War Creates Social Division, Not Cohesion

War Creates Social Division, Not Cohesion

In attempts to truthfully learn from our past and make progress towards a peaceful world with equality for all, the topic of war, and the effects of war, is an importance issue. Many people believe that war, although obviously destructive, does lead to social cohesion within the particular nation-state at war. The Senate of Canada defines social cohesion as the capacity of citizens living under different social or economic circumstances to live together in harmony, with a sense of mutual commitment. (Culturelink, par. 2) The idea that war leads to social cohesion is based upon the assumption that during a time of crisis, such as a war, people will come together out of the necessity to survive. This belief that the masses unite, neglecting prior dispositions towards one another while opposing a common enemy, has been fairly prominent throughout history. The Second World War, the Cold War, and the Gulf War will be used as examples to research the assumption that social cohesion is a result of warfare. I will argue that warfare, opposed to popular belief, causes large-scale discrimination, which in turn creates social division, not cohesion. Once an understanding of the discriminatory effects war causes is expressed, the backbone derived from the research is that we must valiantly oppose military action to uphold our freedom and equality for all, rather than trying to fight for freedom.

Second World War

The Japanese bombed the United States' Hawaiian naval base, Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941 and this began what we now know as the Second World War. The news swept the country by surprise, from that point forward the nation was shocked into a sort of social cohesion. "After the b...

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... military action against another nation-state. Yet, since this is the result that occurs during war, we can no longer accept war as an option to settle discrepancies. When accounting for discrimination and looking at the long-term effects of war on a pluralistic society such as the United States, it is impossible to deny that these feelings of hate and fear for a particular race will not overlap onto that race existing in the United States. Any short-term division with real furry behind it, will not suddenly disappear when the war does. No, prejudices are learned traits. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge, and the presence of incorrect knowledge is ignorance. We can no longer accept ignorance as an outcome from war. Therefore, military build up must be stopped immediately and diplomatic measures must be taken in proliferating arms to stop war from reoccurring.