What is the human cost of conflict?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
War brings no thought of peace but sorrow and hatred. Nobody gains from it but they just loose what they have. I feel that we should oppose the thought of war and embrace the thought of peace. I agree with most of the replies to this video.People should realise tht we are all made out of the same dust.Hence there is no purpose to have war. =)
After awhile each side loses their soul, all is hatred, bloodshed and it is perpetrated. The lives of all are destroyed, each can't see the other as a fellow human being. Eventually all will be destroyed and all will become dust.
@llessur Fairy tales! One side , both side , no side! Israel is not lie, go to a travel agent he will tell you! you can even go there.
Israel is an actual place with a lot of diferent groups and many problems. World War II had a lot more to do with it than the Bible , really. Your interpretion of the Bible may be very ok!, it is close to mine in a way. but I don.t beliave in mickey mouse either and i am not at war with Orlando, Florida. Even though, they were people living there before him!
I think the nation of Isreal is a lie conjured up by some levite priests after the Babylonian captivity, they didn't want the world to know how pathetic their history was, so they made one up. Moses is a term used to describe an initiate in the high Egyptian mystery schools. The god of the old testament is a homocidal maniac, demanding the death of men,women, children and dogs. This 2,000 year waste of life is sll based on hearsay and story-telling. The israelis will never admit that Abraham, Lot, David and Solomon ( which incidently is three separate names for the Sun) not to mention Jesus truly has any factual, scientific proof of their existence and life.
I will side with the palestinians before i'll believe those fairy-tales.
@GusGo I agree. The situation is extremely complex. Hell, it's very hard as an outsider to sort-of pick a side without noticing that you're probably only doing so due to incomplete info from both points of view.
Hence, my very simple solution: Make war seem stupid. Entrench the rest of the world in peace for long enough and people have to back down. Well, that, or have a substantially higher standard of living for both sides. That way they get too comfortable to keep up all the hate.
Obviously, the human cost of international conflicts are huge, there is not doubt about it. Sadly, millions of human beings have dead thanks to many pointless fights all over history and all around the world. Even though, in some cases, different sides had legitimated reasons to jump to one, like defense, for example. For the most part, most organized large scale violence is consequence of the symbiotic and relationship between very powerful (but small) groups and the insecure impersonal large mass.
How this conflict regardless the huge human cost can get so big and for so long?
Well, advance technology, long distance communications, the out-group- in-group phenomenon, the lack or excess of resources, division of labor/ specialization , overpopulation, authoritarian values, instable power structures, and uncertainty avoidance (black or white) attitudes are a deadly recipe.
In the case of Israel, there are not simple answers! I used to live there. It is a very complex situation over there. Hippy talk is not enough. To try to understand the conflict one have to read a lot of the history. I am still reading after many years. There are many issues and many of them need pretty creative solutions.
I think it is possible if all parties would remember that the point of all major religions is humanity's love for one another.
@Lilly Thanks! I said before that the solution is to promote unification everywhere else. You have to give people examples of hurdles others have overcome, and then show them the peace and prosperity that comes of that.
Is it realistic? I think so. For example, what if Iraq became a state that was peaceful, unified, and democratic? No more religious schisms, no more dictatorships or factions. That is something that is happening in the world today, where the might of the world's largest superpower is spending so much time and effort on seeing that through.
I don't think human conflicts like this will entirely be gone in our lifetime, but certainly many of the ones we know today will. We've made a lot of progress these past 50 years, and just like how the United States seems to be in love with going green, the world can fall in love going peace.
Our communications are amazingly advanced. People relate their thoughts and feelings so easily that I just can't see people having much of a prospect of ignoring it all for long. The more you talk about it, the more it'll spread, and that's how you set an example for approaching peace.
@dixventures This is the crux of the whole issue. Actually, let's boil it down to one word: GREED. It's why the US is in Iraq; it's why the US keeps supporting Israel...it just goes on and on. Frankly, I wish the Palestinians and Jews would get over themselves just so I could travel to Israel. I guess tourism dollars aren't as valuable as dead Palestinians though.
I don't think this conflict will end anytime soon. The kids are raised with hatred and the cycle just perpetuates itself. Very sad indeed.
@Tamato I enjoyed reading your post. My only question to you would be do you think it is realistic and achievable either in our lifetime or in the future. While I agree with your sentiment, the people of this world have always thought differently about a great many things. How would you change the minds of so many to unite them? I think this is interesting.
Cheers!
@sammyinqueens take a listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1epa5LEmTc peace and love to all :)
Human conflict is fundamentally based on control over and/or exploitation of resources: energy, food, water, and land. Add religion/mythologized history and we've got even bigger troubles.
The cost is evident: lives are ruined or lost, pain and suffering is caused, resources themselves are destroyed, the cycle of murder and hatred and revenge keep spinning around.
Okay...for me, it comes down to the fact that each culture believes that their god has told them in some manner that the land is theirs...until they can put the a childish idea like that out of their heads, then they will continue to act like children and say, "MINE!, MINE!,MINE!"....just like their brothers the Christians have been doing about god itself for 2,000 years...actually, only since Constantin made it the "official" religion of the Roman Empire, and ergo, the World.....of course, that is just my side of the story
@tsiona when you get that idiotic quote right, i may consider it.
the two state solution is being blocked by the US and Israel even though it is an internationally backed plan proposed to the security council in 1976.
