Assignment 9 - Jack Phillips

War is all around us in today's society, especially with the recent troubles in the middle east. But I do not believe all war is bad, I believe that war is necessary in certain situations. For instance, had the allies not declared war on Germany, Hitler may have killed millions more Jews, gays, and gypsies. Had the founding fathers not declared war on England, our country would not be the thriving economic center in the global economy that it is today. Had the northern states not retaliated against the south, millions of blacks would still be living in bondage. I believe that not all war is necessary, but war is inevitable. It is a part of human nature to attempt to assert dominance and try to gain power. So if war is inevitable, then we can only try to minimize its effects through diplomacy and politics. On the point of diplomacy, I used to play a game called Rome total war. I got really good at it, and I was almost unbeatable in battle, but I quickly found out that diplomacy was so much harder than battle, and this was mostly because I had attacked almost every surrounding faction, and then they were unwilling to deal with me diplomatically, go figure. Many of these middle eastern factions in the real world have deeply rooted hatred for one another and have been warring for centuries, so if a video game can recognize the fact that we can't use diplomacy after attacking one another, then why are western politicians convinced that we can deal diplomatically with cultures and ethnic groups that have been warring for generations?