War is defined as an open
argument involving two opposing groups or individuals (Wordnet, 2005). In the
article, “The Causes of War,” Michael Howard (2004), a British military
historian, writes that war was considered a universal way of solving conflict
with neighbors before 1914. It was an acceptable fact, perhaps inevitable. Nowadays, human civilization has reached
success in controlling their environment, surrounding, and society by aid of
technology improvement and education mind. Consequently, war is not the only
way to resolve conflicting issues between two disparate parties. War can be
avoided by using gene modification, committed nonviolent strategies and by
creating an environment that channels tendencies for confrontation in ways that
benefit us.
Gene
therapy is one of the ways to evade conflict and war. It is the insertion,
removal, or replacing of the individual’s genes to treat a disease. In this
case, war and violence are the disease that needs to be cured. According to
Richard Wrangham, a Harvard anthropologist, Y- chromosome in the male gene is
the root of war (Wylie, 2003). By removing the violent gene in human DNA, the
aggressiveness of humans can be reduced and the tendency of war to occur can be
decreased. The gene treatment technique to avoid violence is supported by Jan
Volavka in her article “The Neurobiology of Violence: An Update”, she claims
that improvements in prenatal and perinatal care in terms of gene selection and
prevention may reduce the level of violence in the community. Gene therapy
techniques to reduce human’s aggressiveness received a positive feedback from
respondents in Isaac Rabino’s research when 40% of his respondents said they
would like to eliminate violent traits in the human gene and 19% of his
respondents said they would prefer to increased “positive” characters, such as
caring, compassionate and loving.
However,
the technology for gene treatment is not well developed and still in its
infancy. The possibilities to cure certain gene while not damaging others are
not well known. Dean H. Hamer, a behavioral geneticist states, “gene therapy
has not yet worked in the simplest case of replacing a gene in an adult
individual,” (Wylie, 2003). He further states that genes that influence
behavior tend to have an effect on several behaviors at once. A lot of research
needs to be done to make this technique possible. The conclusion is, when the
technology for gene therapy is viable and reliable, we can eliminate aggressive
genes from male individuals and make the world a better place.
Nonviolent
resistance is a powerful technique to avoid war. It is defined as an idea and
approach for resolving a conflicted issue that totally rejects the use of violence and aggressiveness. In modern times,
nonviolence has been an effective tool for social protest. Martin Luther King
Jr. in his article, “An Experiment in Love” writes, “To meet hate with
retaliatory hate would do nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the
universe” (King, 1986, pg 186). King believes that the use of violence and hate
for solving an issue will cause more abhorrence, violence and aggression. King’s
method to use nonviolence in his fight for justice is proven effective because
he is able to win civil rights for African Americans and change the racial
landscape of America at that time without using violence. He emphasizes that
the use of violence to seek social change will be ineffective; the effective
way to achieve such goals is to fight the forces of hate with the power of
love.
In the
article, “Liberation Without War”, Jack DuVall (2004) shows an example of
nonviolence resistance that succeeded effectively. It was in Poland in 1980,
when employees used strikes to gain the right to organize a free trade union,
stimulating the people to claim on fuller rights. This action is considered very
successful because no one died on that incident. DuVall further explains that
people who want to battle for their right or justice are more interested in
winning than in being killed. That is the reason why they believe that nonviolent
method is more effective than other methods of struggle. Martin Luther King
explain in his article that agape—a love
in which one strives for the benefit of other people—is the foundation of
nonviolent resistance. Nonviolence and agape
works even at the international level because these two forces are
interconnected. For example, the European Community was founded based on
platform of love and interest between the members of the union. The European
Community members have strong economic ties between them that prevent the
members of the union to declare war with each other (Waal, 2000). It is clear
that nonviolence is the effective method to evade war.
War can also be evaded by
generating an atmosphere that can direct human aggression in a positive way.
Harvard economist Terry Burnham argues that the influence of aggressive genes
in the human body is strong enough that we cannot expect to surmount it by
self-control alone. Burnham’s solution is to create structures that direct our
aggressive inclination in ways that benefit us (Wylie, 2003). Human have
created a lot of activities and ways to channel their aggressiveness in a good
way. One of the ways is through sporting event. Major international sporting
events such as Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and World Cup are known as one
of the peace tool that direct human’s aggressiveness in a correct way. Athletes
that compete in these sporting events use their aggressiveness and energy in such
way that can elevate their country names and bring the message of unity
throughout the entire world. According to Bob Oates in his commentary before
the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games says, “All wars were canceled or postponed
during the Games”(Oates, 1983). His statement shows the profound effect of
Olympics games at that times that are able to stop and postpone war. All people
gather and unite together based on the sportsmanship spirit. This action is
called as “Olympic Truce.” Kofi A. Annan, United Nations Secretary General,
says, “The United Nations General Assembly has called for observance of the
Olympic Truce. For these next few weeks, may the serenity of the Olympic flame
silence the sound of gunfire." The Olympic Truce that is mentions by Annan
have worked before during ancient Greek Olympic Games and he believes that if
all nations are able to observe and practice Olympic Truce, world peace can be
achieved.
In conclusion, war can be
avoided if the causes of war, genes, and environment can be overcome. Using
gene therapy, nonviolence and creating environment that channel tendencies for
confrontation in ways that benefit us can evade war. We must remember, “All
humanity is involve in a single process, and all men are brother.” (King,
1986). If one of us does war, all of us are affected by it and when we make
peace with ourselves, we make peace with the world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DuVall, J. (2004,
February). Liberation Without War. Sojournes Magazine , 33 (2).
International Olympic Truce Centre. (n.d.). Statements.
Retrieved February 27, 2010, from
International Olympic Truce Centre:
http://www.olympictruce.org/news/statements.php
King, M. L. (1986). An
Experiment in Love. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers.
Oates, B. (1983, November 1983). Olympics' beginning not so
humble at all. The Modesto Bee , pp. G1-G5.
Rabino, I. (2003). GENE
THERAPY: ETHICAL ISSUES. Theoretical Medicine , pp. 31-58.
Volavka, J. (1999, Summer). The Neurobiology of Violence: An
Update. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci , pp. 307-314.
Waal, F. B. (2000). Primates-A Natural Heritage of Conflict
Resolution. Science , 289 (5479).
Wylie, M. (2003, March 21). Are Humans Hard-Wired to Behave
Aggresively. Toronto Star(Canada) .
