Diversity

A War on War’s

Or at least the ones that are made up by PR people.

By Jeff Jordan

After watching a segment on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, where he chides Fox News on their annual ‘War on Christmas” segment, I decided it’s time to start on a moratorium on War’s with no end and, frankly, no meaning.

The War on Drugs, The War on Poverty, The War on Ignorance, and The War on Women (DPIW). All of these conflicts could be thought of as ongoing except for the fact that the media keeps reminding us that the conflict in Afghanistan is “the longest war in our history.” Forget the small problem that Afghanistan is not a declared war.

The War on Drugs is a term used by President Richard Nixon, which encompassed an all fronts attack on illegal drug trade and consumption. This included laws that prohibited the use and sale of the drugs and included foreign financial and military aid to countries to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the US and therefore stem the use of these drugs in the United States.

The title “The War on Poverty” President Lyndon Johnson used as the unifying concept for a series of legislative efforts passed in an attempt to relieve poverty, as it was defined in his time. It was arguably somewhat successful in that Poverty in the US dropped from a high of 17% to 11%. When public perception changed in the '80s and 90s, the demise of many of the programs came about with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. While some of the programs, such as Head Start, are considered successful, most of the “safety net” of that era is gone.

As far as I can tell, the War on Ignorance is creating an organization that calls itself Kiyama. http://kiyamamovement.com/war_on_ignorance.php This appears to be a well-intended Black American movement that is trying to raise issues within the community of black Americans and self-improvement.

The War on Women was brought to public attention in the last election as Democrats used the characterization to position Republican candidates on the wrong side of issues apparently held important by most women. It can be argued that this War is not only the longest in the American experience but, more to the point, the oldest War in the History of the planet.

War is most commonly defined as armed conflict, but because of the flexibility of the English language, it can be stretched to include vigorous disagreement between people of different beliefs. If this is true in the case of DPIW than, we are forced to recognize that somebody believes in perpetuating poverty, Illegal drugs, general Ignorance, and subjugation of women. While some people in all of these causes do believe in doing just that, they are few and way out of the mainstream.

The battle is waged more often in the minds of those who are either punitive in their reaction to these issues or have more of a nuanced appreciation of the problem. While it’s relatively easy blaming the victims of poverty, drug addiction, and ignorance and absolving society of the responsibility in the issues of single parenthood, school funding, unwanted pregnancies, or ignoring hindrances to the advancement and higher wages based on the sex of the worker, it is far more complex to unwind the societal prejudice between the haves and have nots. In other words, it’s about issues, not the existence of these conflicts of opinion.

For instance, two people can agree that controlled substances are a problem. One believes in the legal system to solve the problem, and the other thinks treatment is a better solution. Two people can agree that there is a gap between what men and women are paid for the same work. One thinks it should be solved with litigation. The other thinks it’s because market forces are at work. The conflict is about admitting there is an issue and what, if anything, we should do about the resolution. It is not or should not be armed conflict.

If you chose to insist on calling these issues ‘Wars” then we have to admit we are losing all of them and have been for a long time, at great expense