Casey
Deans
ENG
311 Largey
Research
Paper
12 Dec
2011
The Abysmal Monster
or
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
Appreciate War
America
has been at war for 69 of the 235 years it has been a country. This is 29.4 % spent engaged in active
warfare as a nation. 100% of the movies on the "Top 100 Worldwide Box
Office Gross" (Box Office Mojo) list are movies made
in America. America is a nation that seeks worldwide peace. This peace is being
pursued with warfare. Whether or not you are a part of the war or not you are
affected by it. The War on Terror has been and will continue to be lengthy and
arduous. This war will likely span generations and be a war where victory seems
perpetually distant. Careful analysis of the impact of warfare's effects on
humanity is important for us and our children.
"And
he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (James) Isaiah prophesies
from the Holy Bible that a time will come when mankind will be at peace and
mankind will convert tools of warfare into agricultural tools. A band called
The Youngbloods released a song entitled "Get Together" in 1967 and
re-released it in 1969 where it sold over a million copies and climbed to #5 on
the Top 40. "Know the dove is on the wing and you need not know why c'mon
people now, smile on your brother ev'rybody get together try and love one
another right now." (Stlyrics.com) "In 1967, when
"Get Together", a paean to universal brotherhood first appeared, it
did not sell very well, reaching only #62 on the chart. But two years later –
after Dan Ingram had recorded a brotherhood promotion for WABC-AM in which the
song was used as a bed for the promotion and after the National Council of
Christians and Jews subsequently used the song as their theme song on
television and radio commercials – the track was re-released and cracked the
Top 5. This disc sold over one million copies, and received a gold record,
awarded by the R.I.A.A. on 7 October 1969." (Wikepedia) 39,361
Americans died in Vietnam between 1967 and 1969. (Wikepedia) Warfare is horrible
and something to be avoided at all costs; injury, pain, and death are its
flagship products. WWII caused over 70 million deaths. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were entire cities that were vaporized by a wall of atomic fire in seconds. The
darkest murk of mankind is seen in war. People are forced to commit horrible
travesties against their fellow man or be subjected to the travesties
themselves. Friedrich Nietzsche commented on the concept of fighting fire with
fire when he said, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he
thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss
gazes also into you." (Nietzsche)
Human
essence is an intangible entity. Some people believe that it is a myriad of
different things which constantly changes. This thought vapor cannot be bottled
and analyzed, labeled and sold, or easily defined. Billions of people inhabit
the planet and each of them is an individual. How could all of these people
have the same essence? Even when one agrees that humans have an essence, they
disagree that that essence is creativity. Human beings are in a constant state
of decay. Humanity is constantly destroying themselves and the planet they
inhabit. Warfare is a prime example of destruction. Opponents believe that
dilution of humanity occurs during warfare. They believe that warfare spreads
out the complexity of mankind and causes a reversion of people into a primal,
simple state. Wars result in a re-neanderthalization of our species. Albert
Einstein referred to this process when he said, "I do not know with what
weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks
and stones." (Calaprice)
In
order to establish that warfare fosters creativity by distilling the human
essence we must first define warfare, creativity, and the distillation of human
essence. Warfare for our purposes will be righteous and noble warfare, or
warfare committed by The United States of America and her allies. Warfare will
only be active war. Even though the victory of the Cold War benefited America
tremendously, it must not be included because to include a war that was fought
economically, theologically, and covertly would mean that other wars fought in
that manner would have to be included. In other words, including the Cold War
would mean including the wars for civil rights, woman's liberation, animal
rights, and many other political wars. Warfare will only include American wars
because the morality of war is not the point that we are debating. To sour the
issue of warfare's effect on creativity by including heinous and/or ancient
wars would cause us to lose concentration of our topic. "Warfare" is
all the conflicts that America has been in that involved active,
"hot", and open war against an enemy.
