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In the long run, wars make us safer and richer
Washington Post ^
| April 25, 2014
| By Ian Morris
Posted on 04/26/2014 9:34:04 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
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Ian Morris, a professor of classics at Stanford University, is the author of War! What is it Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots.
To: Brad from Tennessee
WWI was a good thing. What a fool.
2
posted on
04/26/2014 9:36:39 PM PDT
by
DManA
To: Brad from Tennessee
humm: progress through war (or let’s just say human conflict of varied types).
that strikes me as another very good encapsulation of leftist (progressive) ideology and practice.
3
posted on
04/26/2014 9:46:12 PM PDT
by
dadfly
To: DManA
Very arguably, everything we see today is the result of WWI.
4
posted on
04/26/2014 9:48:04 PM PDT
by
DesertRhino
(I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
To: Brad from Tennessee
A delightfully contrarian point of view, although I'm not sure it's intended to be taken entirely seriously. One can always find a point of view whereby war is an advantage, but it's usually by shifting one's perspective to that of the winner.
What we have here is a perspective that shifts from the broad view to the narrow one when it suits the argument. Government is not always preferable to chaos, especially when it's trying to put your carcass into an oven for the Greater Good. Whether that beats a no-government situation in which a marauding barbarian puts a spear into your guts is one of those fine points I won't explore overmuch. Either way, you lose.
What does work is the empowerment of the individual to guard himself and his against both scenarios. If, to do so, he must make war, then once again we have shifted our perspective to the advantage of the fight. I'd offer a slight corrective: apparently we can't avoid it, so we might as well be good at it. That doesn't necessarily extend to celebrating it.
To: Brad from Tennessee
I’d like to be safer.
Can we nuke Mecca, Cairo, Jakarta, Karachi and Ankara please?
6
posted on
04/26/2014 9:50:31 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
To: Brad from Tennessee
So yes, war is hell but have you considered the alternatives?
Yes. War created the United States - an absolute positive for the world in the last 200 years. War ended slavery in the US. War ended the subjugation of Europe and the extermination of the Jews and Gypsies by the Nazis. War has ended genocide in Bangladesh and in the former Yugoslavia since then. War is sometimes necessary for the long-term good of the human race - and those who willfully blind themselves to that fact don't do the human race any favors.
To: Brad from Tennessee
Wow, this is a thinly veiled attack on Ronald Reagan.
To: DesertRhino
I know. If you could go back in time who would you kill?
Hitler or Wilson?
Hard choice.
9
posted on
04/26/2014 9:51:30 PM PDT
by
DManA
To: DesertRhino
Can somebody please go back in time and kill Karl Marx’s parents before they meet?
10
posted on
04/26/2014 9:52:45 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
To: Brad from Tennessee; Cicero
When looking upon the long run of history, it becomes clear that through 10,000 years of conflict, humanity has created larger, more organized societies that have greatly reduced the risk that their members will die violently. This is the logical fallacy, post hoc, ergo propter hoc. The author fails to adduce evidence that the larger, more organized societies would not have been created without the violent conflicts he deems to have been necessary.
To: DesertRhino
Very arguably, everything we see today is the result of WWI
Agreed. However, I would posit, not that arguable.
To: DManA
I know. If you could go back in time who would you kill Hitler or Wilson?
Neither would be necessary, if you wasted that poor slob Gavarilo Princip.
To: 98ZJ USMC
I don’t know about that. The poor fools were just itching for a fight.
14
posted on
04/26/2014 10:14:46 PM PDT
by
DManA
To: DManA
Yes, I agree, The mentally unstable Kaiser with the withered arm was going to cause a conflagration in any case, and a reason would have been found for war.
15
posted on
04/26/2014 10:21:19 PM PDT
by
Bobalu
(What cannot be programmed cannot be physics)
To: BenLurkin
Don’t forget that damned well in Qom!
16
posted on
04/26/2014 10:22:37 PM PDT
by
null and void
( They don't think think they are above the law. They think they are the law.)
To: DManA
I know. If you could go back in time who would you kill? Mohammed.
17
posted on
04/26/2014 10:23:20 PM PDT
by
null and void
( They don't think think they are above the law. They think they are the law.)
To: AnotherUnixGeek
War didn’t create the United States, war largely enslaved Europe until Reagan freed it. Slavery was probably on it’s way out without war.
There are more slaves today than at any other time supposedly.
18
posted on
04/26/2014 10:24:49 PM PDT
by
ansel12
((Libertarianism offers the transitory concepts and dialogue to move from conservatism, to liberalism)
To: Brad from Tennessee
In the 20th century some 200+ million people were killed by their own governments, not in wars, so I’m not sure about the claim that modern people are safer.
19
posted on
04/26/2014 10:27:33 PM PDT
by
TigersEye
(Stupid is a Progressive disease.)
To: Brad from Tennessee
He’s a bean counter and it’s true that certain types of wars have a bottom line to them. People like him can reason the human suffering away, while those suffering can’t.
20
posted on
04/26/2014 10:46:46 PM PDT
by
Usagi_yo
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