People get upset when somone's killed but we fight wars...

Post Reply New Topic

I observe that people in this world get very upset when someone kills someone else. They usually have a lifetime sentance in prison. I personally think that's typically a fine and just consequece for such an action. But the thing that confuses me the most and have never quite fully understood is why people go to war all the time, kill a lot of people, and most people consider that acceptable.

If a murderer is to be caught and punished you need police.

Likewise if some foreign country tries invade your country or do terrorism against your country you have to use force to defend yourself. Force against opposing force. Hense you need to fight wars.

Someone once stated "one death is a tragedy, 100 deaths is a statistic"

It is hard for the human mind to process the implications of "100 people killed", but if it is just one person, you can imagine knowing that man (or woman, or child) personally, which makes it effect you more.

It also shows how social rules are not absolute and can and need to be adapted to the situation.

It's also a social norm not to show yourself naked in public, but if your at the doctor's and it is necessary, there's an exception.
But in some religions, this is not considered reason enough to undress. Morals are a product of time and place.

Obviously, with something like killing a person it's different. It's a threat to the community.
However, in a war, the immediate community around you already is in disarray, so everyday rules don't apply anymore.
But that makes it also hard for individuals, they have to overcome their rule-set and make up another, "war-time rule-set" for themselves. That's when things like looting and rapings occur - if it's okay to kill someone, every rule regarding lesser crimes may become questionable to the individual as well.

It's difficult, but that's what philosophy is for.