Why Wars?

 On April 21, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives finally passed Appropriations for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific.  Certainly, Americans have been focused on those three places, and while we are not at war, we are assisting in ways we believe to be right.  Even those who disagree cannot fail to recognize the brutal attack by Hamas into Israeli territory to slaughter, rape, and take hostage innocents, even if they disapprove of the Israeli response that in turn has resulted in the deaths of innocents.  Nor can we ignore that Putin's assault on another country is brutally unjustified.  And, while China has not started a war, they have provoked tensions. Has not the world experienced enough wars to realize the savagery, the killing of innocents, the suffering of both sides?

New Hampshire Memorial from WW I

 

Looking to history, we come across attorney and political ethicist Mahatma Gandhi, who described the 7 Blunders of the World that Lead to Violence.  They are:  Wealth without Work, Pleasure without Conscience, Knowledge without Character, Commerce without Morality, Science without Humanity, Worship without Sacrifice, and Politics without Principle.  Those 7 suggestions are worth reflection, because they offer a means for hope.  Most of us agree that the Seven reminders are things to which many aspire.

A search online suggests that wars are fought primarily for economic, religious, and political reasons.  Other reasons are the desire for revenge or retaliatory punishment.  There are those, however, who believe we have certain innate and psychological reasons for starting wars.  For whatever reasons, history tells us there has been no year without armed conflict for centuries.

It is worth reminding that wars are not just fought with other nations.  As proof, today there are internal conflicts within Sudan, Myanmar, and Ethiopia.  Other forms of War are Haiti's Gang Violence and Mexico's struggles with Drug Cartels.   

To counter that bad news, there are actually some countries that have never been at war, among them Iceland and Greenland.  

Geneva Academy, established in 2007 by the Faculty of Law at the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies monitors more than 110 armed conflicts, some of which make headlines and others go ignored.  While there are new conflicts occurring, others have lasted more than 50 years. 

My research led me to a previously unknown but logical source, The Modern War Institute at West Point.  The article by Christopher Blattman, titled "The Five Reasons Wars Happen" begins with the primus that "fighting--at all levels from irregular warfare to large-scale combat operations--is ruinous and so nations do their best to avoid open conflict."  It is easy to forget the averted wars, since authors and reporters are far less likely to write about wars that did not happen than those that were not averted.  Blattman quoted Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung in 1938, when he said, "Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed."

What is needed to avert war is discussion and concession, with leadership on both sides engaging in a strategizing much like players of poker or chess.  As in those games, war happens when something interrupts the normal incentives for compromise, with the result being bargaining through bloodshed.

Things go wrong when leaders are unaccountable, unchecked and unaccountable to their people, pursuing their own agendas.  Or, when leaders are ideological, blinded by Beliefs, Glory, or some nationalist vision.  Being biased by isolation and insulation from truth can also blind leadership.  Uncertainty, about all kinds of things needed for appropriate judgement, can also lead to war.  The caution resulting from unreliable positions in power, caused by transitions in leadership or unreliable advice can also cause things to go wrong during negotiations.

Peace is more likely when the power of autocrats has been checked, when uncertainty and  misconceptions have been avoided through dialogue, and when written constitutions and bodies of law make shifts in power more stable.  With these tools, incentives to fight rather than compromise can be  successful in creating a safer world.    

While we know that history tells us that there has never been a year without conflict for centuries, there are times when the world has seemed relatively calm.  It is encouraging that West Point teaches ways to avoid war, despite the need to be ready if war comes.  Sadly, we are living in troubled times.  It is important to remember that it is not entirely or even primarily up to our military to make America safe.  It is up to us to be informed, to send the right people to our state and national capitals, to remember what the Founding Fathers gave to us that is so special--a nation like no other.  

When I happened upon the "7 Blunders that lead to Violence," it led me to the research for this blog.  I was feeling discouraged, not just by the wars but also by the anger and hatefulness it was causing in our own country.  Instead of choosing between hatefulness and hopelessness, perhaps we should give some attention to the Blunders Gandhi identified.  Sometimes even the little things that we do in our own lives can make a difference.  It seems worth considering.  

 

T  

History and Music

Singing under the American Flag

 Recently I read a book written jointly by historian Jon Meacham and musician Tim Mcgraw.  They defined their purpose as "History isn't just something to read; it's also something to hear."  I have blogged about how music has changed in my lifetime, but their book included in its eight chapters music from the beginning of our nation. It is a wonderfully unique perspective that introduced me to music I had never heard, as well as music that has remained a part of American life over the years, to a more insightful notion of music I knew very well but had neglected the significance of that music on the times in which it was written.

