From Chopra:
“The war mentality is blinded by fear, which fuels aggression and violence to make the fear go away. That is war in a nutshell.
The other rationales are pointless, and when we obsess over them, arguing whether the U.S. is acting as savior, aggressor, imperialist, peacekeeper, world policeman, or cynical oil power, the net effect is to forget that war is about fear and using violence to "solve" it.
If you step out of the war mentality, there are not just a few creative ways to avoid an invasion of Iraq. There are dozens. If every person who doesn't want war sent in his or her suggestion about a better answer, tens of thousands of replies would flood in. Of these I 'm sure that five or six would be completely workable.
Let me mention ten to begin with:
1. Congratulate President Bush on already succeeding. The presence of U.S. troops around Iraq has called Saddam's bluff. Disarmament has begun. If pressure is kept on with U.S. military presence, in the region, without dropping bombs, further progress will inevitably occur.
2. Assign prominent figures of peace to be present in Iraq constantly, along with the U.N. inspectors. Have these revered figures address the Iraqi people and the world every day on the value of peace.
3. Ask 100,000 well-wishers from around the globe to bring food and aid to Iraq's children. These people would carry humane relief in person to Baghdad.
4. Start a global Peace Corps of volunteers who will go to Iraq with the express purpose of fulfilling any humanitarian need asked for by that country.
5. Offer MTV, CNN, and Nickelodeon free to any Iraq household with a TV. Exposure to the world will make them feel like part of the world.
6. Sponsor 25,000 student exchanges for Iraqi high schoolers so that they can live for a year in Europe or the U.S.
7. Keep a tenfold number of U.N. weapons inspectors on the ground in Iraq and have them report every two weeks.
8. Teach courses in all American schools on the pros and cons of globalization and multiculturalism, as opposed to instilling the false belief that nationalism is going to continue to work (war being a logical and horrendous extension of nationalism).
9. Withdraw the resented presence of U.S. troops from those regions where seeing an American army uniform inflames simmering hatred.
10. Open Disney World somewhere in the Middle East., a region where up to half the population is under the age of 15. These children are in enormous peril, not just from bombs but from cultural isolation. Let children breathe free air at a place where fun and joy abide. What better way to reduce fear and anger? At the same time, find a way to expose American children to the children of the world.
Whatever you think of these particular suggestions, the most obvious thing is how easily they arise once you stop being infected by the war mentality. Weapons of mass destruction are disposed of when they are seen as irrelevant. That is what happened with the former Soviet Union. The same can happen in the Middle East once we put our hearts into it. The choice to change history or become its next victim faces us right here, right now.”
I agree with this “aggression is fear-based” psychological theory. The aggressor has lived with an “us” against “them” mentality. The differences are magnified and made ugly. The ugly differences are scary. Aggression rises in reaction to these perceived ugly, scary differences. It becomes impossible to ride the “It’s a Small World” ride with this mentality.
Also, aggressors may feel that there isn’t enough. There isn’t enough money, food, jobs, whatever. They think, “I’m not getting mine.” So this belief in scarcity makes it easy for Germans to slaughter Jews and Southerners to hang blacks. When rats think there are too many of themselves for the space or food, they kill each other to reduce the pop-ex.
(Also, I think there is a self-perception component to aggression. The aggressor has these thoughts and maybe acts on them. He convinces himself this is who he is from his thoughts and actions. He thinks of himself as a “bad –“ or as tough. Therefore, actions that support this self-perception persist and increase.)
These ideas are interesting for our daily lives as well. When we are at work, we see many people who are in need of calming down or reassuring. There is too much rampant stress for effective flow. Probably, some % of our “job” is calming others down or should be maybe. That’s just what I think.
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