"Where
do I come from?", or "Where do babies come from?", are questions
all of us ask. The short answer is: procreation. This is the ultimate form of creation: to
create a baby. All other forms of creation, when held in high regard by their
creator, are referred to as babies. A film director will call a film he has
worked on or is working on "my baby." This is the ultimate form of
creation but not the only form of creation. Those humans who never have
children still create something every moment they live and even after they die.
The mere act of being a human being, pun intended, is an act of creation. The
series of decisions ranging from large decisions like choice of spouse, career,
and religion to small decisions like left or right, Coco Puffs or Lucky Charms,
all change the world around us. Creativity is the level of creation we exhibit.
Because we are not able to measure the impact of a person's life due to the
infinite variables and outcomes we cannot ever truly measure someone's
creativity. The definition of creativity for this paper's purposes will be in
artistic pursuits. Creativity of thought and its manifestations in artistic
pursuits is the creativity we are concerned with. Because "art" can
be defined through performance art that may be one person nailing himself to a
Volkswagen or defined so abstractly that a blank canvas is considered art we
must narrow what "art" is for our purposes. Art will be conventional
art, or in other words, books, poetry, journalism, movies, television, plays,
paintings, sculptures, and music.
Human
essence, or the core trait of humanity, is defined as creativity. To be human
is to create art. A certain person may not write fiction, sing a sonnet to a
loved one, paint a picture, or even form his sentences in a non-robotic
fashion. This certain person, let's call him Arnold the Automaton, exhibits a
"right sided" brain which is simple, organized, analytical, and conformist.
Arnold lives his life without exhibiting much artistic creativity. Arnold is
plain. Arnold is a follower. Arnold is boring. The Arnolds of the world hide
within themselves a glimmer of what it is to truly be human. Throughout the
minutia that is their existence they still exhibit some artistic creativity.
They may spread their butter on their white bread a certain way, or arrange
their socks into a certain pattern. Even within this clay shell a vapor of
human ingenuity and artistic creativity exists. Human essence is not an item
which is most apparent in the majority or the most common trait among all
people. Artistic creativity is the human essence that all people should strive
for, it is the goal. To be the ultimate person one must be the ultimate artist.
This artistic creativity must be purified and concentrated. Distillation is
defined by Webster's Dictionary as "the process of purifying a liquid by
successive evaporation and condensation" (Webster)
As
stated above, Friedrich Nietzsche aptly describes the effects of warfare on the
human soul when he says, "...And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the
abyss gazes also into you." (Nietzsche) At first glance this
is a scary image. A black, evil, inky abyss penetrates the person gazing upon
it, engulfing all that the person was and snuffing out the light of their soul.
Upon careful deconstruction this quote is actually more hopeful than initial
judgment may deem it. The person must first make the choice to
"gaze". To gaze is "to fix the eyes in a steady intent look
often with eagerness or studious attention." The person has a purpose, has
a goal of not only seeing something but understanding it. To gaze is to
explore, to feast upon the word with one's eyes. This quote teaches us that
only the brave gaze upon something that is abysmal. Looking your enemy in the
eye is the epitome of bravery. The battle cry anonymously made famous during
the Battle of Bunker Hill, "Don't shoot 'til you see the whites of their
eyes," may have been reworded to say, "Don't shoot until they stare
back at you." All acts of creativity require bravery. A person must be
brave to write a poem or paint a picture because they are expressing themselves.
This expression is a symbolic entering of the arena of war. Critics can cut
down an artist as fast as a hand grenade cuts down an infantryman. The perfect
man is a man of God because a man of God believes in something better than his
self and consciously or subconsciously pursues achieving that status for
himself. Atheists are constricted to the empirical world around them and can
only strive to become as good as the men that are around them. This belief in
God is brought about or strengthened in combat. "No atheists in
foxholes," is a common saying and a very true one. Even if a person is an
atheist they still fight for their fellow soldier, their brothers in arms. This
sentiment is expressed in the movie The
Four Feathers, "You may be lost, but you are not forgotten. For those
who have travelled far, to fight in foreign lands, know that the soldier's
greatest comfort is to have his friends close at hand. In the heat of battle it
ceases to be an idea for which we fight. Or a flag. Rather we fight for the man
on our left, and we fight for the man on our right. And when armies are
scattered and the empires fall away, all that remains is the memory of those
precious moments that we spent sided by side." (IMDB.com) The reason warriors are
able to fight for the man next to them on the battle line is not because of the
wonderful things the man has done but because of the wonderful things he might
do. The freedom that will be given to your co-patriot is the freedom to grow,
to live, and to create. There is reciprocity to this freedom you fight to give
him that lets you know that your mutual survival will result in future
accomplishments and future productive pursuits.