Music is not just about lullabies and love songs, although they seem to endure through every generation.  The book's title makes that clear.  "Songs of America:  Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation."  Frances Scott Key, watching the battle with the British for Fort Henry, was inspired to write "What so Proudly we Hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming," and his words were put to music.  Decades later, George W. Bush adopted Brooks & Dunn's song 'Only in America,'' as a campaign song.  Music has been a part of our national events from our beginnings and continues to be.

The Civil War had music that expressed emotions on all sides, Abraham Lincoln calling for the playing of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Black slaves expressing their feelings in spirituals like "Go Down, Moses" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and Southerners singing "I Wish I was in the Land of Dixie."

There are too many songs explained in the book to name all of them, but a few are "America the Beautiful," "This Land is Your land," "You'll Never Know," a favorite of American soldiers in WW II, "We Shall Overcome," and "The Ballad of the Green Berets."  

Our songs have been intended to bring us together and also to rebel against the actions and opinions of others. Meacham and Mcgraw closed their book with an example of that friction.  On June 14, 1965, Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson hosted a Festival of the Arts.  It was a time, as it too often seems to be in America, when there was great disagreement.  President Johnson was unhappy about the open discord among the several hundred invited guests.  

When he spoke, this is what he said:  "Your art is not a political weapon.  Yet much of what you do is profoundly political.  For you seek out the common pleasures and visions, the terrors and the cruelties, of man's day on this planet.  And I would hope that you would help resolve the barriers of hatred and ignorance which are the source of so much of our pain and danger.  In this way you work toward peace which liberates man to reach for the finest fulfillment of his spirit."

I bought their book because I admire the gifts of both Meacham and Mcgraw.  I didn't know exactly what the book was about, but I hoped I would enjoy reading it, and I did.  For those of you who enjoy history but don't have any particular interest in music, I believe you would enjoy reading this book.  For those of you who love music, but are not particularly interested in history, I believe you would enjoy reading this book too.  It opened my eyes to something I had never fully recognized although it was right in front of me. 

 Meacham was right!  "History isn't just something to read; it's also something to hear."

Our Disappearing Culture

Do you know what this egg-shaped thing is?

Without reading the label on the can, do you know what this is?  And, if you know what it is, why is there a light bulb lying beside it?  If you know, I suspect that your age has something to do with it!  The egg-shaped rock is a darning egg, and the light bulb is a substitute if you do not have a darning egg.  

Now that I have told you what it is, I would bet that some of you still have no idea what I am talking about.  A darning egg is used to darn socks when a sock gets a hole in the toe or the heal.  You slip the darning egg into the sock, and then you can mend it.  Perhaps you are not familiar with mending, nor do you own a needle or keep various colors of thread on hand to match whatever you are mending.

It is not just the language between those with gray in their hair and their grandchildren.  It is our generational differences about whether it is more reasonable to mend the sock or simply to buy a new sock. Both generations see the question as wastefulness, the older seeing it as a waste of money to throw away a sock that can be mended and worn for twice as long, while the younger would see the craft of mending such an inexpensive item as a waste of time. 

This blog is not about darning, but rather is about Cultural Erosion, the disappearance of things taken for granted from generation to generation.  I have blogged about disappearing traditions, such as  traditional ceremonies, traditional crafts, and cultural knowledge.  Once, Americans took pride in being what was called a 'melting pot' of emigrants.  That is not to say we never had ugly examples of shameful abuse--of indigenous people, of black slaves, of Chinese railroad laborers, and Japanese Americans in WW II as obvious examples.  Yet, even those examples ultimately contributed to the American culture--enriching our so called 'melting pot' with such things as food we eat, the music we love, the clothes we wear, the words that blended into the American language, and countless more.  Those things enriched all of us, even if we sometimes need to be reminded.

However, this blog is not about discrimination or any one group of immigrants that created our American mix of ethnicities.  It is about the overall rapid changes in the American Culture--changes that make some of us feel as if the culture we knew is disappearing.  

