Peace: Is it really impossible?

[SigmaSD]

Is peace really impossible when we think about it, or do we just give up too easily before we find an answer?

If you had a way to institute world peace, how would you come about it?

Most of us here are too young and inexperienced in the world to really go about and promote world peace, but certainly we can come up with reasons as to why peace seems unobtainable. We've all had to experience scenarios in which we argue against a fellow man; an argument that leads to more than just debating and moves towards verbal assault and sometimes even physical assault. I believe this is one of the major reasons why its hard to institute world peace.

Its hard for people to accept other people's ideas because they contradict their own. It doesn't even matter how sound the argument is, people still find a way to reject the idea out of sheer egotism and pride.

It also causes separation amongst people. The ones who believe what you do are the ones who are "right" while the people who believe otherwise are the ones that are "wrong". This then leads to the sense "because they are wrong, I'm allowed to do this". It is used as a way to justify certain actions against the other which elevate strife and escalates to violence.

Is there a way you think its possible to prevent people from escalating to violence? Is there a way that people can learn to listen to each other and not necessarily agree on another person's view, but to accept them despite the difference?

[blueangel06661]

Nope.. As long as we still have 1821 different religions running around there will never truly be peace. I'm jus' saying.

[SigmaSD]

Nope.. As long as we still have 1821 different religions running around there will never truly be peace. I'm jus' saying.
That statement is somewhat true, but there are many other reasons besides religion that prevent peace from being possible.

Its funny you mention religion. If you take a look at what most religions preach, its almost practically the same thing. They either promise something good in the afterlife, or else aid you in achieving eternal peace once you perish.

[blueangel06661]

That statement is somewhat true, but there are many other reasons besides religion that prevent peace from being possible.

Its funny you mention religion. If you take a look at what most religions preach, its almost practically the same thing. They either promise something good in the afterlife, or else aid you in achieving eternal peace once you perish.

Yeah they are very alike with minor differences. But people like to think their piece of cake is better than someone else's though it all came from the same ingredients.

[SigmaSD]

@blueangel06661 (http://www.animeforum.com/member.php?u=101731): In a sense yes. But there is also a struggle of who one should worship. If there is a god out there, no on really knows how he or she looks like. Religion helps give people an understanding of who god is. Lets say you have a god and I have a god and they're both different. We'll probably rage at each other cause to me you're worshiping the wrong god or else you're worshiping a false god, hence the fighting.

It is a similar case when a monotheistic religion goes against a polytheistic one.

[Lily Rock]

We will have war aslong as there is some stupid reason to.
"Country 1: LOOK! WE WANT THOSE FLOWERS TOO, GIVE US SOME!, Country 2: Sorry, but they only grow here and are newly found, we can't give you it, as we gotta find out how it grows, w/e"
Yeah...
Whatever, peace will NEVER come, how much you want it, sometime, some jerk does something that will make another country go rawr rawr.

[SigmaSD]

We will have war as long as there is some stupid reason to.
"Country 1: LOOK! WE WANT THOSE FLOWERS TOO, GIVE US SOME!, Country 2: Sorry, but they only grow here and are newly found, we can't give you it, as we gotta find out how it grows, w/e"
Yeah...
Whatever, peace will NEVER come, how much you want it, sometime, some jerk does something that will make another country go rawr rawr.
You know, you could have mentioned the silkworm as an example instead of the vague one you mentioned. It would have been more clear.

I'm not just talking about war, I mean basic fighting in general. The bad kind of fighting. But alas it is too vague so I guess we could just concentrate on the war aspect of peace.

Btw, if its not too much trouble can I please have this thread moved to the "Serious Talk" section? I just don't want someone to say how they'll take over the world or how they're the ones preventing peace and blah blah. I want this thread to be serious.

[Anoleis]

Pssht, peace is boring. I'd rather write interesting history, with lots of war, conspiracy, and change~

[Shinn Kamiyra]

It also causes separation amongst people. The ones who believe what you do are the ones who are "right" while the people who believe otherwise are the ones that are "wrong". This then leads to the sense "because they are wrong, I'm allowed to do this". It is used as a way to justify certain actions against the other which elevate strife and escalates to violence.

