A Broken World

By Jessica Yun

Historical events, with similar patterns, occur over and over again, with variations, in time. Maybe we should look at why we get such destructive outcomes. From the presentations, we’ve learned that nationalism, imperialism, militarism were three forces that could call for disaster. These causes brought on devastating WW1, and we have to admit, its on the brink of happening again.

Nationalism still commonly exists today. One, is Japan and Korea. Even nearly a century later of the Japanese occupation, some Koreans feel bitterness toward Japan. Even economic competition happens between the two nations. Also, today’s Olympic events or World Cups boil up nationalism and national pride. These are just examples of healthy competition. However, nationalism comes in more deadly forms. For example Ethnic Chinese that live in Indonesia have been singled out as a minority and are the target for looting and raping, as a result of nationalism. Evidently, nationalism, good and bad, is still here.

And we cannot ignore the fact that militarism is also at its pinnacle these days. According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, there are currently about 20,000 active nuclear weapons today. In other words, 20,000 cities are at the potential to be destroyed. This is a substantial amount of potential damage, noting that a nuclear weapon can range from 500,000 tons to 50,000,000 tons of TNT. This fact worries me!  Germany was much like this, acquiring a huge military and advanced weapons. What surprises me is that–the U.S. holds the most nuclear weapons. Yet, it is telling DPRK to get rid of theirs. Anyhow, militarism is very evident in today’s world.

Ronald Reagan said, “The United States has much to offer the third world war.” WW3?! Perhaps. Frédéric Passy’s quote—“the entire able-bodied population are preparing to massacre one another”. It could happen. UN’s Disarmement is trying to battle this crisis. Yet, I’m afraid. Aren’t you? Black Eyed Peas released a song with Justin Timberlake a while back, called “Where is the Love”. It really talks about why wars start in the first place. Wars wouldn’t happen if we were smarter and had less ‘id’, the part in our heads that cause racism, nationalism, imperialism, and militarism. The world is following the same path that world powers in the early 20th century have traveled. We already know the end of that path; yet, why do we continue to walk on this path? 

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 8th, 2007 at 3:53 pm and is filed under problem-solving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.