I used the darning egg as a simple example, not because I expect young people to start darning their socks but to comment on what is called our Cultural Erosion.  Cultural Erosion is defined as when parts of a culture start to disappear or become lost over time.  The term originated with the loss of cultural traditions, causing ethnicities to lose part of their identity, history, and way of life.  For many people, that led to feelings of disconnection, and loss of cultural pride, and I would add, a disconnection between generations.

Today, what I see is not only Cultural Erosion but also Cultural Explosion.  I have blogged about Generational changes over the past century, but Cultural Erosion is more about the impact of changes on people.  Changes have always occurred, but the rapidity of change has become disorienting, and sometimes even frightening.  While we all know that it is impossible to turn back the clock, perhaps some of us have wished at one time or another that we could.  Changes in the past were not so abrupt, nor so personal.  We had more time to accept them.  That is no longer true.  The changes from one generation to the next happen faster and are more extreme.  

As a simple example, my mother's earrings had screws to tighten to her ear.  I had my ears pierced.  Today piercings are everywhere.  Another example is that in my parents' generation, some men got tattoos, but my generation, a few women got tattoos, although generally small and often located where they could be covered for work or other occasions.  Today both men and women get tattoos which often cover large areas of their bodies.  A third example is how we dress for particular occasions.  Sometimes, I don't have a clue!  Cultural Erosion can be disorienting, confusing, and sometimes may seem disrespectful, eroding the cultural thread that binds generations across the decades.      

 We cannot return to the ways things were in the past, but right now we seem to be struggling with our new world.   We cannot go back, nor can we stop the clock, but we can learn things from the past and apply that wisdom to the present.  At least, I hope we can.

 '

Which Generation Got it Right?

 I have needed to look up the Generational Definitions over the last century, so I hope you will enjoy sharing my research, whatever generation that you are.  

Those born 1928 to 1945 are called the Silent Generation.  I'm wondering whether they are really silent or if nobody cares to listen to them.  It is obvious that marketers don't have any reason to pay attention to them, since if they are alive, they are probably in a nursing home or are trying to get rid of their stuff rather than buying things.

Those born 1946-1964 are the Baby Boomers, born after WW 2 when the soldiers came home and couples were eager to start their families.  The economy was booming, with families needing houses and furniture and cars and cloths.  Now, they share something in common with the Silent Generation, since they too are probably trying to downsize their homes and pass things on to their grown children, who probably do not want it.

Those born 1965-1980 are Generation X, whose parents may have had a high old time, but who grew up in a recession time, causing them to be more cautious with money.  In general, they still like nostalgia and tradition, they have enjoyed technology most of their lives, and they probably enjoy email.

Those born 1977-1995 are Millennials, although they are also called Generation Y. They became the largest generation in history and were the first generation to grow up with modern technology.  They became particularly comfortable with social media, checking with influencer marketing, reviews, and Brands that supported causes.

Those born in 1996-2012 are Generation Z, which might make you think we had run out of alphabetic names, but you would be wrong.  They are particularly familiar with Influencer marketing, reviews, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and other things I don't understand.

Those born 2013 to the Present are Generation Alpha, but if you think that brings you up to date, you will be disappointed.  Because some of the generations were too long and too indefinite to exactly fit the named categories, --whoever these people are who decide these things--, they came up with Microgenerations: the Xennials and the Zillennials. 

Xennials were early Gen Y or late Gen X babies, growing up with technology but without social media during childhood and teen years.  The impact of 9-11 in their teens made them more likely to be skeptical.

 Zilliennials were alive when 9/11 happened, but were too young to really understand.  Perhaps that somehow influenced them to be better at balancing their strong work ethic with their personal lives.

So now that we understand these labels for various age groups, what is the point?  First, marketers want to know how people spend their money and their time.  Second, politicians are interested in knowing how voters think.  Third, educators need to understand the right training for students and what teaching methods work best for preparing them for what is to come. Forth, housing and population growth are impacted by things like at what ages people marry, or choose not to marry, or prefer to live with their parents longer.  Fifth, decision about having children, and how that impacts social planning. Sixth, how people interact with one another-- using social media or personal meetings require adjustments. Seventh, all of these choices impact social behavior, addictions, privacy, confrontations and ridicule, cyber bullying, and mental health that will need modifications and assistance.

Our world is changing, and if we want to keep up with it, we are forced to at least try to understand a  bit of how others see the world.  What is important is that whether you are a member of the Silent Generation or Generation A, we all need to look around and recognize that whatever generation we are, we can learn from the past and the present generations.  No single generation ever got everything right or everything wrong.