Noam Chomsky-"Everyone knows whoâs involved in this, what the general framework for a settlement is. It was put on theâit was brought to the Security Council in 1976, by the Arab StatesâJordan, Syria and Egypt, the so-called confrontation states and the other Arab states. They proposed a two-state settlement on the internationally recognized border, a settlement which included the wording of UN-242, the first major resolution, recognition of the right of each state in the region to exist in peace and security within secure and recognized boundaries. That would include Israel and a Palestinian state. It was vetoed by the United States, and a similar resolution vetoed in 1980. I wonât run through the whole history, but throughout this whole history, with temporary and rare exceptionsâthereâs a couple here and thereâthe US has simply blocked the settlement, still does, and Israel rejects it.
Sometimes itâs dramatic. In 1988, the Palestinian National Council, the head governing body, formally accepted a two-state settlement. They had tacitly accepted it before. There was a reaction from Israel immediately. It was a coalition government, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir. Their reaction wasâquotingâthat âthere cannot be an additional Palestinian state between Jordan and Israelâââadditionalâ implying that Jordan already is a Palestinian state, so there canât be another oneââand the fate of the territories will be settled according to the guidelines of the state of Israel.â Shortly after that, the Bush #1 administration totally endorsed that proposalâthat was the Baker Plan, James Baker Plan of December 1989âfully endorsed that proposal. Extreme rejectionism. And so it continues, with rare exceptions."
having this conversation here is fairly pointless. Not many of you know what actually goes on inside of the war zones. When you visit israel and palestine you are allowed to form your own first hand opinion. I have done 15 humanitarian visits to palestine and lebanon just in the past 6 years and when you see what i have seen you will change your minds.
we will have peace in the middle east when the Arabs will love their children' s more then they hate the Jews ...by GOLDA MEIR
I think a lot of us living within the United States have a difficult time considering xenophobia and racism. We DO have a black President with a middle name of "Hussein", along with the thought that a lot of us genuinely like foreigners rather than avoid them.
When it comes to the rest of the world, my experiences have related to me that they are still rather nationalistic, and that is, essentially, the crux of the issue.
When it comes to realizing the human aspect of the conflict, you either learn to disregard this isolationism, or a heavy enough blow to the opposing side creates empathy among your people.
We all understand that both Israelis and Palestinians should learn to coexist and not let both the past and their religions keep them apart. But how do you get that message across? Solution: You create that feeling of unity everywhere else. You cover all the continents with it.
And that's no easy task. Within a lot of countries, there are peoples who won't even speak to another simply because they're from a certain city, region, or village. People speak of racism as if that's the issue, but it isn't. It's xenophobia, religion, and politics. These three split humans apart more than anything else, and until they understand that 1) there's no differences among different countries, 2) people believe their respective faiths, but respect yours, and 3) as long as political decisions are decided democratically and fair: there should be no discord.
These thoughts simply have to permeate our world's culture so thoroughly that there is no choice but for conflicts like this to take notice. I mean, the U.S. is directly grappling with this today in Iraq, and all it takes is further action by other nations to demonstrate such a movement for not just general peace, but regular international comfort, governmental unification, and religious acceptance.
Yes, for the individual, it is. The documentary Promises ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282864/ ) clearly shows that Israelis and Palestinians, especially children, are able to connect with the other side and see how the "enemy" is just a group of people like them. This, however, can only happen when there is contact between the two sides. When you don't know a person, you cannot relate to them or have love for them. This is true for societies in general. The only way for Palestinians and Israelis to get along, and to see each other as humans, is for them to live together. That is one reason why I am somewhat opposed to a two-state solution. Separating the people will do nothing to solve the roots of the conflict: the tribal feeling of someone being "the other." I am friends with an exchange student from Palestine, and she simply shakes her head at the violence and anger that is going on in her homeland. But in order to achieve peace, the Israelis must see Palestinians, and visa versa, as people they know; as their neighbors; as their friends; as their brothers and sisters.
of course! and im serious! as human beings, we have the ability to FLEX OUR INTELLECT if we so CHOOSE. and those with MOST intellect understand that life is only possible on the narrow path of Love, to stray from this simple yet straight path only leads to darkness/death. Narrow and wide is the gate. if it came down to a black or white decision, which color would you choose? So you say or think, but do you do?
B.A.: Psychology
minored: Philosophy
Although: I consider myself a philosopher first
"Peace isn't the absence of bullets but the presence of Justice and the absence of fear." Ursula Franklin
I think you're (the one and only rainn) right in the fact that until countries focus on the "individual" human, they will never find true peace. Countries continue to try to find peace in the absence of bullets, but never seem to quench the fear from the heart of the people.
Yes, I think it's possible given people stop taking sides and focus on peace.
History has shown us how Muslims, Christians and Jews can get along just fine!
really? john 'extreme to the right' voight? really?
literally displacing millions of people unrightfully is something you can support?
I believe they already are all too aware of the bitter bloodshed within these hostilities. But until they are all willing (and I do mean all, governments and citizens alike) to put aside their religious, political and racial aggressions this war will continue and the horrors of this war will haunt the world for years to come. Can it be done? Ask Ireland. Their guns have been quiet for some time now. There is hope.
no one can say it better watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovR355HQGJA
The problem isn't the people, its the governments. This issue has been going on for more than a century, and neither side is willing to compromise for the good of their citizens. It is possible for the two sides to realize what they are doing to the people, and finally give in to a solution, despite the pride that is involved.
DISCUSSION TOOLSET
Wonderful video, There is always a human element to all of this inhumanity...
It reminds me of, "Panchi nadiya pawan k jhonkey...", a Hindi movie song which cries about what have we gained by being a Human?! Considering the fact that birds, rivers and breezes do not need to follow any boundaries... it is but only for the humans..?!