Why war?

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“If you have to go to war, you go with the sack and with the stick, the sack to get hit and the stick to hit.” These words, said by my lawyer while discussing a tough professional situation, made me think. It is true that is better to avoid war, but if in the end it becomes inevitable, then determination, courage and knowledge that you may get some bruises, become necessary.

So I had some fun thinking about how individual and group’s emotions can influence the trend of conflicts, conflicts that involve opposed groups composed inevitably by subjects that have very different roles.

First of all, war has to be “ethic”. It seems impossible to start a conflict if there is not some value to defend. It is a lie. Values “cover” interests, that are usually about power. But nobody can control groups of “soldiers” if he does not give them a noble goal.

My second thought is about contexts. War requires a “theatre”. War requires “rules”. We go to war talking about “rules of engagement”, “intelligent bombs”, “proportionate reactions.” Basically trying to be self-reassured that war will not degenerate. This is a naïve illusion, because war will always degenerate.

Third thing, war is about affections. Who goes to war has the need to don’t feel alone. He has the need to feel loved. The loved ones, the ones that you want to defend, the ones that give you energy, tell you that you are a hero. It is not true. On the other side you can find plenty of other “heroes.”

My fourth though is about fear. War is scary. War is the unknown. War is transformation, is trauma. War is hardness that becomes cruelty. Given this, the natural propensity should be to avoid it. But once again, this is not true. Because war is also adrenaline, promises, bets. If I win… If we win…

War’s literature is enormous. Philosophers, Anthropologists, Psychologists, Politicians… at the end there is always the same conclusion: at this stage of the evolution of our societies wars are unavoidable, they are part of human nature.

What a pity! Humans have not been able to work out different strategies to solve extreme conflicts. Although… maybe thinking about it, studying it, imagining better ways… Who knows!

Author: Rolando Ciofi, Psychologist

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