Why MAD is mad

How much is the description of the deterrent weapon true for atomic weapons? And deterrence against what? If the answer is war itself, it is indeed in a world full of atomic weapons that wars are still happening.

One of the biggest farces in our world today is the concept that the way to prevent atomic weapons is to build more and more of them. Napalm bombs, chemical and biological weapons all were supposed to be never used. But they were. In fact, nuclear weapons themselves were used.

And will be used again.

Like politics is behind wars, behind weapons there is fear – not rational debate or thought. And when fear rules, the chance of nuclear weapons being used is more over those countries which have them, in the fear that otherwise they may be used by them.

The biggest weakness of weapons is that they exist. Test and usage are unavoidable stages of any technological endeavor.

When weapons go beyond self-defense and even wars to the stage of dispassionate mass-killings, like in the case of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, they affect human character and behavior. It is in this context that nuclear weapon ban should be seen , different from even the conceptions of disarmament and world piece. Unlike other weapons used during war, it is not something which affects just the soldiers or even the citizens of their time. It moves beyond time and space. Wherever it is used and whenever it is used, it affects all living beings elsewhere and also the generations to come.

Those who make and keep nuclear weapons will have to accept the contempt and hate they have for all of life, whatever be the justification they have for them.

85 mathrubhumi

The Soldier and his destination

What makes any job valuable is the satisfaction gained while completing it. What makes any knowledge important is what it materializes in life. Indeed, the pleasure and satisfaction obtained while performing it is what which elevates any occupation to greatness. Man wishes to see what he learned and trained for getting realized. This is what binds knowledge to life.

The one exception to this is in military science and its training. The amount of research which is done in this field worldwide is huge. Worldwide, men get trained in this much more than in any other field. At the same time, all sensible people wish that an opportunity to use this knowledge never arises. It becomes a science which is different from, alienated from, life. Perhaps something that extinguishes the vigor of life.

The artificiality of military life is much deeper and wider than that in a modern industrial society. In both, men work for the benefit of someone or something else. Like racehorses. But while in a city, you may actually see this ’someone/something’ once in a while even if by accident, in military life the tragedy is that it will always remain unseen.

A soldier hopes that he never reaches his destination, making his profession mentally the most artificial. There is no better example of the alienated man that Erich Fromm describes than the military man. A military man hopes that he never gets a chance to use the knowledge he has accumulated. Because, using the knowledge is destroying the thing on which the knowledge is used on.