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From: al@aurora.UUCP (Al Globus)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Re:  Space for Peace
Message-ID: <306@aurora.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 16-Oct-84 15:51:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: aurora.306
Posted: Tue Oct 16 15:51:06 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Oct-84 06:21:51 EDT
References: <2474@dartvax.UUCP>
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 41

> 
> 
> > I have the beginings of a plan that I believe could make a real dent in
> > the warlike tendencies of the human race.  It's based on the assumtion,
> > supported by our experience during Vietnam, that if people see REAL WAR
> > in their livingrooms on a daily basis they will be less likely to fight
> > one.
> 
> One wonders about the validity of this assumption.  Vietnam seems to have
> been a particularly unpopular war.  Perhaps people were "less likely to
> fight" becasue Vietnam was widely viewed as 1) a losing war, and 2) a war
> in which we were supporting an oppressive government.
> 
> Personally, I doubt the existence of "warlike tendencies" on the part of
> the human race.  None of my friends are particularly keen on going to
> El Salvador or on sending others to El Salvador.  I like the theory that
> wars are caused by a select few itching to pull the trigger of their
> favorite ray gun.
> 
> On the other hand, having a growing archive of live war footage would
> help certain filmakers (e.g. the DOD) make films that glorified war,
> ennobled war, and helped whip us into a war fervor.
> 
> dartvax!chuck

To repeat a point, if you look at films that glorify war you will find very
little if any footage of real war.  There is good reason for this.  Real war,
including 'good' wars, is an awful business, particularly for the infantry.
As for the human races warlike tendencies, I suspect your friends are not a
very good sample.  If we didn't have warlike tendencies we wouldn't fight 20
or so wars all the time continuously for centuries (if you count up the wars
going on globally at any particular time in history, including now, you can
usually find at least 20 if you know the period well enough).

In any case, both the government of France and Arther C. Clarke have suggested
setting up an international spy satellite system run by the U.N. to keep an
eye on the world wide military madness and, presumably, distribute the infor-
mation.  Unlike my idea (which I doubt is original), this can be done with
current technology for reasonable amouts of money.  Why should the super-powers
have a monopoly on troop deployment information?  Why shouldn't everyone, you
and me, have access to this stuff?  Let's get on with it!  Maybe Greenpeace....