20 replies to this topic

[Koh]

This is something I've always wondered. Who cares how much land you have, or how much power you have? Most people just want to live a good life and accomplish a career, like becoming a doctor or a game developer or whatever else. Why is it countries feel the need to start a war to conquer another country? Just to say "I told you I'm strong!" I don't think anyone really cares about that sort of shit though.

[Moosh]

What ore you doing, Koh? The idea behind this topic is pure gold, but I don't have a silver of hope that it'll go anywhere. I guess oil I wait for a response now. Hopefully I won't land myself in a heap of trouble.

I'm naturally resourceful when it comes to puns.

[Avaro]

I think its because some countries have more or better raw materials than others, thus living there is better.
lol

Edited by Avataro, 22 April 2013 - 09:59 AM.

[Sheik]

Post-democratic capitalism is very ugly. And war is a very profitable business.

[Russ]

What ore you doing, Koh? The idea behind this topic is pure gold, but I don't have a silver of hope that it'll go anywhere. I guess oil I wait for a response now. Hopefully I won't land myself in a heap of trouble.

I'm naturally resourceful when it comes to puns.

Nominating this for post of the year.

More on topic, it's just human nature Koh. Humans are basically greedy and power-hungry, so when they see another country, they instinctively want to own it. And if they can't control themselves, they decide that dammit, they will own it. And then you have a war.

[Daniel]

It's for the money. Money is the most important thing in this world and if another country has profitable resources it only makes sense to go after it. Nobody wants to be at the bottom of the food chain.

[peteandwally]

different reions of the world have their individual natural resources, but modern society hinges on only a few resources, which are located in only a few remote locations. This creates a few war scenarios: a powerful country may want a resource within a weak country, a powerful country wants to stop competing with another powerful country over production of a resource, a weak country may have an agreement with a poweful country and become threatened by a different powerful country. Blah blah blah, with 6 billion people everywhere, it's pretty tough to organize about 15 important things and distribute them throughout the world, especially when only a few hundred people are in charge of decisions.

[Sheik]

The money aside, there's also war for ideology.

[Koh]

The resources is somewhat understandable and not at the same time. It's like a double standard. It's wrong to go into someone's house and kill them to get their laptop, but it's okay to go to another country and kill them for oil?

[Russ]

Who said its okay? Throughout history, people have condemned countries who attack other countries without good reason. Just because it happens doesn't mean it's "okay".

[The Satellite]

There's also religious reasons, which I won't go into so as not to start a religious debate. There's also the fact that some world leaders just want power and try to conquer the world like a comic book villain.

[Hoff123]

I wonder if there are people who want to do it because they're bored?... Lol.

Otherwise it probably has to do with greed, money, etc

[Sheik]

There's also the fact that some world leaders just want power and try to conquer the world like a comic book villain.

Do you mean single persons when you say "world leaders"? Because that would be most likely incorrect. To break a war off the fence, it takes more than just one man. You need a group of people with a clearly defined goal that believes that war is the best way to accomplish said goal. And war isn't as much fought by world leaders as it is fought by soldiers. If every soldier refused to go to war, there would be no war. For reasons beyond me, though, it kind of is an acceptable career and many people choose to murder for payment. (And ultimately, we are back at the money-objective.)

@Koh: Well, of course it is not okay to go to war. o_0 But it happens. You can't be seriously this naive now, can you?

@Hoff123: Actual wars are not started out of boredom. But yes, boredom can be a reason for violence.

Edited by Sheik, 22 April 2013 - 04:00 PM.

[The Satellite]

Oh no, I definitely wasn't referring to just single individuals. That "comic book villain" comparison might have been a bad phrasing, but I would be foolish to think only one leader could go off on a crusade like that when it takes lots of compliant manpower, mostly in government rankings and the higher ranks of the military.

[nicklegends]

War is pretty much a prisoner's dilemma. The idea is that countries can profit by existing peacefully, but they can profit more at another country's expense if they invade them (via acquired resources, etc.). In order to stop this, the defending country must fight back. But in the process of two countries fighting each other, they both lose. That's the sad thing about war: it's a losing game, but it's still the only reasonable strategy. The only way you get out of the prisoner's dilemma is if you change the game or introduce an objective that's more important. Maybe avoiding nuclear annihilation is this "more important objective."