Perhaps the largest contributor to the “inevitability” of war is the belief that wars are indeed inevitable. The belief that your nation or group will eventually fall into the cross-hairs of the “enemy” eventually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy should enough people subscribe to that view. This is because such a thought process colors our way of thinking as well as the manner in which we communicate with different nations. If we as a society were to change our cynical views on the intentions of other people, our international relations would dramatically improve, thus leading to minimal conflicts and more lives saved.
The concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy can be easily defined via the Thomas theorem which states, “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequence” (Encyclopedia). In other words, if we define wars as simply being inevitable, then we set in motion very war-like behaviors such as hostile dialogue, displays of military prowess to frighten other nations, sanctions, and preemptive strikes all in the name of self-defense. Eventually, such a war like stance “inevitably” evokes an aggressive response from another nation thereby causing this self-inflicted prophecy to become true.
Perhaps the reason why self-fulfilling prophecies are notoriously potent can be traced to the Self-Verification Theory. Self-Verification Theory simply states that people generally resist feedback or evidence that contradicts their self views and only accept information that reaffirms their opinions (Collins). A study written by David Collins and Arthur Stukas in The Journal of Social Psychology provide significant evidence for Self-Verification Theory. In their experiment, participants were given a personality test to complete that would identify where they lay on an introvert/extrovert scale. Afterwards, the research team e-mailed feedback to the participants that purposefully contradicted the test results. Furthermore, these e-mails were attributed to fictitious therapists with varying levels of experience. Unless their feedback was written by a therapist of high repute, most participants rejected the test results that were incompatible with their self-views. From this study, a correlation can be drawn to the current views on the inevitability of war. Since we have been brought up in a culture that fosters the notion that war is “normal” based upon the authority of parents, government, religion, and the media, we have latched onto this idea while only assimilating evidence that “proves” it while ignoring anything to the contrary.
Such a manner of thinking played a significant role in the variety of conflicts that took place during the Cold War era. Both the Americans and Soviets were extremely vigilant in insuring that no third party joined the other nation’s cause (Barash 19). As such, “strictly indigenous conflicts” were viewed as attempts by a hostile superpower to spread their ideology across the globe thereby urging the opposing superpower to become involved in a foreign war (19). Such blind nationalism led to the atrocity of the Vietnam War as well as to the poorly-planned invasion of Iraq.
Should we desire to inhabit a more peaceful world, it is our duty to first alter the manner in which we perceive war. Rather than embracing the defeatist mentality that wars are unstoppable, we must devote our intellectual resources to establishing and maintaining common ground with other nations.
Barash & Webel Meanings of Wars UNF Blackboard.
Collins, David R. and Arthur A. Stukas. "The Effects of Feedback Self-Consistency, Therapist Status, and Attitude Toward Therapy on Reaction to Personality Feedback." The Journal of Social Psychology 146 (2006): 463-489.
Marshall, Gordon. "Thomas Theorem." A Dictionary of Sociology. Oxford University Press 1998. Print.
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