Status Quo

War is defined as follows: “A conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.” Throughout pre-history and recorded history, taking up arms against each other has always been the only means of settling conflicts, not diplomacy. Immanuel Kant, an 18th century German philosopher struggled with the idea of humankind lacking the moral perception to create a cosmopolitan society; a society that would essentially integrate the world into a utopia of sorts. Kant died over 200 years ago and I fear that humankind has yet to make any progress towards that cosmopolitan society.

It’s as if the concept of war is encoded within our DNA; that it is predestined that we destroy ourselves over political agendas. Countless philosophers and everyday people have struggled with the question of why war is the only way to attain petty material items. War even finds common place within the Bible, Torah, and Koran; three respective pieces of literature that form the three major religions. The harshness of the text relating to war found in the Torah is one of, if not the major reason that Jews have been discriminated against for the past two millennia. Marx believed that every aspect of society revolved around the economy, which may be true to an extent, but I believe everything revolves around war.

The concept of war has become even more paramount over the past 100 years, as weapons technologies have advanced at a deadly pace. Humankind now has the means to forever banish ourselves from this planet on a permanent basis. No living creature on this planet cannot escape the wild beast that we call nuclear fission; the atomic bomb. My basement is not stocked with 50 years worth of food and water, nor am I an individual that constantly thinks about ‘doomsday.’ But we have created a beast that will surely lead to our demise. It may not happen tomorrow, it may not happen 100 years from now, but it will happen.

Life itself is not the status quo; the existence of life on this planet is dependent upon our actions as a race.