Reply #16: I think sadly the primates are the leaders (and a work story) [View All]

[The Straight Story]

They are just good at misleading the masses. The avg person I don't think likes or wants war, it is something we need sold or convinced of by others.

But too you are quite right. We as indivuduals seek peace, but as a group we seperate and too often seek war for the benefit of the group. We protect ourselves and our needs first.

To me it is akin to how I have seen some talk about racism and the group think associated with it. As an example here is something which went on at work some years ago.

I worked in a factory and got close to my co-workers. We spent 8+ hours a day together on an electro-coate line talking as we worked. Two of the guys I worked with were African-Americans, one white and myself (also white I suppose...).

The topic of racism came up off and on, we all talked civily about issues and never took offense. So I pondered a few things and when it all came up again I asked the one guy the following (shortened version):

"You are on a battlefield and there are two injured soldiers. One is white, the other black. You only have enough supplies to save one of them, you don't know either of them at all. Which one do you save?"

He got a little flustered at first, then said the black guy. When I asked why he said because he was more like me (in the long version, I asked the question based on if he knew the white guy - he would save him, if he knew the black guy personally, he would save him - in the end which would he save if he knew neither).

The point I was making to him is that there was nothing wrong with his answer (and he was honest) it was that people tend to categorize and help those closest to themselves. A sort of group mentality. We look out for those in our family, our close friends, our neighbors, then our country, et al - we label and categorize and work for the best results for those within our sphere (and this can go to other things like religion, politics, et al).

As a whole, we are all humans with hopes and dreams. Those who fight wars are seeing a subset (often perhaps) of the group. Help those we know, screw those we can't relate to. It bothers me perhaps because as a christian I see us all as the same group, god's children, and all wanting the same thing - peace. There are those above us on the politics scale, like *, who do not see us this way (and of course, he is not the only one the world over who thinks this way).

It is just sad that the people en masse who want peace often go to war against other people who want peace because of the few who want peace only for the one group and not for all.