Many complain on negativism in HN comments, but how in the world can a sane person express anything positive when there's a hell-bent will in conjunction with the "next war"?

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strictnein 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Are you under the impression that humanity could reach a state where there is never another major war?

I don't know how one would reach that conclusion, least of all a Major at the nation's leading military educational institute. Nothing "hell-bent" about it.

	▲	pjc50 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		People were starting to think that way at the "end of history" period between the Cold War and 9/11. At that time the major powers were not involved in wars, and it was believed that regional ones could be "solved" like Yugoslavia. 9/11 was a huge success for Bin Laden's goal of restarting a forever war, though.
	▲	wartywhoa23 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, I am. That requires a total reassesment of who the real enemy is, though (hint: psychopaths at power).

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paulluuk 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I consider myself an optimist, but given that the US has been in 229 wars over it's 249 years since founding, it seems highly unlikely that there wouldn't be a "next war".

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xp84 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There’s nothing peculiar about the US, every country or even tribe has fought many wars.

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krapp 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Not every country or tribe has been engaged in near continuous violence for over two centuries. That isn't simply "fighting many wars" it's being "existentially bound to warfare." The US is peculiar. It's the nation born of a continent-wide campaign of genocide and plunder. It's the only Western nation that couldn't give up slavery without a civil war. It's the only nation to wage nuclear war, and did so primarily against civilians. It's (for the time being) the world's only superpower, with a military orders of magnitude larger than any other. It put the right to shoot people into its Constitution because its founders wanted a government that normalized regular revolutionary violence as a civic principle.

The US is weirdly attached to violence and war in ways you only tend to find in modern dictatorships or the empires of old.

	▲	shipman05 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I appreciate this comment, and agree with it in some respects, but some of these specifics are demonstrably false. > It's the nation born of a continent-wide campaign of genocide and plunder Hard to see how that description doesn't apply to most of the New World. Mexico and Peru were founded on bones of conquered and plundered empires. First Nations in Canada suffered much the same as their counterparts in the US. > It's the only Western nation that couldn't give up slavery without a civil war. I'm not knowledgeable enough to say this is literally false, but the implication that every other nation gave up slavery willingly and without violence certainly is (see Haiti, for a particularly bloody example)

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wartywhoa23 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

My point is that war is the worst thing that humans can engage in, and that the prevailing sentiment is that constant war is an immutable status-quo, and hence it's okay, there's nothing we can do except downvoting those fucking negativists.

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eth0up 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think the folks disagreeing with you maybe haven't spent much time in war. Almost certainly some in harsh skirmishes, but I reckon a few Nam, Korea and WWII vets would at least entertain your position on the subject. Pretty much every meta variation of terror has surfaced or has the potential to surface in war. Parts of Ukraine, I think, easily represent hell on Earth, for both sides.

Edit: I will go a bit further..

I consider Military the greatest power on Earth. It's sacred, necessary. But those who abuse its power commit, in my view, the greatest of sins. I don't mean the soldiers who fight, but those making the decisions of who they fight. The soldiers do their job, often willingly. And they are the ones who face the consequences. To betray them by corruption is the ultimate betrayal. War is a power that, I think, should be reserved for situations with no other option. Mercenaries not considered.

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abtinf 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

War is not nearly the worst thing. Not even in the top 10.

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wartywhoa23 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh, really? I'd like to see your top 10.

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abtinf 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Things that are worse than war, a wildly incomplete list, in no particular order:

Pogroms; slavery; totalitarian dictatorship; theocracy; intentional mass starvation; mass organ harvesting; mass forced relocation; anarchy; failing to respond to unprovoked violence; restricting freedom instead of defeating the adversary.

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malcolmgreaves an hour ago | parent [-]

What do you think happens in war? Clean fighting from side to side?

You really think the massive amounts of death and destruction aren’t top ten? What do you think happens to the local population when an invading force arrives? You should go and read about the rape of Nanking. And just read about what happened in wars before the modern era.

	▲	amanaplanacanal 30 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Are you suggesting that the country being invaded should roll over instead of fight? Or is it ok with you for them to prosecute a war?

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marssaxman an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Your concern is reasonable but misdirected. This article is a publication of the "Modern War Institute", a research organization at West Point, the US Army military academy; it is literally their job to anticipate and plan for the next war, whatever it may happen to be. Deciding whether those plans ought to be used is a completely different responsibility.

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alansaber 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Comparing the negativity of HN to the inevitability IRL warfare is absolutely hilarious, but I take your point

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mcphage 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ukraine didn't want to go to war, but someone else made that choice for them.