A Quick Rundown of War

War has been waged for centuries upon centuries for many different reasons. These reasons range from territorial expansion to resources to political disagreements but there are always some common factors in waging a war. War demands that an army of people are willing to fight for you, your first step is to have something you can actually fight with. Secondly you need the resources to go to war. Each and every soldier needs to be outfitted with the latest equipment and war materials need to be manufactured at rapid speeds. Thirdly, and perhaps the most important in this day and age, you need your country behind you. It is impossible to start a war if your people are unwilling to fight. Politicians are in the know of the way things are run behind the scenes in the world, and although not all may be crooked, some misguided politician may see fit that it would be in our nation's best interest to wage a pointless war over something like religion. How could a politician gain enough support for a war effort? Propaganda coupled with a psychological theory or two. The politician must find some means to convince the people that they have a common threat that must be eliminated, or else our very way of life is at risk. Since people now a days are mostly too inconvenienced to bother looking up information themselves, they will take what is spoon-fed to them at the leisure of convenience. All the politician has to do is gain control over the media and we now have a mass propaganda delivering machine. Simple catch phrases and slogans are enough to stick in the back of people's minds, and if we point out all the negatives of a single country average Americans will soon harbor a subconscious bias towards that country. Then once a common enemy has been identified the politician gains more power by growing their own organization or political group by filling it with new members. This increase of support for the war causes group polarization and group think to occur, creating more extremist thoughts within a group. Group polarization is the tendency for people to make more extreme decisions when they are in a group rather than when they are alone. (changinggminds.org) The above factors are all steps to creating one massive “in group” in a population. As the war group grows in political power and numbers fewer and fewer people will dare risk arguing against the war group's claims out of fear of political ruin or humiliation, thus limiting any opinions from any “out groups.” Soon the words of the popular new war “in group” have become etched into the minds of Americans, and has become our new truth that the enemy must be eliminated. The people then march headlong into a righteous, grandiose war to end all wars believing that we are bleeding and dying to eliminate some sort of threat, when at the end of the day we may all have just been used as pawns for political gain. To prevent ourselves from being tricked humanity is up against an enemy that grows in power in this modern world, our own apathy. I fear that by the time we as men finally decide to act on our beliefs and re-take our responsibility to learn the truth, the world may have already undergone a catastrophe we may never fully recover from. Mankind will ultimately decide to keep dreaming in this modern, convenient, politically correct world, however one day we may discover that what we thought was reality was just a fabrication.
Sources: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/group_polarization.htm

Fear of Being Afraid

Fear is a very powerful concept. Fear can break men down, fear can build a man's career, fear can give rise to a new nation, and fear can lead to a scene of grisly deaths. Since the dawn of time fear has been a main motivator for not just human kind but also for animals. Animals have a natural instinct that tells them to run away when they sense danger, for man there is no exception. Everyone remembers what it is like to feel fear. Some people may have been scared as children of the boogie man, others may have been traumatized by some unfortunate event but we all feel fear from time to time. Parents are certainly some of the most fearful people on the planet because they constantly worry about their children. Fear comes in many forms but like with an animalistic instinct we try to run from what makes us afraid. If we are worried about the homeless man on the corner next to a stoplight we make sure our door is locked, if we are uncomfortable with the city we live in we move, if someone breaks into your home you immediately grab a weapon to help dispel the fear. Fear is easily recognized as a powerful motivator for human behavior, and so people have begun to use fear as a means of persuasion, to make people believe or act in a way that benefits the manipulator. First we must realize that one does not even need to fear something that exists. Men can easily cause others to have a fear for something, as seen in the Little Albert experiment. Little Albert was a small child who was allowed to see undisturbed pictures of lab animals and was then allowed to play with a lab rat. At first Albert played around normally with the little white rat, until every time Albert touched the rat an assistant would smack a hammer across a metal bar behind Albert, causing the child to be frightened. After some repetitions Albert became too terrified to even go near the lab rat. The Little Albert experiment shows that fear can also be man made and it is possible to create a specific fear for anyone. Fear is also a technique that was used by the Church, such as Jonathan Edward's famous “Fire and Brimstone” sermon. In this sermon Edwards preaches that God is an angry god with contempt for humanity and that only a string separates the human race from plunging straight down into Hell. We also see religion using fear during the time of the Catholic Inquisition, where heretics were “tried” and then executed, or with the Salem Witch Trials where neighbors were accusing neighbors of being witches before they themselves were accused. These “witches” were then unjustly tried and executed. Fear is especially potent when a man is presented with an omnipotent force who's existence can not be readily identified, in this case God. Wars have been fought with God's name countless times where the enemy was God's enemy or if you fight you will be forgiven for your sins such as in the Crusades. Fear is an almost insurmountable emotion that can cause a man to do many things, and we must all recognize and face our own fears or else others may very well take advantage.

