that Germany and her allies were solely responsible ... Germany
did not plot a European War ... The verdict of the Versailles Treaty that Germany and her allies were
responsible for the War, in view of the evidence now available, is historically unsound..."
Factually the causes of the war were manifold. World War I erupted out of intellectual and moral chaos.
Nationalism and militarism were paramount. Emotions intensified the irrational. Confusion played in and out
of communications. A mass of treaties, many of them secret, resulted in a jumble of contradictory alliances.
Which agreement took precedence, and which were to be trusted and which were not was often unclear.
Negotiations that might have promoted peace were not undertaken; some were parried that should have been
honored. Bureaucratic snarls and disagreements were aggravated by propaganda, prejudice and pride. Fear
sometimes immobilized restraint while ambition was not always checked by reason. Anger, greed and desire
for power provoked unreasonable demands. Presumptions led to mixed motives and contradictions. Revenge
was blind, often yielding results contrary to expectation. Neurosis and ignorance undermined law and order
guaranteeing conflict. Status presumptions caused ill-will among military and monarchical advisors.
Diplomacy was often deliberately deceptive, permeated with insincerity and prevarication. Short-sighted,
mulish and ill-read politicians were unreliable -- then as they are now.
War down through the centuries has taken hundreds of millions of lives. This should not be surprising, for the
essence of war is destruction, suffering and death. Do we really understand what war means? Ladies at the
bridge club often support war. Naturally. Their political party is for it. Men at the country club often support
war. Naturally. Their political party is for it. "Manhood" demands it; "loyalty" is synonymous with it; and
money is to be made from it. But does the public really understand what war means? Families lose members.
Husbands are gone forever. Fathers vanish. Lovers are permanently parted. The young perish early. Fathers
and mothers will never see some children again. Widows will live out their existence in loneliness. Minds of
great potential are obliterated. If this is a product of war, does the public really understand what war means?
World War I was a brutal warm-up for World War II. Is World War II to prove a brutal warm-up for World
War III -- the Armageddon that ends all suffering? No one can survive thermonuclear war. What life is not
destroyed by fire and explosion would be painfully quenched by radiation.
What a miserable and unnecessary end for the human race. But it does not have to be -- provided we think and
humanize our judgments.
Lloyd Williams is a retired educator. He has puzzled about the wisdom and consequences of war since
studying the American Civil War in grammar school.

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