We all know that violence brings violence, yet we continue to use violence to solve our perceived societal problems. In all these acts of violence, the common understanding is the lack of respect for human life and this can only occur in a divided society. The inevitability of war, violence and destruction are consequences of a societal mind-set which has been associating blames and related perfect solutions to our problems.

I understood this dark societal predicament as I became interested in the field of system dynamics and ecological economics. And this demented mind-set has been recently expressed by the second richest man in the world, investment guru Warren Buffett, as he addressed the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.:

"We're going to have something in the way of a major nuclear event in this country. It will happen. Whether it will happen in 10 years or 10 minutes, or 50 years ... it's virtually a certainty."

With this type of mind-set there is no doubt that our sold out politicians, big corporations and fortunate sons will look after their own quarterly profits to enrich themselves at the expense of others before the nuclear catastrophe will occur in 10 years or 10 minutes or 50 years.

Our society is divided and the current burst of violence is a reflection of our inadequacies to understand our own faults. The Berlin's wall didn't work to isolate the two Germany's, yet PM Ariel Sharon wants to fence the Israelis from the Palestinians.

The United States with more than 6 million people in jail, in prison, on parole or on probation is the most violent society among the developed OECD countries, yet we become surprised of the related violence in schools, of the anthrax attack, and now of the pipe bombs in mail boxes. Osama Bin Laden was a manufactured manifestation of the CIA and the American foreign policies and so Saddam Hussein of Iraq, yet the Bush administration blames them for the causes of international terrorism while allying itself with undemocratic countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Today I learn that Enron manipulated the skyrocketing energy prices in California, that Wall Street hypes worthless stocks for the benefit of its investment banking business, that Wall Street influences the politics of Latin America on behalf of the big corporations and their fortunate sons. Big corporations have become more important than people, quick money has become more important than useful work, economic productivity has become more important than people at work, our progress is now measured by first how quick machines can replace people and second how displaced people can go back to work.

Four years ago, in analyzing our own provincial Saskatchewan government, I stated that such a government was a private contractual deal. I was naive. Two weeks ago, after meeting with Crown Prince Abdallah of Saudi Arabia, President George Bush summarized his peace talk with the Prince in this way:

Well, first of all, one of the really positive things out of this meeting was the fact that the Crown Prince and I established a strong personal bond. We spent a lot of time alone, discussing our respective visions, talking about our families. I was most interested in learning about how he thought about things. I'm convinced that the stronger our personal bond is, the more likely it is relations between our country will be strong.

And the violence continues as President Bush has extended his list of evil doers to include Syria, Cuba and Libya.

References:

"A Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Accounting" by Professor Marc W. Herold, Ph.D., M.B.A., B.Sc. Departments of Economics and Women's Studies, McConnell Hall, Whittemore School of Business & Economics, University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H. 03824, U.S.A. December 2001 http://www.globalexchange.org/september11/heroldAfghanReport.pdf

Buffett: Nuclear attack 'virtually a certainty' CNN May 6, 2002 http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/06/buffett.nuclear.ap/index.html

President Bush Meets with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Remarks by the President After Meeting With Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Bush Ranch, Crawford, Texas, April 25, 2002 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020425-4.html