Social Impact and the Will of the People

Propaganda in our day and age is omnipresent. Everywhere you go there are advertisements showing off a product, there are politicians gunning for a seat of power, there are countless news stories that show only one side of a story, and there are many traps that people seem to find themselves falling into because of propaganda. Propaganda is widely known, people know how and why it works and yet people still seem to be suckered in by it. Over time propaganda has proven to be the most obvious yet effective means of persuasion. People are willing to take whatever people throw at them at face value, rarely questioning what they see. Politics are a great example of this "blind faith" about propaganda. During elections political advertisements only show the side of an argument that makes their candidate look good, while making the opposing candidate look as appalling as possible on television. People have become so divided politically that the only two parties that have a chance of getting elected are the Republican and the Democratic parties. Each party shows advertisements, makes promises, creates catchy slogans, and successfully rallies close to an army of supporters for their cause. The people believe so much that their candidate is the right one for the country, and some are even willing to go to extreme lengths to assure their candidates victory. Most of these political claims however turn out to be falsifications, stretches, or downright lies. The politicians are using propaganda to win favor over the hearts and minds of the people. People are aware of how and why propaganda works, the information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of propaganda are readily available but it still works. One psychological explanation for why propaganda works so well is the Social Impact Theory. The Social Impact Theory states that the likelihood that a person will respond to social influences will increase with Strength: how important the influencing group is to you, Immediacy: how close the group are to you, and Number: how many people there are in the influencing group. (changingminds.org) One can easily look at the Social Impact Theory at times of presidential elections. When strength is analyzed the Republican and Democratic parties are incredibly powerful and the most influential political parties in America. If one were to look at immediacy it would be shown that during election years new political commercials are released constantly on television and the internet, so people are hardly given an opportunity to forget about the stressful election for a while. If one were to look at number the Republicans and the Democrats have amassed close to an army of supporters each election and even after wards people are either Republicans or Democrats. With such strong credentials for the Social Impact Theory, it's no wonder that people get caught up in these heated debates over politics. All new forms of propaganda are incessantly released for elections, and people are the most politically active and rallied during the new presidential elections. The ways to counter the Social Impact theory are to reduce the Strength, Immediacy, and Number as much as possible, but in America doing so is impossible. The media is in place to prevent such a reduction, and are always bashing or praising politicians. All one can hope for is that people will take the time to research and think for themselves, and try to see through the propaganda, to see through what may or may not be true.

Sources: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/social_impact.htm

Governments and their Flaws

During the 20th century many wars were waged that had devastating impacts on history as we know it. If we look back at wars such as World War I and World War II we can see that both were inflamed by the failures of governments to peacefully negotiate. Before World War I there was a surge of nationalism among the European countries, and as a result many believed their own country to be the very best and viewed other countries with distaste. According to the book World War II: A Short History by Michael J. Lyons "Governments were willing to go to the brink of war or beyond to safeguard what they considered to be national interests or to avenge supposed insults to national honor." Lyons also states that the nationalism at the time was "of a narrow, selfish, and strident type." This evidence shows that the governments of the time were more concerned with building themselves up to be the best, rather than to keep the peace between themselves. Countries soon began to take sides against one another, and soon you had the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy staring right into the eyes of a counter alliance known as the Triple Entente consisting of France, England, and Russia. Before the war had even started governments had already begun to take sides and mobilize their military without any honest attempt at a peaceful negotiation. As soon as Germany began to build up their navy England had to do the same, as soon as one alliance was formed another had to be formed to counter it, and so paranoia and lack of political negotiation had set the stage for war. Governments were also using propaganda to boost nationalism within its own country and raise support for a potential war effort. When war finally broke out young men were eager to enlist and fight. Thanks to the government's propaganda they believed that serving in the war would be a grand adventure, and fighting for their country would be a great honor. It was only soon after the troops discovered the lifestyle of trench warfare that the illusion of grandeur began to fade. The world had broken out into total war, with men fighting and dying for small patches of land in a savage war of attrition. It was only after the fighting began that men began to see the faults of their pride. Soon the war began to lose its popularity, and countries were faced with overwhelming death tolls. Many would believe that after the war the leaders of countries would have learned their lesson about the dangers of pride and crooked nationalism, but that was not the case. During peace negotiations after the war a treaty was drafted know as the Treaty of Versailles. Although at the end of the war no one was willing to take responsibility for causing it, however in the Treaty of Versailles Germany was given sole responsibility for causing the war. Because of this "War Guilt" clause Germany was forced to account for all war damages and to pay a massive war debt. Germany was also robbed of some of its territories and forced to demilitarize, leaving many Germans seething with hatred. Also during the peace treaty the Allies all had their own objectives, leaving one to believe that they were more concerned with obtaining spoils than with making peace and preventing war. In the end the Treaty of Versailles was fairly unsuccessful, failing to prevent World War II and leaving many compromises between the Allies with no one really having obtained everything they desired from the treaty. Coupled with that was an enraged Germany, whose people had been so engrossed in propaganda from the government that they had no idea they had even lost the war. In conclusion the governments had failed to communicate with each other regarding international relations, and they had failed to be honest with their own people. Governments were too intoxicated with pride before and after World War I and as a result the Earth was soon after introduced to the greatest and most destructive armed conflict in history, the dawning of World War II. Had governments been more concerned with finding a path to peace than with a path to greatness, who knows how many lives would have been saved.