In war, why does killing people solve the world's problems?

Question

I know it doesn't.

Answer 1

In war...all the two (or more) sides think about are getting rid of the competition. They want to "win" the war...and they don't care how they do it. Killing is in human nature. So if something ( or someone) stands in our way of "being the best" (so to speak), then that person is going to make sure that the someone regrets it...and the most brutal way of doing that is by killing them.

Answer 2

War is waged to deplete your enemies resources. Once that is done you occupy and there by change the philosophy of the people. This how it works when you're dealing with cultures that respect human life. In the case of cultures that have no respect for life. Depleting the enemies resources will not work. You make more raggedy partisans that you have to kill. Given the history of the middle east I believe that depleting the resources of the area will not work so I favor the approach taken by the Golden hoard in the 12th century. It was very time effective, minimized economic drain on the empire and brought the region under control of the Khan during which time art, science and trade flourished.

Answer 3

Ask Adolph Hitler, Joe Stalin, Idi Amin & Pol Pot. War is generally conducted to right a gross wrong. The nature of war dictates death automatically. War is fought on the streets of America DAILY between rival gangs. WW 2 was an "enlarged" gang war. You would find your self at a personal level war with a person trying to kill your baby or molest your child. I would imagine to stop an incident like that you would kill, not murder, some one doing that to your child/baby if the action WAS needed to stop the crime. Your question may be better asked as to your REAL intention by asking "why is there war?" That is in a whole different field of study tho & with out a back ground in Historical Sociology & Psychology you would not be able to comprhend the answer, unfortuantly.

Answer 4

War is not just about killing, it is not that simple. War is a complex style of diplomacy. It is a method of reducing the power of your enemy. It includes such things as reducing it's ability to project power, by such means as bombing their industrial complex, cutting off their access to raw materials and even breaking the will of their people to continue the fight. In order to do so, lives must be lost. In WW11, one of the most important things we did was eliminate the enemy's air power. In order to do this we had to kill their most experienced pilots. Many times the objective is not to kill, but people will get in the way, for example, in order to cut off supplies, a country will have to sink ships, shoot down planes and blow up trucks. The crews are not the primary targets.
However, the death of a single human, has made a difference in several battles and wars. It is quite common, especially in totalitarian regimes, that their ability to fight disappears when their leader or leaders are eliminated.

You also need to look at the problem in a true perspective: When attacked, we have a RIGHT to defend ourselves, if we don't kill the attackers, they WILL kill us.

Answer 5

Since mankind is the supreme species as far as intellect is concerned they have been able to conquer many diseases that would kill off excess population, our strides in agriculture and related activities have then increased the population even more. Somehow there has to be a method for the human population to remain in check.

War could probably be a genetic method to eliminate excess population. I have no proof of this, but have thought of it often. Perhaps that is why we have such a long history of war. Maybe weird, but just a thought.

Answer 6

In war or peace, there is no human problem that can't be solved by killing the right humans.


(Kudos to netjr for pointing out that reality of modern warfare - that maiming soldiers puts more of a drain on your enemy than killing them.)

Answer 7

War is waged by the rich; fought by the poor.

Countries do not go to war. Leaders do. It is the ones with the power who drive their populations toward destructive acts. I agree that war is a poor solution.

Answer 8

Its The Final Solution

Answer 9

If that person is causing problems - then killing him solves the problem.

Care to give us your 'peaceful' method of ending Nazism?

Answer 10

It prevents them from killing us. We asked them to stop what they were doing (sending planes into our buildings, kidnapping people and video taping there executions, stuff like that) and they didn't. Only one other way to stop them is to put them into "custody." And in this process if we are fired upon, we have no choice to fire back. Most rules of engagement for the US are specific in INSISTENT that we DO NOT FIRE until fired upon..