Weapons of Destruction
Obviously there are many weapons we humans use against each other including monetary power, guns, and other military-type weapons such as bombs, missiles, and psychological warfare. We also use the profit motive to keep food and needed medication from those who most need it.
We humans can be enormously creative in finding ways of taking care of each other. The advances in medicine including pharmaceuticals, artificial limbs, and treatment are amazing. We routinely do cataract surgery now as an outpatient procedure and keep many people alive and living a quality life far longer than was possible when I was a young child. We also, since the beginning of recorded history, have documented ways that can make enemies out of each other and ways we attempt to prove our superiority. Throughout the years, we have used our creative talents to also design and manufacture guns, missiles, bombs, planes, and drones to carry bombs. Additionally, we have manufactured methods for delivering these same weapons to each other near and far, often for a considerable profit, and sometimes hoping for political or economic advantage. Of the 10 or so countries which have particularly excelled in the manufacture and export of weapons, the United States is near the top. Not only do we in the United States profit more off the manufacture and sale of guns to people in other countries, we supply more guns per capita to our citizens than other countries.
In an August 27, 2012 article in the New York Times the author of an article pointed out that:
“Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned about Iran’s regional ambitions, according to a new study for Congress.
Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals.
The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.”
An article in Wikipedia pointed out that:
“According to research institute, SIPRI, the volume of international transfers of major weapons in 2010–14 was 16 per cent higher than in 2005–2009. The five biggest exporters in 2010–14 were the United States, Russia, China, Germany and France, and the five biggest importers were India, Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan. The flow of arms to Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East increased significantly between 2005–2009 and 2010–14, while there was a notable decrease in the flow to Europe.”[4]
We are not the only country which manufactures weapons for profit. We are also not the only country with a high per capita gun ownership although we may have fewer laws restricting the types of guns which may be owned and how may own there. Some countries such as Finland and other Scandinavian countries have a long tradition of hunting for food. A large percentage of people in those countries own guns for hunting.
Following the recent school shooting in Oregon, there are some in the United States, including President Obama who is, once again, calling for more restriction of gun ownerships. At the same time, many in the United States are quick to point that that people use guns to kill. Guns do not, by themselves, kill. One can spend hours pouring over research studies which excel in proving the null hypotheses of their opponents. Some of these studies point out that in states with open carry laws and liberal concealed weapons law, homicide rates decrease. Other studies point come to the opposite conclusion.
One can investigate related issues about the relationship between top weapons, violent video games, and violence against other humans but soon one will come away from that research with tired eyes and again many conflicting results.
When I was doing Internet research I ran across a Facebook page of Ron Paul and a post of Mary 19 (2015 I think) in which he said:
Building weapons and seeing them end up in the hands of the enemy is almost a routine event and one should expect it to continue to happen under the circumstances of the chaos in the Middle East. This represents a cost to the American taxpayer and is obviously a major contributing factor in what will be the ultimate failure of our plan to remake the Middle East. This is bad enough, and the only people who seem to benefit from it are those who are earning profits in the military-industrial complex. But there is something every bit as bad as our weapons ending up in the hands of the jihadists and being used against us. That is, the fact that our presence there, our weapons, and our bombs, are the best recruiting tool for getting individuals to join the fight against America’s presence in so many conflicts around the world.
I agree with him on this statement. We would disagree about certain other issues but the post did remind me that I and others need to be dialoging about our policies regarding weapons as a means of making a profit and/or buying friendships.
We might want to explore the long-term goal of not manufacturing and exporting weapons. As a pacifist I would like to see the end of most, if not all, weapons designed to kill people as opposed to those specifically designed for hunting.
I do not think that manufacturing and exporting more weapons or allowing concealed or open carry weapons in schools and other public institutions are going to solve the problems of violence long term. No teacher or school administrator that I know is in favor of allowing teachers and students to take loaded weapons to a classroom,
Our love affair with violence as the primary way to deal with differences with each other has to come to an end. We individuals can do our part. We as a nation can also begin to model a powerful presence in the world which is not that of a violent bully or a self-serving country whose citizens act as if they are more deserving of the survival goods of the world than are other nations. That is an old belief which has always eventually backfired.
I am suggesting that we put all issues on the table including the eventual elimination of the manufacture of all weapons not used for personal hunting. That will, to some, sound radical. I personally think it is less radical than our current policies/practices.
