WAR AS MADNESS

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Wars do not usually result from just causes but from pretexts. There probably never was a just cause why men should slaughter each other by wholesale, but there are such things as ambition, selfishness, folly, madness, in communities as in individuals, which become blind and bloodthirsty, not to be appeased save by havoc, and generally by the killing of somebody else than themselves - General Tecumseh Sherman, Speech to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy 1878

"Insanity is when you do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result” - Albert Einstein 

“War is madness” is a cliche, but it is a true cliche. 

First, war is madness in the US sense, of mad as in angry. War is a political expression of frustration, anger and hatred. Anger is an outgoing reaction to perceived threat.  As it is an emotion, anger can bypass reason. There is an immediate feeling of wishing to destroy the threat immediately, although history, reason and psychology teach us that in the process of destroying perceived  enemies, the destroyer is creating yet more enemies. 

Second, war is involves detachment from reality. In war, we humans divert from the everyday central  human purposeful work, that of trying to create healthy and happy human communities by addressing our individual and societal needs. In war we are expected to turn our hand instead to destroying the lives, health and structures of our perceived enemies.  War is a state of mutual paranoia and mutual destruction. War is the exact opposite of what the human race needs to be doing in 2023, which is of course, to be working to normalise Earth’s greenhouse effect, to satisfy our human needs for health, education and security, and to protect and restore ecological systems.

Third, war is insanity in the sense that Einstein pointed to when he said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. This applies very much to the Israel/Palestine situation, where both Hamas and the Israeli Government are participating in an upward spiral of hatred, violence, killing and destruction.

What can we ordinary humans, do? We may raise our voices in protest, we may call for a ceasefire and an end to violence, but this call is not likely to be heard by leaders who are in the grip of war fever. 

We may hope that our Governments and diplomats are doing what they can to avoid escalation, but we have little influence on diplomacy, apart maybe in a slight way through the  United Nations Association. https://una.org.uk/ 

We can give humanitarian aid to the victims of war, carefully balancing our donations to both Palestinian and Israeli causes. This will be controversial I know, but to me it is essential to give to both sides. (In writing that, I realise that I should personally give to Russian humanitarian causes as well as Ukrainian).

Can we influence the situation, or do we just have to wait for this phase of political insanity to come to an end, before we can put in suggestions as to how to prevent the next outbreak of insanity?

If we all spoke with one voice, our leaders would at least hear what we are saying, even if they do not listen. 

However, they might listen if we have something helpful to offer, because, behind the mask of confidence, our leaders are as terrified as we are. They know, as we know, that this conflict could end up with a global nuclear war.

If this war is not solved with some brilliant diplomacy, it could  which would put an end to human civilisation. 

It is as simple as that, 

This thought should motivate us to come up with a cunning plan.

I am asking my readers to put their cunning plan in the comments in 40 words or less into the Comments section below. Thank you

[minor edit 15/10/23]