Is there a way you think its possible to prevent people from escalating to violence? Is there a way that people can learn to listen to each other and not necessarily agree on another person's view, but to accept them despite the difference?

Once you start allowing yourself to think about things in terms of "right" and "wrong", you invite all sorts of negative emotions into yourself. "Is what I did really the right thing?" "Why did this have to happen to me?" "Whose fault is it that we're suffering like this?" The real problem is that people, too many people, think of right and wrong as different as night and day. They're really not. What one person constitues as evil could be seen as a great good in another person's eyes, and vice-versa. These differences in opinion and a fundamental lack of understanding will inevitably lead to conflict.

What you're saying about bringing about peace in such a way that people won't escalate to violence and come to understand one another sounds really great; however it's just not possible. So long as humans exist as they are, there will always be fighting and conflict amongst themselves. Personally I think that's the way it should be. Some people simply can't realize their own existence or even a sense of being 'alive' without being in conflict. I myself may very well fall into that category. Quite simply, I love to fight. The idea of testing my skills and my own limits against someone gets me more fired up than anything else.

Would simple recreational competition help to curb this urge? It does, for a while. But inevitably, one with a serious instinct for combat, longs to be rid of those 'bindings', being tied down in such a way that you can't realize your full abilities. That's why me and my bro always seriously spar with one another on a pretty regular basis; kinda like an outlet to help relieve the stress. That and it's a hell of a lot of fun.

But even knowing all that, there are some out there with much 'stronger' instincts for combat; some who simply can't stop until they've killed someone. My point in saying all this is that unless you can subdue or erase the necessity for conflict and combat within the human mind, this 'peace' you're speaking of is nothing more than a dream.

[Sanosuke23]

All it really boils down it is ambition. So long as people want better for themselves than everyone else, there will never be world peace.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and a LACK of it would be unnatural.

The only exception MIGHT come if there were some sort of extraterrestrial rivals. Then the tribalism here MIGHT have a chance of globalizing, rather than being divided amongst the various countries, races, et cetera.

[-GAZKUL-]

nope, pysically impossibel for humans, too deeply engrained into our culture and genetics.

[TheyCallMeFei]

Google search Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech. He lays out a realistic plan for the attainment of peace.

I'll be damned if it happens in my lifetime, though. Not likely.

[Elukien]

The only way to get world peace is by killing or shipping every animal and human of the planet. Then you have the planet to yourself and it will be peaceful.
If we did have peace, conflict will surely come running. So no, we can't have world peace due to the balance of "Good" and "Evil".

[Skylar1]

If you had a way to institute world peace, how would you come about it?
"peace" would mean an end of conflict, and thus the end of human progression. (ie, either we are all dead, or we have all given up on moving forward)


We've all had to experience scenarios in which we argue against a fellow man; an argument that leads to more than just debating and moves towards verbal assault and sometimes even physical assault.
This has never happened to me.



Its hard for people to accept other people's ideas because they contradict their own. It doesn't even matter how sound the argument is, people still find a way to reject the idea out of sheer egotism and pride.
This is correct, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. If people gave up on arguing because they didn't wish to see conflict, the US might still be part of Britain, and slavery might still be legal; just a few examples amongst many others.


This then leads to the sense "because they are wrong, I'm allowed to do this". It is used as a way to justify certain actions against the other which elevate strife and escalates to violence.
That's due in part to the fact that it's a break down of reasoning. Meaning, that it's another way of saying "I should do X because it doesn't conflict with my ideals", which, there are a lot of problems with that.


Is there a way you think its possible to prevent people from escalating to violence? Is there a way that people can learn to listen to each other and not necessarily agree on another person's view, but to accept them despite the difference?
Violence? maybe. I tend to think that most normal people have it within themselves to be civil.

