Whether there is or is not a time for war, a reason for war, or alternatives to war, it does not matter; war is an inevitability. Personally, I find war to be a complete waste of resources that could be better spent on other problems, and I believe that international issues should only be solved through diplomatic solutions. Unfortunately, we do not live in such an unobtainable utopian world. Instead, much like before even proper language was developed, the group with the most powerful weapons uses those weapons to subdue less fortunate groups. The only more powerful desire apparently is our need to survive This is especially apparent when one looks at the Cold War; sure, not much in the way of actual fighting occurred, but that was only because both countries realized that they would be putting themselves in danger if they did so. To put it bluntly, the only thing that takes precedence over our willingness to fight and dominate others is our need of self-preservation.
Now, I may seem to be over exaggerating our obsession with war just a tiny bit, but I have another reason as to why I believe my opinion to be completely justified. Just take a look at an average popular action movie or video game. Many well-known and popular movies and video games seem to almost celebrate war, glorifying the triumphs and quietly hiding the true hardships. Going off the subject I am much more knowledgeable about, just about any average video game player, hardcore or casual, is familiar with such franchises as the "Call of Duty" franchise or the "Battlefield" franchise; honestly, you could also include the "Medal of Honor" franchise despite its recent drop in popularity. These and other franchises, usually first person shooters, all put the player in position as a soldier, mowing down impossibly high numbers of enemy units. Said franchises also tend to be the highest selling in the medium and have changed people's perception of what the average video game is from the platformer to the first person shooter.
When you get right down to it, though, most video games involve fighting some sort of antagonist in control of a large group, even Mario games. Yes, Mario games may look like cartoons, and yes, you kill enemies by jumping on them- oh wait, yes, no matter the method, you still are killing creatures in those games. This also applies to pretty much any other non-puzzle game franchise. Why is that? It's because most people find fighting and dominating these virtual enemies fun, which us leads back to our primitive desires mentioned in the first paragraph. This need for fighting is simply part of being human, and that is why I think that war is not only inevitable, but humans will never truly rise above our own innate desire for it.
Note: Although I don't think this needs clarifying, no I am not one of those people that think video games are too violent. Movies and TV shows can be just as violent, and while it is true that the viewer is not actually in control of a character's actions, it would be a lie to say that there are not people that try to imitate scenes from movies, especially action scenes. Humans, on a general scale, simply just enjoy violence, and I doubt that this fact will ever change.
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