Once the constituency supporting war in a democratic country reaches fifty percent of the voting public, it’s almost impossible to stop. Unfortunately, there are many reasons to support war that can be easily rationalized. Warmongers know this and direct their propaganda to that end. So it might be constructive to enumerate the reasons.
- Equating war with defending the country
- Seeing an economic benefit to war
- Participating in the war, or having family or friends participating.
- Not realizing there can be future consequences not apparent now (blowback)
- Viewing other people’s and country’s interests based on your own
- Buying everything the government and press say
- Everyone else is supporting it
- Patriotism
- Racism
- Egoism
- Machismo
- Long held animosities
- Being enthralled with the technology (video game syndrome)
- Not understanding the long term effects of the trauma of war
- Not fully understanding the meaning of life
The list is endless. Add your own reasons. Realizing that a lot of people fall into at least one of these categories, it’s easy to see why at least half the people of a nation can support war. Ultimately, it’s the people who are responsible for holding their elected leaders accountable for their actions, including decisions to resort to war.
