In Defense of War? [6:10m]: | | Download (17)Posted on 02/22/2007 5:43:29 AM PST by Equality 7-2521
In Defense of War? [6:10m]: | | Download (17)
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
- Douglas MacArthur
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
- Thomas Jefferson, The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
It’s not a popular thing to say, but war gets a bad rap. War is Hell! What is it good for… absolutely nothing! A list of actual quotes castigating war is too long to actually contemplate (and too long to come up with a good simile which is why I chose the cop-out of saying “too long to contemplate”). When was the last time you’ve heard someone defend war? You see, this isn’t an easy task I’m taking on.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.flada.com ...
I like Stuck Mojo's (Rich Ward's) take on war in "Give War a Chance":
Give war a chance
Embedded internal
We know that it's our destiny
Internalized paralyze
The thirst for war, the killing seed
In the jungle by the river
Death for sale
We will deliver
Our wars define our place in time
Resolve by feud for all mankind
I like that, too.
War is the natural condition of human society. That's why we remember the PAX ROMANA.
True, although the Pax Romana is nothing, a mere 200 years or so. The Pax Carthagena was over 600 years in length. But even that pales next to the Pax Sinica which supposedly held for about 1850 years.
No offense to you of course, as you're well aware of it. But I often think about the Pax Romana, for example, as it applied to Judea at the time of Christ, and wonder how different it would have been if Pilate had simply told the Sanhedrin that he would not crucify an innocent, in the name of "keeping the peace".
Of course, God's Will and all, so be done!
P'm not sure about the Chinese Pax. When you get past the warring kingdoms phase, you have peasant revolts toppling [and raising] dynasties, the border wars with the Hsiung-nu, the Khitans, Jurcheds, Mongols, the Manchus.
I couldn't agree with you more.
Had Pilate done differently, the world would quite possibly be missing one major religion today. Of course you pretty much already said that in your closing sentence, I guess.
Oh, and definitely no offense taken.
Even during the Pax Romana, Rome still battled quite a bit with Persians and Germanic tribes.
After Varus [9 AD], and the punitive expeditions that followed, Roman military operations east of the Rhine largely stopped. The major military event during the Pax Romana was the conquest of Britain. Most of the activity agasinst the Persians [post Carrhae] occurred after the period commonly included in the Pax. Thus, the core of the Roman Empire,Gaul, Italy, Iberia, Greece, Egypt and North Africa was at peace for most of two centuries or more.
Wow, I compliment you on your amazingly impressive knowledge of Roman history.
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