War

Risk in war

It can be hard enough to accept casualties caused by the opposition, but how does one come to terms with friendly fire? (A rather inapt expression that hides the lack of due diligence before pulling a trigger.) In some wars more succumbed to disease than enemy fire. There are instances where people can be more at risk from some jeopardy at home than in the location of war. It panned out that for each 100,000 people that went to a war, 99,500 returned safely whereas 600 would have perished in the same time frame in their home country. Although it would have been a different set of people.

We have wars to preserve our home, our country, to expand our nation’s territory and to help other countries. We view the merits of each very differently. Weighing up the possible risk to yourself is hard to do as severe injury, mental scarring and obvious death is balanced against the reasons for combat. Most people will admit that they would protect themselves and their immediate family by whatever means necessary. Many people will show gratitude towards those that have defended their country from invaders. Similar appreciation has been shown by those that have appealed to other nations to intervene in their state when people have used force to circumvent and override the laws and voting systems that were in place. People are far more likely to seek redress when life in their country is heavily restricted and unrewarding. If a state feels that they want a defensive capability, they are perhaps more justified building one with non-coerced volunteers.

Where an organisation has not got a big army or much in the way of military apparatus yet has a strong reason to fight for their principles, they are inclined to act in what is termed terrorism. The loose definition is an act of extreme violence that is unapproved of by the big states. The main purpose is to elevate the cause above the many other events on that day. The news is most often comprised of things that are new, things that are out of the ordinary. When the media plays into the hands of the agitators, they increase the weight of the message and heighten tensions. If such events are downplayed, then support will drop. Only if the frustration of not being heard rises and rises and therefore action is taken to raise the ante significantly, does this policy become risky. Most of the attacks get blanket coverage. The length of debate and discussion is disproportionate to the scale of it in the wider scheme of things. An earthquake and other natural disasters can wipe out hundreds or even thousands of people in one go. Preventable curable diseases eradicate millions every year. Use of legal guns and knives destroy lives daily. Add in the preventable fatalities on the road and the hate wars claim less than 0.01% of the total. If the people in power act in a way that gives the same precedence to all citizens, then the resources would be deployed in a much more even-handed way. No one life is more important than another.

When you have virtually nothing to lose the fear evaporates, as death could seem more attractive than a suppressed futile life. The most dangerous parties to keep a close eye on are those coerced and sucked into doing something through false promises and become a patsy in someone else’s game. Those that change their mind, those that aren’t swayed look back years later and are invariably glad they avoided an early death.

A fiend is killing everyone in the immediate locality. Selfish vs cooperative tactics come into force. Rush the fiends or hide? If lots run at them smashing them hard with anything they can lay their hands on, they are usually overpowered. The temptation is to get away and hide though. If the fiend can kill you all one by one, they will kill you one by one. If not all of you then most of you. The more that challenge the fiend together the merrier the occasion – it is very hard to stave off lots of people coming at you all at the same time. A difficult once in a lifetime gamble.

To sacrifice your life for the benefit of others could be admirable but you won’t be around to appreciate any of the gains of the eventual victory. Is it worse to die in a war that your side ends up losing anyway? From your point of view, it makes no difference. It is only important whether the war is won or lost if you survive.