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Discussion Membership
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But History could...It is a little late in the game to discover the horror of war. The IRA and Hamas killer bombs, the actions of Saddam Hussein and Cuba have violated the umbrella of protection that extends to those who agree to peaceful problem resolution. By using violence to address their problems they chose to live under the law of the jungle where no rules apply ˜ where the survivors may use any means to retaliate; any means to assure that the initial violence does not succeed. History needs to teach that the rules of those who continue to live under the umbrella needn‚t extend to those who do not. Once in war, conscience is not forgotten, it is put temporarily on the shelf. The IRA, Hamas, Iraq, Cuba and others have opened themselves to any conceivable response. History needs to weep not simply for the casualties, but for the missed opportunity to convince those who move outside the umbrella that it is not worth the cost. In the race to convince all humanity of the advantage of living under an umbrella of peaceful problem resolution, there is no guarantee that civilization will win. History needs to recognize that simply because the survivors have the option of striking with tactics forbidden under the umbrella does not mean that it necessarily is to their advantage to do so. Often it is not. While conscience is not obliged to restrain retaliation, to our credit, it often does. The lesson of history is that history needs to be taught. Not the date of birth of Paul Revere, but how people have been carried along by misrepresentations, how wars have been fought for all the wrong reasons, how petty nationalism is a recent development. History needs to teach that people must stand strong against those who choose to live outside the umbrella. History needs to appreciate that an unrelenting support of free and open communication is our best hope. The first condition for peace should be to pry open the channels of communication throughout the world. Hussein could not do what he does without media control. If the horrors of war are sent to our living rooms and to their living rooms on the other sides as well, then maybe these offenses will be among the last. History needs also to teach this: As far as conscience goes, few men in history have had as well-reasoned morality as Socrates, yet he was reported to have been a fierce and tenacious fighter in battle. Was his conscience choked? Not one bit. Why? Because he understood that war plays by „No Rules‰ and that „No Rules‰ is a nasty place to be ˜ a place at the mercy of the laws of nature, not man, where there are no guarantees that good guys on either side will win. [Macro error: Can't find a sub-table named "commentIt".]
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