By: Muhammad Talha
War, is a word that we listen to and see day and night every day either on electronic media or in print media. It affected our diurnal lives. Every day we hark about trifles, skirmishes and quarrels that occurred in one part of the globe or another. Then, out of the blue, a curious mind thinks about why there is war everywhere? why has humanity become so morally corrupt that they kill their fellows, an evil which is absent in other species? why at last the human race is insistent on the destruction of one’s self and nature(cradle of humanity)? Why they can’t remain in peace and tranquillity? Why there is so much brutality and savagery? Why does human prefer violence and bloodshed instead of remaining calm and satisfied? ultimately, the mind arises the question of the delusion of peace and ask is it possible to establish peace and lawfulness? To find the answers we must delve deep into the mysteries of biology, psychology and economics.
There are many types of war in general such as the cold war, the colonial war, the religious war and the world war etc. But here we would define war in a popular sense thus According to Britannica war is defined as a “conflict between political groups involving hostilities considerable duration and magnitude.”
From biology point of view, war is explained as a natural episode. We wage war because we are made of selfish genes that demand to be replicated and reproduced. Hence it is our innate tendency to get hold of resources, that help us to survive, and fight over them with other groups. The second notion from a biological attempt is that it is widely believed it is a direct linkage with testosterone and serotonin level. The higher their quantity, the more one shows aggressiveness.
The second in this list is psychology, how the mindset of a person is prone toward ferocity rather than kindness and gentleness. The first psychologist who investigates the war was Will James who wrote the seminal essay “The Moral Equivalent of War” in 1910. In his book, James suggested that warfare is prevalent because of its positive psychological effects on both societal and individual levels. On a societal level war deliver a sense of unity, discipline and selflessness towards the collective threat. While on individual strata, it makes persons more alive, alert and awake.
The second psychologist who work is small but remains magnum opus in the field of psychology is Sigmund Freud. In his essay “Why War” he vividly stated the facts behind the war nature of humans. He postulates that Human is the amalgam of instinct, which play a key role in homo sapiens. Instincts are innate in their shape and can’t be terminated, but only their path could be changed properly requiring a long span of duration. There are many instincts, in such instincts, one instinct is named subversive instinct. This instinct is embedded deep in the subconscious and has a fancy for warfare and destruction. This instinct remains dormant in time of peace, and arouse in turbulent and devastating condition. It has a very tendency to influence and influence by oration and rhetoric. At one point he brazenly says that it is the true state of human nature because in society he is bonded by many customs and rules. He further asserts that in warfare humans become free from the shackles of all kinds of restraint either morally or socially.
Finally, it comes to economics, the relation of economics with warfare. Often wars are caused by one country’s wish to take control of another country’s wealth. whatever the other reasons for war may be, there almost every time economic motive underlying many conflicts, even if the stated aim of war is presented to the public as something nobler. The other tendency includes the business of arms dealers, weapons manufacturers and arsenal builders. Their happiness or in other words their businesses run with the aim of the destruction of the human race.
As humanity is standing on the verge of the abyss, it should be the responsibility of every human to work for the betterment of society and create awareness about the evils of warfare. The governments on a national level could take proper measures and reform the debilitating state of law and order situation. In conclusion, the international leaders must come to the front and unite against the curse and formulate an international body. The body should assign the approximate amount of freedom to solve the problems between two foes countries. Then the planet would be an abode of peacefulness and calmness and could chant the slogan that humanity is the best religion, otherwise, such slogans would remain hollow and humanity would be strangled by its own hands.