Debate? no


@blueangel06661 (http://www.animeforum.com/member.php?u=101731): In a sense yes. But there is also a struggle of who one should worship. If there is a god out there, no on really knows how he or she looks like. Religion helps give people an understanding of who god is. Lets say you have a god and I have a god and they're both different. We'll probably rage at each other cause to me you're worshiping the wrong god or else you're worshiping a false god, hence the fighting.

It is a similar case when a monotheistic religion goes against a polytheistic one.
What about atheism?



I'm not just talking about war, I mean basic fighting in general. The bad kind of fighting. But alas it is too vague so I guess we could just concentrate on the war aspect of peace.

Bad kind of fighting? what do you mean by that?


Once you start allowing yourself to think about things in terms of "right" and "wrong", you invite all sorts of negative emotions into yourself. "Is what I did really the right thing?" "Why did this have to happen to me?" "Whose fault is it that we're suffering like this?" The real problem is that people, too many people, think of right and wrong as different as night and day. They're really not. What one person constitues as evil could be seen as a great good in another person's eyes, and vice-versa. These differences in opinion and a fundamental lack of understanding will inevitably lead to conflict. .
This is another reason why I have been lead to think that "morality" is fallacious and illogical. Manly, for the fact that it's entirely subjective and dependent on what the person sees is good/bad.

In this regard, I would say that there exists no such thing as "right/wrong", only alternative ways of achieving the same outcome. The implications of those alternative ways are what people typically get all huff and puff about.

[Kanjoudakai_Ira]

As long as we're intolerant, ignorant, egocentric and power-obsessed, there will never be peace.

[Forgotten Show]

No. There are too many people and too few resources. There are too many conflicting ideas about how to attain a utopia. There are too many people willing to victimize others. Fix these problems and you'll get pretty close, but I seriously doubt humans will ever be a 'peaceful' species. The concept of coexistence doesn't exist in nature, so why would it among humans?


Bad Memory

[DeathBlade/13.666]

Well the problem isn't us as a species. It's just the few, the proud, the over-aggressive and greedy that ruin any ideas of peace we may have. Unfortunately, whenever there's a group of peaceful people around others half to take control of them..
Now the idea purposed in The Watchmen, where the world is scared into world peace....It would only last for so long, just like any utopia. Eventually something happens and the utopia becomes a dystopia.
Sadly, the only true way for there to be world peace, that I can see is if every human being in the world dies. But then again, Nature's not to peaceful herself, and so there wouldn't really be any peace, we just can't fight any more when we're dead.

[under the rain]

Probably not. If peace is achieved, it'll be as the result of or resulting in something terrible.

ex. - The formation of the international peacekeeping organization: the U.N. came as a result of the bloodiest struggle ever witnessed by mankind, WWII.
or
ex. - There was certainly peace under the rule of Qin Shi Huang... But that didn't lower the casualty rate any.

[Matty]

Greed and power run the world. Every country is only concerned with wealth and control, and in order to attain it you have to "step" on the little guys. War itself is stupid and never solves anything. The losing country sits out, and a new one steps in. I find it senseless to send SO many young soldiers to their death, but both countries are fighting for what they think is "right" as you said; so no end is possible. There will always be disagreements, just a select few have millions of people to settle it in a violent way.

Even when you go to the bar, there's always two douchbags fighting it out in the parking lot over something stupid. Human beings have the possiblity to strive for peace, but majority of the people can't let go of their "Caveman" instincts.

[Miss Moonlight]

"World Peace"? you mean like everyone being happy and peaceful all at once? yes.

Not because peace is a bad thing, or that it's impossible, but because people are too self-centered and too hung up on discord and wanting to fight and make everyone else's lives crappier. I mean, you can find your own individual peace, but that's pretty much it.

[Robin Sena]

Peace doesn't exist, plain and simple.

[Anuket]

As long as there's politics in the world there would never be peace. I mean, come on people.. We live in a world where there is always someone above us, someone who controls us. I know democracy works in some countries but still, corruption can be seen in the most least expected places. World peace is a dream beyond reachable for us.

Take a simple example, your own family. You can never avoid an argument with your parents or your own siblings. If you can't even deal with them in peace how are we to expect every single country to be in peace with one another?