Outrage is a strong moral emotion characterized by a combination of surprise, shock, disgust, indignation & anger, usually in reaction to violence & brutality or a grave personal offense. The important word in that definition is emotion.
Emotion is an instinctive or intuitive strong feeling or mental state as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.
When I listen or watch the news now I find it very difficult, if not impossible, to understand how the many conflicts ongoing in the world have anything to do with rational thought. I was tempted to say that war is less likely to happen if leaders are women, because women are more empathetic & work more collaboratively than men. I could only think of Thatcher & the Falklands. It seems that I am wrong. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2022/03/08/sheryl-sandberg-says-female-leaders-dont-go-to-war-heres-what-research-says/?sh=c7f86dc1fa77
One of the most unacceptable phrases in the English language is Collateral Damage - deaths and injuries that are a result of the fighting in a war but happen to people who are not in the military. In 2017, at least 630 million women and children—10% of women and 16%
of children worldwide— were either displaced by conflict or resided
dangerously close to armed conflict events. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7612212/ If you don't have the time to read the whole thing skip to the Key Messages.
Wars are not won by anyone. One side may vanquish another, but everyone loses. The price is too high. Eventually there has to be negotiation & some sort of peace treaty. Wars cause death, appalling injury, suffering, destruction & damage beyond comprehension.
Why do people go to war? Wars have been caused by competition over land, religious conflicts, nationalism, imperialism, racism, & slavery. I would argue that the root of all of that is Power & Fundamentalism.
While the arms industry continues to be such a money spinner wars will continue. UK arms export licences more than doubled to £8.5bn in 2022. The biggest sales were to Saudi Arabia, Turkey & Qatar. The United States is
the biggest arms dealer on earth. From 2017 to 2021 it sold weapons to
over 100 nations, and in 2020 alone, American companies made $111
billion from foreign military sales. The estimate of the financial value of the global arms trade for 2020 was at least $112 billion.
Currently what we are seeing in the Middle East & Europe is beyond any logic & rational thought. It simply is "Beyond the Pale". I use that term advisedly - look up the origins.
Its all about money & power & we should be outraged at the leaders who allow this to happen so often. Or actually cause it.
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