"The
final stage of gold production -- refining -- involves removing impurities that
remain after the smelting process. Refining companies receive doré bars, as
well as scrap gold, and reliquefy the metal in a furnace. Workers add borax and
soda ash to the molten metal, which separates the pure gold from other precious
and less precious metals. A sample is then taken to a lab for tests, or assays,
that measure the gold content. In most cases, the gold is 99.9 percent pure.
Workers cast the gold produced during refining into bars." (Harris) The process of
purifying our gold is similar to the process of refining our essence, or our
souls. The re-liquefaction process requires burning heat. The addition of borax
and soda ash, vile toxic elements, further refines, or distills the scrap gold
into pure gold. In combat a person is placed into a raging furnace of extreme
stress, intense adrenaline, and dire circumstances. The body and mind is forced
to purge itself of impurities like weakness, worry, self-doubt, and fear.
People who do not overcome these imperfections die. The soda ash and borax of
war is the exposure to gore, violence, hate, and suffering. By experiencing
these things a person's mettle is tested. The limit a person has placed on the
capacity of man's evil is stretched. The enlarging of their moral constraints
has the benefit of increasing their belief in man's ability to do good. The
person's ability to grasp the gravity of action is a balloon which has good
actions like charity on top and bad actions like murder on the bottom. Assorted
middling activities compose the rest of the balloon. By seeing a dismembered
body or a person using a child as a human shield the balloon is increased in
size. This increases the imaginative abilities of the person and enlarges their
personality. Unlike refining metals and distilling liquids the process of
gathering a person's artistic ability is increased exponentially, like the
blowing up of a balloon.
"Latin:
Cogito ergo sum; French: "Je pense donc je suis"; English: "I
think, therefore I am," (Wikepedia) is
a philosophical statement proposed by René Descartes. To think is the process
of creating thought. A human creates thought and a perfect human creates
thought which is artistically intelligent. While unoriginal thought might be
common so is the pursuit of failure, or imperfection. As a human race we must
always be innovative. Evolution is the perfection of the unusual. The plants
and animals use critical elimination of non-inventive species and label it
"survival of the fittest". The fittest are always those species that
do things in a different way, a way which is superior, or fitter than the way
of their competition. As humans we are because we create thought. Art is the
manifestation of our thoughts on paper, film, in song, or other mediums. The
term medium is "a means of conveying ideas or information." (Webster) In order to survive
a person must be always increasing their resourcefulness beyond the levels of
their competitors. By securing their mortality they have more opportunity to
create thought which further secures their ability to live. This cycle of
creation is also represented in the circle of life. We are all the result of
the creative pursuit of our parents, or procreative pursuits. Procreation is a
way in which part of ourselves can live forever. By creating art we can also
influence the world after we leave it. Artistic creativity is a way in which a
person can perfect themselves both while they live and after they die.
"Dead
men tell no tales," is a popular idiom that's origins are unknown. The
lack of authorship to this statement does not detract from the truthfulness of
it. Those that die during battle are unable to pursue their creative activities.
With that in mind warfare only increases a person's artistic creativity if they
survive the war. The dead are poor painters. By surviving a war you continue to
live. To live is to create. The experience of war draws you close to death.
When a person has a near-death experience they appreciate life more. Because
they have come so close to losing life they gain a deeper appreciation for it.