Written October 8, 2015
Obviously there are many weapons we humans use against each other including monetary power, guns, and other military-type weapons such as bombs, missiles, and psychological warfare. We also use the profit motive to keep food and needed medication from those who most need it.
We humans can be enormously creative in finding ways of taking care of each other. The advances in medicine including pharmaceuticals, artificial limbs, and treatment are amazing. We routinely do cataract surgery now as an outpatient procedure and keep many people alive and living a quality life far longer than was possible when I was a young child. We also, since the beginning of recorded history, have documented ways that can make enemies out of each other and ways we attempt to prove our superiority. Throughout the years, we have used our creative talents to also design and manufacture guns, missiles, bombs, planes, and drones to carry bombs. Additionally, we have manufactured methods for delivering these same weapons to each other near and far, often for a considerable profit, and sometimes hoping for political or economic advantage. Of the 10 or so countries which have particularly excelled in the manufacture and export of weapons, the United States is near the top. Not only do we in the United States profit more off the manufacture and sale of guns to people in other countries, we supply more guns per capita to our citizens than other countries.
In an August 27, 2012 article in the New York Times the author of an article pointed out that:
“Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned about Iran’s regional ambitions, according to a new study for Congress.
Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals.
The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.”
An article in Wikipedia pointed out that:
“According to research institute, SIPRI, the volume of international transfers of major weapons in 2010–14 was 16 per cent higher than in 2005–2009. The five biggest exporters in 2010–14 were the United States, Russia, China, Germany and France, and the five biggest importers were India, Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan. The flow of arms to Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East increased significantly between 2005–2009 and 2010–14, while there was a notable decrease in the flow to Europe.”[4]
We are not the only country which manufactures weapons for profit. We are also not the only country with a high per capita gun ownership although we may have fewer laws restricting the types of guns which may be owned and how may own there. Some countries such as Finland and other Scandinavian countries have a long tradition of hunting for food. A large percentage of people in those countries own guns for hunting.
Following the recent school shooting in Oregon, there are some in the United States, including President Obama who is, once again, calling for more restriction of gun ownerships. At the same time, many in the United States are quick to point that that people use guns to kill. Guns do not, by themselves, kill. One can spend hours pouring over research studies which excel in proving the null hypotheses of their opponents. Some of these studies point out that in states with open carry laws and liberal concealed weapons law, homicide rates decrease. Other studies point come to the opposite conclusion.
One can investigate related issues about the relationship between top weapons, violent video games, and violence against other humans but soon one will come away from that research with tired eyes and again many conflicting results.
When I was doing Internet research I ran across a Facebook page of Ron Paul and a post of Mary 19 (2015 I think) in which he said:
Building weapons and seeing them end up in the hands of the enemy is almost a routine event and one should expect it to continue to happen under the circumstances of the chaos in the Middle East. This represents a cost to the American taxpayer and is obviously a major contributing factor in what will be the ultimate failure of our plan to remake the Middle East. This is bad enough, and the only people who seem to benefit from it are those who are earning profits in the military-industrial complex. But there is something every bit as bad as our weapons ending up in the hands of the jihadists and being used against us. That is, the fact that our presence there, our weapons, and our bombs, are the best recruiting tool for getting individuals to join the fight against America’s presence in so many conflicts around the world.
I agree with him on this statement. We would disagree about certain other issues but the post did remind me that I and others need to be dialoging about our policies regarding weapons as a means of making a profit and/or buying friendships.
We might want to explore the long-term goal of not manufacturing and exporting weapons. As a pacifist I would like to see the end of most, if not all, weapons designed to kill people as opposed to those specifically designed for hunting.
I do not think that manufacturing and exporting more weapons or allowing concealed or open carry weapons in schools and other public institutions are going to solve the problems of violence long term. No teacher or school administrator that I know is in favor of allowing teachers and students to take loaded weapons to a classroom,
Our love affair with violence as the primary way to deal with differences with each other has to come to an end. We individuals can do our part. We as a nation can also begin to model a powerful presence in the world which is not that of a violent bully or a self-serving country whose citizens act as if they are more deserving of the survival goods of the world than are other nations. That is an old belief which has always eventually backfired.
I am suggesting that we put all issues on the table including the eventual elimination of the manufacture of all weapons not used for personal hunting. That will, to some, sound radical. I personally think it is less radical than our current policies/practices.
Written October 8, 2015
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