War. HU! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing.

Ah, you found a rebuttal song. Very nice. Well, what exactly was it that Tommy achieved by beating up the Gatlin boys? Did he take the rape back magically? Did the boys feel bad about what they did? Did he prove he was a man? No, he accomplished none of these things, all he did was show he could punch people. That's about it. After reading your last round it seems you completely agree with me that war should be avoided. So then you concede this debate? Your stance is that all war is good for something. But in this last round you've taken the stance that "war should be avoided, but it just won't". I cannot deny that what was done in the past was done and served a purpose. I can't deny that wars will continue to happen due to lack of human intelligence. But that is not the case I am making. I am saying it could have and should have never happened in the first place. There is potential for us all to come to terms peacefully, and while there is that possibility there is reality. My views are optimistically realistic. I can see the better parts of man and know that we can do it. So none of my claims are preposterous, just highly unlikely. As far as they can apply to the real world I know that they will probably never come into action in the real world. But again, this is not my stance. My stance is about what should and could happen. That is what War is singing about. He is not saying war will never happen, he's jus saying they shouldn't. On this point it seems you agree with me, thus making my stance victorious. But now to discuss your point that they have no ability to ever stop. In summary, it seems your concerns are: Honor, intelligence, ignorance and one sided-ness. Honor: In concerns to the Scot and Tommy. What real good is honor? Honor cannot feed you. Honor will not help you walk. Honor will not keep you alive. Honor is a made up human concept, and can easily be restored with counseling. The only judge on honor is yourself, no one and nothing else's. So, is fighting a war based on rape a good idea? Does it make the war just? No, it does not. It would still have been better for the Scots to have engaged in a peaceful negotiation. It would have been better for Tommy to call on the cops and let them suffer in a concrete room. The only accomplishment they made was gaining revenge, another self induced concept. Neither honor nor revenge will help humanity, only yourself. So this is not a good reason to continue fighting wars. SO your lyric should not read "Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man", but rather 'Sometimes you wanna fight when your a man'. Intelligence: You claim that people, both now and then, do not have the mental capacity to settle things peacefully. This is half-true, I can't deny that. Never the less, they still have some modicum of intelligence to see that life is better than death. So even in the most unintelligent leader, they still have the ability, just not the will. It is still not an excuse, only an observation. But we all do have the ability to raise the intelligence of man kind, low as it is today. The budget on the War on Terror currently is in the trillions. Do you have any idea how many new schools could be constructed with that financing. I'm not talking about a lot of little 'podunk' badly constructed schools. This kind of money could build thousands of university level institutions. It could re-furnish every American school twice over with new books, new desks, new computers, new everything with cash to spare. Yet it all goes to bullets, bombs, missiles and the things that fire them. All of these are good to only use a few times, but a school can last generations. So intelligence is not totally out of the question. Yes, right now human brain poser is less than satisfactory. True, the mental states of people in the past were less than a modern middle schooler. Yet we in the here and now have the ability to stop further destruction. We can teach those who will live beyond us the folly's of the past, and make war nothing more than a definition in a text book they will read. So low intelligence is not an excuse either, only an obstacle. Ignorance: True, there are some people who will not change their blood thirsty ideals until they've been released of their own mortal coil. But that can all be solved with education, as stated above. People only know as much as they are taught. Right now, people are being taught to distrust their fellow man. They learn that they 'other side' only wants you dead, and that you need to wan them dead more to stay alive. People just need to start teaching acceptance of 'the enemy', because once your enemy is your friend, you have no enemies to fight against. Because this can also be avoided, this is also not a reason why wars should be fought. One sided-ness: A misconception you seem to have is that only one side should turn the other cheek while the other will continue to slap. This is not what I am saying. Both sides need to stop the violence, and can. War is a double edged sword. You cannot just sheath one side for it to no longer be a threat. Both sides must go into sheath. Both sides have the capabilities to stop war, thus both are accountable. Starting a war mainly falls upon 1 side, but it ends up being both in the end. Both sides need to stop war before it happens. As Riley of the Boondocks once said: If you don't start nothing, there won't be nothing. The same is true when it comes to war. In V for Vendetta, the British Government shouldn't have take the peoples rights, and Evy wouldn't have needed to be tortured by V because V would have nothing to fight against. My stance is that wars are good for absolutely nothing. I have proved that to be true. We can avoid war. Because we can we should. Continuing to do so just idiotic. There is no dispute that can only be settled with violence, people only think it is. Every obstacle can be overcome with learning, with understanding, with compassion. It is not mere optimism that fuels what I say, its the examination of other, more profitable routes we can take. My stance isn't just a sermon, it is a presentation of possibilities and facts. Basically a science. There is as much realism to my points as there was for the idea's of flight and electricity. Right now, war is equivalent to the ideas that the only manner's of transportation will ever be horse drawn buggies and that candle light is the only way to see in the dark. The only difference, and I do mean the only, is that instead of one man making this brilliant proposition and then the world accepts it is that everyone in the world must be apart of the proposition and accept it. War is a global disease, and must be handled on a global level. Undeniably war has happened. Undeniably it has had some positive effects. But in every case it did not need to be settled by war and could have been solved with non-deadly words. Thus war has never accomplished anything that couldn't have been done some other way. Therefore they are good for absolutely nothing. To GaryBacon: Good debate. You've challenged me with your historical knowledge. I'm also impressed with your V for Vendetta analogy. Also, out of curiosity, what is your picture of? I've been trying to figure that out for some time now. To the audience: I'll remind you that your voting is not determined by what stance you prefer but which side proved theirs better, be it mine or GaryBacon's. If you feel the need to justify your anonymous vote you can do so in the comments area. Darth_Grievous_42 out.