Agapito, Theeex D.

2012-25158

Reaction Paper: Outline February 6, 2013

Title: The Myth of World Peace

I.

Thesis Statement The reasons on why we couldnt achieve peace are because people fail to treat other races equally, people believe that war is the only way to settle their differences, and people lack the incentive to strive for peace.

II.

Ending Racism A. Definition of Racism B. How it affects the people

III.

Realizing that War is not the Answer A. Humans are war-like in nature B. Humans have pride

IV.

Striving for Peace A. Reasons why the people dont strive for peace B. Understanding the need for peace

V.

Conclusion

Agapito, Theeex D. 2012-25158

Reaction Paper: Final Draft February 6, 2013

Title: The Myth of World Peace Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the middle of a war? Most people will say no, like me because we live in a part of the world where people can live in harmony and without fear. But even though most parts of the world are safe, I still think that someplace somewhere; there is a 17 year old boy like me who is afraid to go out of his house fearing that if he leaves, he might step on a landmine or catch a stray bullet. There is a boy like me wishing that the guns will cease to fire; wishing that someday the war would end. This scene depicts the situation of the people stuck between the wars that we usually hear or read in the news every day. This made me wonder why the people couldnt achieve peace when there is obviously a need for it. In my opinion, the reasons why we couldnt achieve peace are because people fail to treat other races equally, people believe that war is the only way to settle their differences and people lack the incentive to strive for it. One of the most important reasons on why mankind could not achieve peace is racism. Racism is the sub-conscious feeling of hatred from one group of people to another due to ethnic differences. Because of this, one could rationalize the incentives to eliminate other ethnic groups or minorities by a desire to obtain larger share of the social cake, in present or in the future (Jackson and Massimo, 2007). This phenomenon can be seen in many events in our history, especially in the holocaust where Hitlers forces killed millions of Jews, believing that they are inferior to the Aryan race. Aside

from that, I personally think that racism creates a boundary that prevents the interaction of people with different race. Racism causes a certain group of people to immediately judge others without giving the chance to talk to or even know them. This is why as long as racism exists, peace cannot be achieved. Another reason is because mankind thinks that we ourselves are war-like in nature. This mindset causes people to accept the fact that war is the only way to settle disputes among other countries or groups. They believe that war is essential to obtain peace and order. However, according to the research of Dr. Douglas P. Fry, a professor at bo Akademi University in Finland and a research scientist at the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona, there are 74 societies in the world that are clearly non-warring (2008). This debunks the belief that mankind is war like in nature and shows that people can settle their disputes and disagreements to others without resorting to warfare. In connection to this, I believe that it is not only the peoples war-like nature which drives them into wars, but also their pride. Their reasons, philosophies, and ideologies make them enter a war, but their pride makes them not to stop. Because of their pride, they are blinded of the fact that in a war, nobody wins and everybody loses. They fail to realize that countless people, soldiers and innocent people alike, have died with a lost cause. This makes the people refuse to accept the fact that war is not the answer to the disputes, it will only make it worse (Cheng, Henrich and Tracy, 2010). As long as people use warfare as a way to assert their pride and power, peace cannot be achieved.

The last reason on why I do not believe that peace cannot be achieved is that people lack the incentive to strive for peace. Even though there are some countries or areas in the world where war is rampant, most of them are not. This makes the people living on safe places apathetic to the people who personally experience the dreads of warfare. Although people might say that they want peace or they want the wars to end, their motivation is nothing compared to people who felt the pain and suffering caused by it. I think that the people should be able to see wars in the point of view of the victims, because only then will the people understand the true importance of achieving peace. If mankind fails to obtain peace, countless more people will die and hatred will continue to grow in our society. If wars are not stopped, the cycle of vengeance and bloodbath will never end. However, even though the future of mankind seems grim, I still believe that there is hope. The reasons on why people could not achieve peace are because we fail to treat each other equally, we believe that war is the only way to settle differences and we lack the incentive to strive for peace. If we, humans can overcome these problems, world peace will no longer stay as a myth; it can turn into reality.

Works Cited

1)

Cheng, Tracy and Joseph Henrich. Pride, personality, and the evolutionary

foundations of human social status. Elsevier. 21 February 2010. Page 1. Web. Date retrieved: 1 Feb 2013. <http://ubc-emotionlab.ca/wpcontent/files_mf/chengetal.2010pridepersonalitysocialstatus1.pdf>

2)

Fry, Douglas P. Worlds Without War. University of California. Spring 2008. Page

1. Web. Date retrieved: 29 Jan 2013. <http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/worlds_without_war>

3)

Jackson, Matthew O. and Morelli, Massimo. The reason for wars- an updated

survey). Elgar Publishing. December 2009. Page 8. Web. Date retrieved: 29 Jan 2013. <http://www.stanford.edu/~jacksonm/war-overview.pdf>