Escritiendo

Imagine

          According to Webster’s Dictionary, war is defined as “a state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties.” Now if one scrutinized that definition to the bones or stretched it from here to Hong Kong, it turns into a broad term used for armed conflict. Those arms can be various weapons like guns, bombs, knives, libel, manipulation, or weapons of mass destruction; and therefore, I have grounds to evaluate two armed conflicts, the War on Terror and that of The Crucible, to make you question the logic behind any war- leaving politics aside.  The shockingly numerous similarities include the covering of motives, the knowledge of the few, and the extremes of religion. 

         Unmistakably, persons with power often veil their unpopular motives with shocking accusations. For instance in both The Crucible and the War on Terror, prime players have been exposed. George W. Bush claimed the government had evidence of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, but some swear this was just a cover for trying to reign on an abundant oil supply. George himself said, “It is clear our nation is reliant upon foreign oil,” and it is his job to keep the nation supplied with necessities. Others believe he wanted to conclude his father’s work. Similarly, Abigail’s motives were uncovered to the audience by her cousin Betty, “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (13). To prevent the town from grasping this imperative detail, she led the girls to scream witchcraft at the top of their lungs. This proves a war is never one-reasoned. It is the afflicted who have to decide if the reasons are credible.  

           Furthermore, it is the afflicted’s duty to question the ones who claim to be knowledgeable about the circumstances in any clash. In both the play and the war, people declare to have information unknown to others that can facilitate in the process of correcting inconsistencies. Hale was said to be a “specialist whose unique knowledge,” (18) had at last been summoned; when in fact, he had been deceived upon his arrival. At other times in The Crucible, the accused deceitfully revealed false information that captivated the insular town; in the mean time, the girls’ necks were spared. Our government, who is represented by George W. Bush, asserted that our intelligence agencies had enough evidence of supreme weapons to initiate a war. The U.S. is looking for them: today.  The U.S. government also guarantees that the reconstruction period in Iraq is going to be a superb start for the defeat of terror; when in fact, the Jihad’s (Holy War declared by Extreme-Islamic Factions) perseverance will not decay with only a gun at its head- ask any member of al-Qaeda member- we just do not need statistics to prove that. 

             Generally speaking, any extreme form of religion is dangerous to its surroundings. Americans have this sewn into our history because of the persecution throughout Europe in the centuries preceding the 18^th, which, ironically birthed Puritanism (Salem’s religion) out of the Anglican Church. The Jewish know it because they have never had an origin to claim because of persecution everywhere. The Pagans know this because Christianity has denounced them as the Devil’s advocates since the day it was born even though it absorbed their symbols and holidays. Yet, the Muslims remain some what unaware, although Islam’s two factions loathe each other enough to kill. Each conflict- that of The Crucible and the War on Terror- have an underlying hue of drastic religion. My point is this; the Puritans’ thoughts were so inane they supposed “that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve, his home base and the Citadel of his final stand.” (7). The Muslims of the Holy War are equally as madcap with their beliefs, here, explained by Wikipedia, “the ultimate purpose of which is to establish the universal domination of Islam…imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.” Radical religious beliefs are the cause of many, many wars and they manipulate the mind to make the constituents of mankind look black or white; holy or evil.

             In essence, the minute differences and the shocking similarities of theses two armed conflicts make the line between fiction and nonfiction blurry. Wars are immeasurably more intricate than have been spelled out here, but, it seems to have logically neutralized certain reasons for war except politics, which abstractly, is only special name for the physiology and sociology of animals (one nation is attempting to be the alpha male, and the others have to submit or fight back). With these thoughts being absorbed by your gray matter, I leave you with a quote from John Lennon explicating my purpose, “Imagine there’s no countries/ It isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too/ Imagine all the people / Living life in peace.”