War and Truth

Philip G. Ney, MD, MA, FRCPC, FRANZCP, Rpsych

Published, March 1991

It’s important not only to know the facts, but to face the difficult truth underlying critical social issues. Ever since humanity decided the knowledge (intellectual and experiential) of evil was as important as the knowledge of good, it has been at war.

That murderous aggression is a reflection of individual hostility, and international conflict the mirror image of internal strife has been known to wise people for many generations.

What isn’t clear is why these conflicts are so seldom resolved. Why are curiously exact replicas handed from one generation to the next? Is it repetitive stupidity, inherent duplicity or tragic folly?

We can seldom stand back to examine the unfolding of our own tragic reenactments and so discover the underlying reasons. There has never been a time like the present to view the development of a major conflagration. TV gives us cheap, ringside seats. There is a chance we could learn something of value and apply that insight before the next war, if we live to see that day.

It may be that to reduce internal dispute, the crumbling Russian Empire will find and external enemy. It might lose patience with the western nations controlling the loans and technologies that could help restore its harmony. Entering the Gulf war as an ally to the Arabs would make geo-political sense.

The alternative of internecine warfare that gradually spreads to produce global, economic and political chaos, would be welcomed by those who seek a new age.

They insist that chaos must first happen before people will accept the draconian measure a world government would insist upon. Yet, there may still be an opportunity to understand why internal and external warfare seldom resolve.

A transactional analysis would see the present war as an extension of sibling conflict or gang warfare. The bully grabs something from the little kid.

The bigger kid demands, “Give it back or I’ll…”.

:”Try and make me!”

“All right! You asked for it!”

“You wouldn’t dare! I’ll get my friends!”

“You’ve got friends? Okay, I’ve got more, and they’re bigger!”

“Yeah? Well I’m going to fight dirty.”

“Try it and I’ll knock you out so quick you won’t be able to whimper!”

While on the sidelines; “Hey guys! Come on, we’ve got a real fight going on here! I’m selling seats” (media) “I’m taking bets!” (stock markets).

A developmental consideration would be as follows:

When a child asks for something he needs in order to develop into the kind of person God designed him to be, he is most frequently disappointed. Why? Because in terms of the best potential every child has, all parents are inadequate. Being frustrated in gaining what he needs, the child has three courses of action:

1)    Persist with his demands and eventually become alienated because he becomes so irritating;

2)    2) Try to change his parents into the people he needs them to be. In doing this he is bound to discover the survival-threatening truth: they are both fallible, and incapable of much personality growth;

3)    Accept the blame and then try to make himself better, at least good enough to deserve their care and attention.

When this needy child grows up, he discovers that no matter how successful he may become, he still doesn’t get what he needed as a child.

The more deprived he was, the more desperate he becomes in trying to change himself or change the world. Nothing he gets by fair means or foul can fill the void left by the lack of proper nurture when he was young.

In desperation, he turns to a mate or companions. First he asks, then he pleads, then he demands, and then he threatens just as he did as a child. But, neither his mate nor partner can meet needs that should have been met during his early development. There is, after all, a developmental specificity to basic nutrients, affection and intellectual stimulation.

Yet, the child within the adult cannot give up. “You better meet my demands or I’ll kill myself, or blow your brains out, or both!” From his threat come count-threats, and soon he and his mate, or he and his society, or his society and another are at blows, mainly because he cannot accept the hard truth that his parents were inadequate and his own development incomplete.

Anyone who has been robbed of a reasonable chance of becoming the person he could be, feels a deep sense of injustice. It’s not hard to recruit people who were neglected or abused. “Join my cause and I’ll make sure those wrongs are righted, your needs are met, and your dreams fulfilled.”

So, neglected children, grown larger, become the cannon-fodder for wars that ostensibly will give them land and food. Beaten children, grown strong, become the shock troops determined to bring down the tyrant. Children, taken advantage of, will demand power to establish their rights. As children, their hunger was detected and used to entice them, so as children in big bodies they are exploited once again.

Thus, if you don’t want war, feed the children of the world. If you don’t like conflict, make sure all children have their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs attended to.

A stranger with engaging ways came to town and walked over to some children playing on a muddy street;

“Hey kids. How would you like one of these toys?”

“They’re neat!. What do they do?”

“Nothing really, shoot pellets. They can’t hurt anyone. Maybe they could knock a crow off a branch.”

“Looks expensive. Can I afford one?”

“No problem. Just give me your baby brother’s bottle.”

“That’s weird. Hey mister, who are you?”

“Come on now, don’t get suspicious. I was just trying to be helpful. I saw you kids were bored and thought you might like a little fun. If you don’t want one of these just say so and I’ll give some to the kids over there.”

“Sorry mister. I didn’t mean to insult you. I’ll give you the baby’s bottle. He didn’t need it anyway.”

“Okay. Here you go. See if you can hit that kid over there.”

“Yeah man. I never like him anyhow! Youch! That hurt! What’s going on? You so and so You already gave him some of these!”

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. Not to worry, I’ve got something bigger and better.”

“You better give it to me right now!”

“Don’t threaten me kid! If you want one of these you’ll have to give me your little brother.”

“I can’t do that! What will happen when my father finds out?”

“Your father doesn’t care. He’s been gone so long you can’t even remember what he looks like!”

“Well, he said he was going to come back any time now!”

“Don’t kid yourself. He’s left you on your own to figure things out. If you’re smart you’ll take this before the kid across the street really lets you have it.”

“Okay, here’s my stupid little brother; he wasn’t a person anyhow.”

As the stranger sauntered away he murmured to himself, “It’s not really important that the landlord won’t let me blast them when it’s so easy to get them to destroy each other. Soon me and my mob will be able to take over this whole town.”