Bombing the Evil Away?
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Our
'modern' world still is populated by archaic societies on various
developmental stages. Two of them in the Near East continue to vex
themselves and the rest of the world since decades. They are not the
only ones, but actually enjoy once more exaggerated visibility,
exceeding their moderate importance for this world by far (that could be
a more comfortable place without them).
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What
happened? Once more, the one side exerted extreme aggression and
cruelty towards
the other. As a consequence, the other now takes revenge - we are
tempted to say: as usual - by killing 10 times more civilian victims,
corresponding to their personal view of their own higher 'value'. Their
declared aim: to destroy the enemy for once and ever.
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But
can they reach this target? Careful scrutiny of outbreaks of violence
during the last millenia leaves us with meagre hope. An enemy expecting
eternal joys in paradise after a heroic death
has an extra agenda beyond common reality. To split reality into two or
more levels seems to be quite prevalent in societies on an early
developmental stage.
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It is
fundamentally wrong to consider human societies as aggregates of
biological entities. Societies are just the transient expression of
collective behavioral traits maintained over many generations. At their
core they have a narrative and more or less verbalized collections of
dos and don'ts. A society can only be changed by adressing this core.
Chopping off the blossoms will not kill the plant, but eventually even
strengthen it.
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The
only efficient remedy against the eternal treadmill
of violence and counter-violence is reason. Reason perceives and
appreciates our one and only world as a fine place to share with our
conspecifics. Reason accepts rules pertinent in the same way to all of
us. Reason welcomes institutions and codes of conduct to regulate and
relax interpersonal conflict. And reason ignores parallel realities of
any kind in serious context (while encouraging them in private
settings).
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Neglecting the path of reason is easy. But ira furor brevis est.
Fear and anger are bad advisors. More efficient ways to deal with
aggressors are well known. It is a pity that most political leaders
fail in their key obligation: to temper hot-blooded rascals and to pave
the way to generally accepted solutions.
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11/22 < MB 11/23 > 5/24
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