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Forum Post: Declare Peace Now

Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 5, 2011, 1:06 p.m. EST by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Declare Peace Now

21 Comments

21 Comments


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[-] 2 points by Corium (246) 12 years ago

Actually a focus on peace is a good idea. The universe gives what the focus is... so if you say "No War... Anti War... Stop War" what the universe hears is "......War ...... War ..... War" and that's what you get. If you have a "War on Drugs" you get both! It's not that the country will get out of all conflicts instantly. It's that with a focus on Peace, the country will move toward a more peaceful existence.

[-] 2 points by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL 12 years ago

Thank you. Many of us have seen the personal damage war does, I have many personal stories. With this I agree that a focus to Peace is needed. (and sht it can be prosperous, for many, if not all)

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

I understand war is not the opposite of peace

peace requires being at rest

[-] 1 points by ARod1993 (2420) 12 years ago

Where specifically?

[-] 0 points by Spankysmojo (849) 12 years ago

Exactly. MLK!

[-] 0 points by nikka (228) 12 years ago

Okay. Done.

Next?

[-] 1 points by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL 12 years ago

Prosper without war.

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

indeed trade should be easier

[-] 1 points by ARod1993 (2420) 12 years ago

Lemme put it this way; if you want someone to actually listen to you you're going to have to tell us which conflicts you want to pull out of, what the timetable for doing so should be, and how to ensure any nations we've occupied won't collapse once we leave.

[-] 1 points by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL 12 years ago

Ever watch "all quiet on the western front". Get the freaking idea. Ever seen a war vet mad out of his mind from the haunts of his deeds in the name of country. Many horrors never put on the tube. Answer: all conflicts.

[-] 1 points by ARod1993 (2420) 12 years ago

NO, but I have seen part of Saving Private Ryan, which I believe makes the same point. Here's the thing; I would much prefer that we'd been able to settle our affairs in Afghanistan and leave already, and Iraq never should have happened. I also feel like the ICC needs a warrant enforcement mechanism of its own (because otherwise it's usually us getting involved). However, sending a few people in to deal with Joseph Kony is the right thing to do. Sending the military into Darfur with orders to clean up on the Janjaweed and extradite Omar al-Bashir would have been the right thing to do.

You can't simply disallow all conflicts on the grounds that they're ugly. Sometimes we as a nation have to do ugly things because the alternative is worse. Before you ask, I would be more than willing to go to war if asked to; my greatest fear isn't dying (if it's for the right reasons) but to have hung back in a a situation when my interference could have saved someone.

War isn't something we should enter into lightly, and quite honestly Iraq was a PR stunt based on a lie. That said, I also feel like we need to move to a different way of handling our military; perhaps two years of mandated public (including in the military) or community service after high school would be a good idea. That would (in my mind) cut down on unnecessary warfare, given that there would be no exemptions and especially if children of public officials and defense contractors would be on the front lines of any military action we go into; authorizing and/or powering a war becomes a much tougher decision when doing so will point your child at the business end of someone else's AK-47.

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

the US is not the only manufacture of weapons

international weapons sales

United States Sales 39%

Russia 18%

France 8%

United Kingdom 7%

China 5%

Italy 3%

Other European 11%

Others 5%

http://www.globalissues.org/article/74/the-arms-trade-is-big-business#GlobalArmsSalesBySupplierNations

[-] 1 points by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL 12 years ago

Good lets give the local police scatter guns, gernades, live ammo, and shoot them all and let god figure it out. Long live Kent state. SIckos.

[-] 1 points by ARod1993 (2420) 12 years ago

What's that supposed to mean? What I meant by the earlier comment is that having a professional all-volunteer army makes it too easy to go to war because it lets us concentrate the human cost of war onto a very small group of people while everyone benefits. Now if you go back to a draft system or a system of mandatory military service in which there aren't any exemptions except for health reasons then the human cost of war lands on everyone, including on the groups responsible for authorizing and supplying such wars. In a system like that it would have been much harder to pull off something like Iraq, especially if the laws put Jenna and Barbara Bush on the front lines.

[-] 1 points by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL 12 years ago

Declare Peace. If the soldiers refuse to Kill. So be it.

If a foreign leader gets out of hand, and kills, remove him. Not his countries shop owners, farmers and the like. How many have died in Iraq? !0's or hundreds of thousands? Jesus if we has those casualties in the US, what would our reaction be?

[-] 1 points by ARod1993 (2420) 12 years ago

So your definition of peace goes back to the idea of peace through surgical use of violence: deal with aggressive nations through removal/assassination of leaders rather than through invasion or head-on war. Now that actually sounds somewhat realistic and would probably represent a far more efficient use of our forces than war after war after war.

[-] 1 points by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL 12 years ago

In short yes. Sure exceptions can be argued. In this age of information. We have greater things to do than be violent.

[-] 1 points by ARod1993 (2420) 12 years ago

OK, that I agree with. My complaint was just that there is a whole bunch of "skittles and unicorns" pacifists on here who believe that raising a hand against another country is absolutely unacceptable even when it's far less than the damage caused by ignoring the aggressors. I don't believe in turning the other cheek, but nor do I believe in using explosives on a housefly.

[-] 0 points by nikka (228) 12 years ago

Just say the magic words. POOF! Instant unicorns and skittles for everyone!

[-] 1 points by jpbarbieux (137) from Palmetto Bay, FL 12 years ago

Yes and no. Realize your place in humanity.

[-] 0 points by nikka (228) 12 years ago

Ahhhh. Something to contemplate. While high.