This Morning 11/12/12 Margaret Mead: The Invention of War

The rationalization for war, according to Margaret Mead in her 1940 article, Warfare is only an invention – not a biological necessity, is an invention of mankind and, specifically, of cultures who have created applied value to the meaning of war.    In the United States, war heroes are romanticized in movies and books, toys mimicking weapons are given to children, and prestige and “manliness” become instantly acquired traits once one conscripts into military service.   

We can understand Mead’s arguments  by allowing for her anthropological, thereby constructivist, approach.  Countering claims that humankind is biologically aggressive or socially inclined to war, Mead cites indigenous cultures such as the Eskimos (Inuit) and Pueblos (Hopi) as having clearly cultivated more congruent institutional alternatives that define conflict resolution outside of warlike contexts.   Mead challenges us to change “the idea of war as a solution to conflict;” instead adopting a new, more congruent “invention” based on institutions and feelings of this period.

The gross injustice and status quo understanding of war as an acceptable solution to conflict between international actors disallows for evolutionary development naturally occurring as an outgrowth of the zero sum game witnessed repeatedly in killing fields.  The Cold War cemented multilateral international efforts at avoiding conflict (the stakes were too high with nuclear warheads pointed simultaneously at Washington and Moscow), but since 1991, despite contrived diplomatic posturing in service of states' appearances, the option of war is too often exercised.

It is time to remove this dated and primarily dysfunctional construct and design a way to humanely reconstruct our thinking.  "War is not good for children and other living things" was the slogan for the 1967 Mother's Day campaign spawned by the anti-Vietnam War grassroots group, Another Mother for Peace.   A modern-day equivalent can be found in Mead's missive: "War is just a tired invention.  Let's try something smarter!"