About me:
2 June '08, version 1.08.
Notice: I am no longer actively maintaining this web page, though I still believe in the ideas expressed on it. Anyone who wishes to be my friend is urged to come to one of my other web pages,
http://www.myspace.com/nonclassical. That one is being maintained and updated, very intensively.
MATH is TRUTH;
WAR is based on LIES.
Thus, mathematicians have a special duty to oppose war.
 | International
Mathematicians for Peace | |
"Why international?" Well, it's true that the
USA is the world's biggest economy, the biggest
military, and the biggest supplier of weapons. But it
is small compared to the combined effect of the next few
nations after it. Thus, the international community is
capable of influencing the American juggernaut. And, of
course, war is an international matter.
"But mathematics is above all of that."
Mathematicians often see their work as the discovery of
a perfect and eternal truth that is above all the
ambiguities and emotions of human interaction. They
take pride in its cold, clear, crystalline reasoning.
But who is mathematics for? We
mathematicians are human beings with families and
communities; we betray them if we do not concern
ourselves with their future. I can imagine mathematicians,
scientists, and engineers busying themselves in the
engine room of the R. M. S. Titanic, thoroughly
absorbed in tinkering with the
engine, enjoying the intellectual challenge of
figuring out how to make the engine run faster,
completely oblivious to shouts that the boat is
about to hit an iceberg.
"But we haven't been trained for politics."
That attitude is shared by nonmathematicians too --
"Leave politics to the politicians;
it's not my job; I'm not trained for that and I'm busy
with other work." Well, look what an atrocious job the
politicians have done when the rest of us haven't
gotten involved.
Campaigning for peace is not our area of expertise, but
it's time we started training ourselves. And, at any rate, no
special expertise is needed to understand that war
is a truly terrible thing, and that we should not
participate in war without an absolutely clear,
indisputable, and compelling reason.
Silence is complicity.
The house is on
fire, and we need more people awake to put out the fire,
but most of the people in the house are still asleep --
apparently we need to shout "fire! fire!" longer and
louder.
"Why mathematicians in particular?"
Really, people from every walk of life need
to participate -- carpenters for peace, postal workers for
peace, and so on. And ultimately we all need to work
together. But we may also have special perspectives to
offer. And, at any rate, by banding together in our
workplaces we form a community that otherwise cannot
find its way. This web page, written by a
mathematician, attempts to recruit mathematicians.
"Haven't there been some 'just wars,' like World War II?"
If a war was just on one side, then it was unjust on the other side.
World War II was largely due to the German people's failure
to question Hitler's fairly thin lies (sickeningly similar to the
American acquiesence to Bush's lies). And the USA isn't
blameless in World War II -- for instance, the hellbombing of Japanese
cities was justified
only by lies.
"What kinds of lies?" Some
governments may believe they
have good reasons for wars, but they
do not trust their own people to agree,
and so they lie. And the
news media, increasingly owned by a few wealthy people
with vested interests in the war machine, report the
news with subtle bias: They frame it in language that
forces the desired conclusions, and they omit news items
that cannot be spun in the desired direction. And in
countries where truth is less protected,
the news media lie outright. How easily we
all fall into the consensus trance! Unlike mathematicians,
most people do not test everything they hear
for fallacies and omissions -- and even
mathematicians apply this rigor only to their
mathematics.
Naturally the common people don't want
war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America,
nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is
the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it
is always a simple matter to drag the people along,
whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or
a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no
voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding
of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to
tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the
pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the
country to danger. It works the same in any country. --
Hermann Goering, Reichsmarschall of Nazi Germany
War is a racket.
It always has been. It is possibly the
oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most
vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It
is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in
dollars and the losses in lives.... A few profit, and
the many pay. -- Smedley D. Butler, USMC Major General,
two-time congressional medal of honor recipient
(And war is not the only topic for lies. The general
public may not understand, but
scientists and engineers
know that there is nothing subjective or inconclusive about
global warming. They should be enraged about the
lies about
science.)
"So you're advocating that we support some particular
political party?" No, not really. It's true that
one political party has dirtied its hands most
conspicuously in recent years; but every party, when it has been
in power, has lied its way into some war.
The real problems are
the way that many politicians gain power by pointing at an
enemy, and the way that war profiteers
assist the finances
of many politicians.
Somehow we have to stop
that.
"What should we mathematicians do?" I don't know, I'm just
starting to figure it out and get this organized.
That's why this web page has a version number at the top. Contact me
to agree or to disagree with this document, or to suggest additions or alterations to it.
Voting is not enough. But just making our voices heard is a major part
of what we need to do. Here
are a few ideas: Post a copy of this document on your
office door. Email it to colleagues who you think may
be sympathetic. At the next peace vigil or rally in your town,
carry the URL of this web page on a sign. Become
better informed about politics -- look on the internet
or in the library.
Join some other organizations.
Shouldn't we be as serious about making peace as some people are about making war?
|
Who I'd like to meet:
Anyone who wants to help make the world a more peaceful place (and doesn't think bombs are the way to do it).
|
|
..
