[Peace-discuss] War and civility

[Bob Illyes]

You and I are definitely on opposite sides on this matter,
Carl, but I guess that is already pretty evident. A friend
recently pointed out that AWARE seemed to be divided not just
with regard to war vs. other matters, but on the subject of
war itself. This is the case, in my opinion. Some of us see
war as first a personal matter, and try to live peace as
their first priority. Others see war as such an emergency that
it transcends personal considerations and must be fought with
all available tools. Even this description is probably too
simple to encompass us all. At least we are all able to agree
that war is bad.....

 From my point of view, calling Al's position "racist" is bring
war into an antiwar group. From your point of view, it is a
matter of simple honesty. I claim that we can't stop war if
we aren't willing to make peace, starting with each other. You
claim (pardon me if my paraphrase is too crude) that it takes
something like war to stop war. Kathy Kelly claims that peace
making is as dangerous as war making. I have my doubts about
this, although I grant their are cases where she is correct.

Bob