Jonathan Dodd‘s latest column. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
I’m struggling to think of any situation anywhere at any time in history where bombing actually made a decisive difference to the outcome of any conflict. It seems to me that there were only two actual reasons for bombing, neither of which was actually stated at the time.
The first reason for bombing is so governments can say they’re actually doing something, and at the same time avoiding lots of casualties on their own side. The second reason is a little less heroic. You drop bombs on people because you can.
Neither side is right or wrong
Throughout history there’s been a debate in every state between those who want to rule through strength and those who believe the rule of law will prevail. Neither side is right or wrong in any black-and-white sense, and it’s rare that any state gets it right for very long.
Those who believe in strength and action understand the world as a place in which there are lots of people with big sticks, and it’s necessary to have a bigger stick than anyone else, in case they decide to use their big stick first. Sometimes the big sticks are illusory, like the famous Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Sometimes the sticks are so big that they threaten the whole of humanity and the integrity of the planet.
The wiping-outness gets more efficient
This is all a matter of scale. There are plenty of examples in history where a whole state would be wiped out utterly with nothing remaining but a name and that curious absence of space that should be occupied by the memory of a people and a culture. These things have happened, and will probably continue to happen. It’s just that the wiping-outness gets more efficient.
We’re about to celebrate the arrival of the seventh chapter of Star Wars, in which technology has progressed to the point where whole planets can be wiped out by spectacular weapons. This isn’t a new idea, because it’s been portrayed in Star Trek, and even the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy begins with the destruction of the Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
How big a bang
But that’s only a film. Luckily we aren’t at the stage where we can vaporize the whole planet yet, only lay it to waste. The problem with weapons is that they’re developed with two mindsets. Firstly there’s the reasoning behind the original commissioning, which involves much earnest talk about safety and security, and then there are the developers and potential users of the weapons, who are itching to have a go with them to see just how big a bang they can produce.
This isn’t a new idea. It’s a fundamental part of the human psyche, although mostly exhibited in the male section. What’s the point in having a car unless you have the fastest car possible? And what’s the point in having the fastest car possible unless you actually drive it at its limits? And sadly, if the speed of cars were to be magically reduced to safe limits, there would be something else to concentrate on that would fuel the adrenalin-rush instead.
Everyone gets sucked in
We’re just built like that. The thing that makes us such a successful species is the same thing that makes us dangerous, to ourselves and everyone around us. We need to develop machines and systems to get things done better and faster and bigger, but we don’t have the ability to make sure they work in a good way. We’re greedy for success and riches, and some people are always ready to bend or break the rules to do it quicker. Then everyone gets sucked in, and it’s too late to stop it.
This sort of thing happens in all areas of human endeavor. Drug-taking in sport. The banking crisis. The pursuit of power, our blindness over the effects we’re having on the environment. And then there’s the whole war thing. Everyone supports peace, but then there’s a rush to war and everyone gets sucked in. It happens so often and nobody ever learns. Recently we were sucked into two wars in Iraq, another in Afghanistan, then we bombed Libya, and now we’re going to bomb Syria.
None of them worked
Each of these adventures was suggested with a lot of vague rumours about threats to our safety, accompanied by scenarios involving destruction in our midst by these people, the bombing and invasion were portrayed as necessary to stop whatever it was that we were being threatened with and the way to sort out the problems over there. And none of them worked. The treat from terrorists hasn’t abated at all. In fact, we’re actively encouraging the growth of terrorism.
In a previous blog, I talked about patience, and the need to find things to do while waiting for problems to get sorted out. It’s rarely a good idea to act before you know what you’re going to do, and very difficult to stop yourself. I heard a lot of the ‘We must do something’ arguments this week, but nobody has mentioned that doing something without a plan or a strategy or an outcome never works.
Tomorrow’s fat cats
The truth is that civilization and power shifts around the planet, a bit like tectonic plates. Some areas do rather well, and amass riches and power on a large scale, usually by exploiting other less powerful areas. After a period of time, the exploited get angry and want some power for themselves, while the rich and powerful grow fat and lazy. Then the protests and the repression grow, until the poorer people take over and become tomorrow’s fat cats.
What we’re in the middle of is one of these exchanges of power. People who have very little are complaining that the people who have everything aren’t allowing them to share the good life, and they’ve been asking for a slice of the cake for a long time. Lots of them are trying to get better lives by travelling to our countries, but that can only work for a short period, because we don’t want to be overwhelmed, and their lives are becoming more difficult and dangerous. So they’re beginning to tell us that they’re going to take it from us instead of asking.
To make us feel and look briefly better and safer
We’ve allowed that balance between the haves and have-nots to become dangerously unstable, and if we knew what was good for us we would be making strenuous efforts to improve the lives of all those suffering out there right now. They’d be grateful to us if we did that, and they’d be our friends. Bombing them has the exact opposite effect. It’s a dangerous and ultimately foolhardy action, taken to make us feel and look briefly better and safer, but it will make things worse.
All this makes me a bit sad. There’s a song that’s returned to me from many years ago, when people were protesting against wars then, just as they are now. It was written by the late great Pete Seeger.
‘When will they ever learn?’
If you have been, thank you for reading this.
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