The Cost Of War

[pgrmdave]

What is the Cost of war?

 

When is war worth that cost?

 

The way I see it, war costs money and resources. However, it is not always economically bad to fight a war - wars bolster manufacturing, and can help a sluggish economy. The resources used are mostly used in a manner not beneficial to us - think of how many bullets are fired vs. how many hit. But, when resources are wasted, the value of that resource is driven up - supply and demand. If you are talking about human life - then I think that the time war is worth the cost is when more people would die if you didn't go to war.

[OpenMind5]

IrishEyes,

As you said before, lets try to keep this post in topic......once i found a topic?

With all do respect...I admit that my topic is very vague, but everyone knows war cost money. But (as i asked before) "How much evil must you do before you do good?"

This question evaluates war, in a deeper sense. In wars such as Vietnam, many horrific and catastrafic events happened. Use of napalm, flamethrowers, ect... had a large impact on the bloody and pointless war. There were many evils that took place...but what about good?

 

I AM NOT ASKING FOR A DEFINITION OF GOOD OR EVIL, NOR DO I WANT ONE. (That is off topic)

 

Let me tell u somthing of what i wanna know for posters...

IS war evil? If it is does it have a evil outcome? Does any good come out of evil acts such as war? What does war cost for families, businesses, soliders, political parties, the "viewed" enemy? IS war a part of human nature? When is it nessecray to go to war, and when is it not? Is a life the most pericious thing in the world? (obviously not if we "spend" thousands, for communisim, or oil)

 

This topic is vague (as i said before) but somtimes the vague topics are the hardest to speak on...the idea that there is no wrong or right answer to this scares some people. I hope I see more posts...and yes this time i am beating a dead horse...

 

Op5

[nemo]

it occurs to me that the answers to most of your questions depend solely upon whether or not your side won the war in question.

 

vietnam = bad war

wwII = the pinnacle of the 'greatest generation'

[OpenMind5]

I disagree. Some of them may be effected by that, but not all of them...even if it does depend on that fact...why hesitate to answer them?

 

Op5

[Fishteacher73]

Well if one accepts a Machiavellian out look, as long as you win war is justified (The end justifies the means)..If one uses Kant's Categorical Imperitive, the means must be examined and weighed against the ends.

While I personally do not think an agressive war is ever justified, defending yourself against an overt act of agression (None of the preimptive stike jive) I think is easily justified. To examine a micro-scale example-- Look at Waco and the Branch Davidians. I really do not know too many people that would not defend themselves against an armed invasion of ones home.

[OpenMind5]

I agree with you Fishteacher...a defensive lone of war seems to be justified. But what don't u like about pre emtive strike?

 

Op5

[Buffy]

But what don't u like about primative strike?

You mean "pre-emptive" right? Because its based on assumptions that may not turn out to be true. Like Iraq having nukes and chemical weapons (unless you're among that 80% of Fox News viewers who think we *have* found WMD in Iraq...). Its both bad Geopolitics and bad Karma to attack someone pre-emptively and then find you had bad info....

 

"I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!"

Buffy

[OpenMind5]

ONce again, i Am finding agreance....Pre-emptive, as i so badly spelled before is usually a result of bad info...But then again I must keep an open mind asn say that i am sure there are times when it seems perfectly fine to use that tactic...when...don't know...

:naughty:

 

Op5

[Buffy]

Back attcha: what if you have the info and purposely don't use it? Churchill knew from intelligence that Coventry would be fire-bombed by the Germans, and he decided to let several thousand people die in order to keep the intelligence source (Ultra deciphering of German codes) a secret. Was that right?

 

"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." (G.S. Patton)

Buffy

[OpenMind5]

Once again my question of when is Bad equaling good in war circumstances...

 

Op5

[Xenosis]

Just to throw another thought into the mix about when is war justified, many have mentioned boosting to the economoies of the two parties involved, but what about innovation? Most of the things that we take for granted now days, technologicly wise, were brought about because of war like computers, the internet, planes, medicine. If you do want to come up with a cost of war then what about the subsequent good that they create, not just in the lives they save directly.

 

as for if a war, or war in general is good and just, that will depend solely upon the person answering the question I think, because if they have a different outlook on life and society in general then they could very well think the opposite of what you think is "right." Take for example a society that values the group over the individual, to them the human cost of war is less, if it means a bettering for the whole. To them, the war is "good" as long as what the society gains from it outweighs that with which they lose, and in some circumstances, losing humans lives would be a good thing, in any sort of resource shortage for example.

 

To the question of is war part of human nature? I would have to say yes, to me it is really only an extension of survival, for one thing or another, wether it is our society/freedom, our lives, or for needed resources. It could be seen as "survival of the fittest" on a far larger scale, group B has resource 1 that group A needs, so group A attacks group B in mass. Are there better ways to get resource 1, absolutely, but are there any easier ways of getting it? Probably not, for example, you could bargain for it, or enter into some sort of agreement, but those mean giving up something you have, and has some value to you (since the other group wants it).

 

those are just some different things I was thinking about while reading this that were not brought up.

[Fishteacher73]

I saw a study once that concluded that aprox. every three hundred years or so that there needs tends to be some sort of event that reduces population desity by about 1/3. You had WWII, before that he discovery of the new world, the black plague, etc.

 

Is war a result of overpoulation and an innated need to reduce the population density of our species...Kind of a sub-conscious culling?

[Queso]

and supposively all governments are to be overthrown every 180 years or so max...and ours is almost double that and still somewhat strong.

i think because of our evolution, these past assumptions will soon be irrelevent....or start a new pattern..

[Fishteacher73]

While the gov't itself has not been overthrown, society has gone through some big changes and the tremmors are still being felt from the Civil War. Jst as the Revolutionary war brought popular autonomy to light, I feel the civil War forced the concept of human equality into the light. Just as the world suddenly looked "across the pond" at the colonies and their thumbing their nose at a super-power, many followed (We still haven't gotten fully clear of the rule of few even today). The same ripples followed with the banning of slavery and 100 years later the civil rights movement. It still has shadows of the pre-ciil rights era, but they are fading.

[pgrmdave]

I don't even know if it is so subconscious. War is fought over resources, and populations that are too high distribute resources spread too thinly. When our population grows too much we 'cull' other groups in order to have a more beneficial distribution of resources.

[OpenMind5]

Alot of people on who have responded, Xenosis, have stated the obvios about my question, "cost of war." They answer to what is the cost of war and when is war worth that cost are OPIONATED! I know this and i want to know your opions! Try attacking my question as if you are the worlds most knowledgeable person there is on the subject.

 

I like the disscussion so far though, greta job to everyone. Thank you for posting

 

Op5

[OpenMind5]

No more opions on the idea/subject...COST OF WAR?

 

Op5