Is War Inevitable?

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) .