War Without Hatred‪.‬

AT various times throughout its long history, war has taken many forms. One feature, however, has remained unchanged: violence perpetrated against people and destruction of things that people need in order to live. It seems natural to ascribe this brutality to hatred on the part of the perpetrators - to identify a deeply felt animosity as the main driving force in any war. On closer examination, however, it becomes apparent that hatred was an important factor in war only in some eras and in some places, not in others. It is the most recent wars among so-called civilized countries that seem to have been most directly instigated and fuelled by hatred. Perhaps this is why hatred has assumed prominence in the conventional conception of war. The wide use of war propaganda, a diet of half truths, cliches, and often outright lies has reinforced the notion that hatred of the enemy is what ignites wars and keeps them going. Understandably, those concerned with the increasingly horrendous effects of war on human societies sought to identify which components of the human psyche could be revealed as the "root" of war.