Are Ideas Worth Killing For?

The causes of war can be masked, but they may all have one thing in common…

They say wars are started over resources, control, or even to send a message. I’m not sure that this is the root cause of all wars. Wars have the same ingredients. Therefore, they must have the same menu to read from. I believe that the metaphorical menu is actually ideas and ideologies that create wars.

I’m intrigued that a general way of thinking, that is shared by the masses, can elicit such dire disputes. How do we create what seems like a universal acceptance of the world? Our understanding of the world differs from other groups of people. Why does this occur? We are obviously affected by our environment, but what else causes us to believe in a system to the point where we are willing to kill for its existence? Culture, religion, and societal systems have been fought over throughout human history. Overtime these very thoughts that we believe in, can change. Look at the effect technology and science has had on belief systems.

If we know belief systems are bound to change if we know that they are affected by our environment, then why do we use them as motivation for wars? How can we make something up in our heads, and then be willing to defend it to death? Capitalism and Communism are made up by humans. Sure we have strong evidence that shows they work, under the right circumstances. We can “prove” this based upon the measurements that we made up. If an idea is absolute, then why can’t it last the test of time? Why can’t we come up with an idea that prevents us from war? The only answer is that war is innately built into humanity. We aren’t sophisticated enough to avoid recurring ideological errors.