Their appreciation is manifested by their artistic creativity because by
creating art they are able to multiply and enhance their life. Also when a
person has escaped the clutches of death they often ask themselves the
question, "What if I had died?" This question is gnawing and leads to
an exploration of the soul. This soul exploration leads to revelations about
themselves and the world around them. These revelations are infectious and it
is enjoyable to spread them around. An easy way to spread this disease of
self-discovery is through self-expression, or artistic creativity. Survivor's
guilt is another way in which combatants and observers of warfare deal with
making it out of a war alive. This guilt is a driving force of creation. The
survivor feels that they owe it to the dead to live a fruitful, happy, and
expressive life. This debt is ever increasing which forces the artist to always
pursue innovative ways to live their life.
"Clausewitz
was a professional soldier who was involved in numerous military campaigns, but
he is famous primarily as a military theorist interested in the examination of
war." He said, “Our knowledge of circumstances has increased, but our
uncertainty, instead of having diminished, has only increased. The reason of
this is, that we do not gain all our experience at once, but by degrees; so our
determinations continue to be assailed incessantly by fresh experience; and the
mind, if we may use the expression, must always be under arms.” (Wikepedia) Americans has been
innovators in war since the beginning of their existence. The Revolutionary War
was a huge success because the Americans used ingenious ways of defeating the
British including, but not limited to guerrilla warfare. Victory in war is
often granted to the cleverest side. Covert and clandestine activities are the
results of creative minds that are excellent at creating fiction. Showing
ingenuity and creativity in warfare increases the chances of victory. While
victory is the primary reward other secondary rewards exist from being creative
in wartime. The following rewards, or inventions, were a result of war: Aerosol
cans,Twinkies, Slinkies, Silly Putty, Jeep, orange juice, penicillin, plastics,
radar, satellite, rockets, feminine pads and tampons, Twinkies, novelty flying
discs, Tabasco sauce, and nylon stockings. (A&E Television Networks, LLC) The science of
medicine has benefited tremendously from warfare. Everything that came about
from the study and building of atomic weapons owes its existence, good or bad,
to war. War, not necessity, is the true mother of all inventions because
nothing is more necessary than winning a war. The acts of a good soldier are
bettered when the soldier thinks creatively and the inventions invented as a
result of war are numerous.
Warfare
is a despicable fact of life. We are doomed to always have it with us as a constant
companion. By engaging in battle we are often turned into the thing that we
first sought to destroy. We must constantly examine war and the way in which it
affects our country. Through this examination we must not be hasty in declaring
that only bad things come out of war. The participants and the observers of war
are affected by it. Peace is loved by the warriors the most. Peace is something
that must be diligently pursued but sadly might never fully come without divine
intervention. The very nature of humankind is a creative nature. One of our
first creations was murder and war. This creation has multiplied along with us
and has an exponential effect on our numbers and ability to be arty. America
will likely continue to be actively pursuing peace through war because of the
ever increasing number of our enemy. We will likely lead the world in two
things: war and movies. These pursuits are directly correlated. Art is a desire
to express one's self. Conventional art is the easiest to identify as being increased
through warfare. As robotics become more widespread throughout all facets of
life, including warfare we must realize the danger of becoming Arnold
Automatons. Joy in life is found through imaginative expression, in
conventional and unconventional ways. The goal of always increasing our ability
to create is a righteous goal. The achievement of that goal will increase the
brightness of our future and the future of our children. The imperfect clay we
all start out life as is purified and enhanced through adversity. The difficulty
of combat treats us and boosts us to a state that is an improvement. Like gold
or liquor our human essence, creativity, is filtered and molded into artists.
Humanity like a whole is also strained of imperfections each time we engage in
war. The result is a more evolved people who are able to survive in
increasingly creative ways. The process of eliminating the
"uncreatives" during war increases the percentages of our artistic
attributes. The byproducts of war are pioneering fabrications that better the
lives of everyone. Warfare fosters the creativity of those who participate and
observe it because it distills the human essence.
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