We live in the most peaceful period in human history… wait, what?

[unhappycamper]

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/10/we_live_in_the_most_peaceful_period_in_human_history_wait_what/



A new video explains the war paradox

We live in the most peaceful period in human history… wait, what?
Joanna Rothkopf
Friday, Oct 10, 2014 11:08 AM EST

Do you feel like the news is constantly covering violence? From ISIS to Ukraine to Gaza, it can feel like the world is self-destructing. Actually, we live in the most peaceful time in history. How can that be?

Kurzgesagt, a Munich-based design studio known for educational videos, has released their latest on the war paradox.

As of September 2014, there were four conflicts going on in the world that had caused at least 10,000 people to die since January 2013, nine conflicts that had killed more than 1,000 people, and 13 that killed more than 100 since January 2013.

“Not really peaceful,” the narrator says, “but consider this: of all the conflicts going on, none is an active war between countries. They are either civil wars or local conflicts. Although civil wars are terrible and cause huge suffering, their impact is usually way smaller than a war between nations or empires.”

[merrily]

1. People keep changing the definition of "war" and "peace" to suit their agendas.

Twenty people, not sponsored by any one nation, fly planes into the Twin Towers. That's an act of war that justifies bombing two nations and amping up the "homeland" to an insane degree, the NSA, Homeland Security, the Patriot Act and heaven knows what all.

The US declares some kind of never ending war on terra and that's peace.

The US bombing of Libya and Syria is not an act of war because, supposedly, there were no boots on the ground at the time of bombing.

Ask a former Speaker of the House if a President from her party needs a vote from Congress to bomb countries and she starts mumbling about the War on Drugs and the War on Poverty.

Now, we're at peace because we have coalitions of the willing, not world wars.

See? Just define "war" and "peace" any way that you want and it's all good.

[bemildred]

2. Nonsense.

Being a war lover is just a lot less fashionable than it once was, so we get a lot more propaganda to go with.