Why War?

[Ephrum]

Why is it we men find war so fascinating? Personaly, I hope to never have to experience combat for real. I really doubt I'm alone in that feeling. But what is it about war that draws our undivided attention? Not just the ACW, but all wars. Military History has been a favorite subject of mine since 1st grade. I love military strategy games, from all periods of history.

War is the most horrible act, that people can bestow on one another. It's misery on a stick.
So why the genuine interest?

Is it that we like strategy? Like strategy in sports.

Is it like a car wreck: You don't want to look, but can't help it?

Is it because, based on World History, that war is a fact of life?

I've asked myself these kinds of questions for years and years, and am no closer to

understanding the fascination.

So what do you guys think it is exactly? Why do some of you like the subject of war?

BTW- I'm posting this question at MMG as well.

[BOSTON]

Take a course in Sociology 101 you will find your answer.

[Amish John]

Ephrum wrote:

Why is it we men find war so fascinating? Personaly, I hope to never have to experience combat for real. I really doubt I'm alone in that feeling. But what is it about war that draws our undivided attention? Not just the ACW, but all wars. Military History has been a favorite subject of mine since 1st grade. I love military strategy games, from all periods of history.

War is the most horrible act, that people can bestow on one another. It's misery on a stick.
So why the genuine interest?

Is it that we like strategy? Like strategy in sports.

Is it like a car wreck: You don't want to look, but can't help it?

Is it because, based on World History, that war is a fact of life?

I've asked myself these kinds of questions for years and years, and am no closer to

understanding the fascination.

So what do you guys think it is exactly? Why do some of you like the subject of war?

BTW- I'm posting this question at MMG as well.

No wives involved.

[Little Powell]

For me, I think its a little bit of everything you have mentioned. But history in general has always fascinated me (colonial America, ancient rome, medieval europe, etc.) and war usually comes with the territory.

I have been into all kinds war games my whole life, but really the only war I have ever really studied in depth is the ACW. I guess because there was never a war like it (for America at least) and it was a time when modern warfare was just being discovered.

But it is a little bit of everything.. The strategy, the disbelief of how could humans could really do that to each other, and also; especially for the ACW, the battlefields are right in our backyards and most have been very well preserved.

[Ephrum]

hoistingman4 wrote:

Take a course in Sociology 101 you will find your answer.

So what does Sociology 101 tell you about war?




I'm just trying to get a discussion going.

[BOSTON]

I'd have to go back to thinking like a Neanderthal to explain what I mean. It all relates to the laws, cultures, traditions, folklore of groups of people to survive. When we were knuckle draging cave dwellers we ate our enenies, that basic instinct is in you today to prevail. As a homo sapiens became social, they became more organized collectively in whatever direction that group chose to go in. If another group got in the way, bash their heads in.

[Ephrum]

hoistingman4 wrote:

I'd have to go back to thinking like a Neanderthal to explain what I mean. It all relates to the laws, cultures, traditions, folklore of groups of people to survive. When we were knuckle draging cave dwellers we ate our enenies, that basic instinct is in you today to prevail. As a homo sapiens became social, they became more organized collectively in whatever direction that group chose to go in. If another group got in the way, bash their heads in.

So your saying we're just hard-wired that way? That no matter how much we evolve, we still react like Neanderthals?


Don't get me wrong hoistingman4, I'm not disagreeing with you. I just want to make sure I understand your point.

[norb]

Everyone that's been around a while, knows I'm fairly religious, so I don't go with the cave man idea, but I do agree with the general idea. I think we are hard wired that way, or at least some of us are. Throughout recorded history, there is conflict. One group trying to destroy another, for some reason. Sometimes it's done with direct fighting, sometimes it's more subtle. In the US right now there is a civil war going on, the right vs. the left. It's fought by cunning, but it's a war none the less. Who hasn't wondered or decided which side they are on. It seems to me that mankind is always at war in someway. There are religious reasons, expansion reasons, money (of course), which means natural resources too, and ideology. No matter what the excuse, there is war. If you study the eastern cultures, business is war and they've been fighting the rest of the world for years. Islamic terrorists have been at war with the US for decades, or maybe it's more accurate to say they've been at war with the entire world. There's a huge drug war going on in mexico/america right now. It's amazing how many wars go on around us every day. Look at what Israel goes through constantly, or to take the other side, imagine what's it's like to grow up a poor Palestine living in the Gaza Strip?

Even in the US, a country based on the idea that you should be able to think what you want, worship the way you want, and live the way you want, people fight for control. There is now thought crime and speach crime. The entire country seems to be set up to avoid internal wars, but they still happen.

It seems to me (and this is just a conclusion, not a firmly held belief), that people will always be at war and until we find an alien to battle, we will continue to fight each other for control of the Earth. But even if that happens, groups will rise up to challenge that control. Until we prove otherwise, the only conclusion that I can draw is that people have an internal need to fight and will eventually find someone that gives them enough reason to war with them.

[BOSTON]

Ephrum wrote:

Don't get me wrong hoistingman4, I'm not disagreeing with you. I just want to make sure I understand your point.

Ephrum, have you ever got mad/angry? Have you ever got mad/angry at someone? Some might say that dogs get mad and that people get angry. Usually mad means a stronger emotion/reaction than angry. Did you get taught to be mad/angry, did you learn it somehow? or does it just happen from out of the blue? You might rationalize what made you feel that way afterward. Your initial reaction to anger was to flight or fight, it can happen as an individual or a group.

[Ephrum]

Your initial reaction to anger was to flight or fight, it can happen as an individual or a group.

I thought, fight or flight, was the reaction to fear. But it seems to make sense, either way.



So again I ask, to everyone. Why do we have a fascination with war. Why do we spend our free time, playing war games? (For the record, I enjoy them very much, and will continue to play them.)