Relationships: Because and because

Rodney King asked, "Can't we all just get along?"

No.

Not yet, anyway. Of course it's not just a black-white thing. It's also a black-yellow, white-red, brown-black... name your combination... thing. It's also a Muslim-Jew, Christian-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim... name your combination... thing.

We really can't get along. Sorry, Rodney.

There are too many of us to "all get along". Whatever the reason... we'll find it... and not get along.

We tend to get along when there is little or no interaction. The Europeans peacefully traded with the Chinese and Asian Indians for awhile. Then the British decided control was preferable to trade. Christians were a small, irrelevant group until the Romans adopted it as the official religion... then all hell broke loose. Islam became militant almost immediately. Americans got beaten up by the British and then started beating up on the Mexicans and Indians.

So, no, we can't all get along.

What then, constant warfare? Maybe; maybe not. Maybe little wars where attention can be focused, but the geography restricted. More and more, warfare is a politically incorrect option: it's too messy. Nevertheless, strategists still think in terms of weapon systems and technology when they anticipate future warfare. Why? Because history has shown that forums such as the League of Nations and the United Nations don't necessarily do much except talk to themselves... wars still happen.

Charles Atlas claimed that he became stronger through application of "dynamic tension"... basically a lot of push-ups, sit-ups, etc. There is political and religious dynamic tension that has nothing to do with push-ups. The interaction of religious fervor and politics within Islam has strenghtened and will continue to reinforce the rise of religious states that are then confronted by secular forces that will either press back or attempt to isolate the religious states. The irony of the Islamic right-wing efforts to create religious states is that, in practice, they become the antithesis of the religious teachings and create internal forces of their own dissolution.

Iran represents an example of a religious state experiment that is now creating its own internal "dynamic tensions". This doesn't mean that the present phenomenon of a move toward Islamic states is waning; it only means that the very creation of such a conflicted state leads to forces of its own end. Iran is likely to become a greater focal point for Western states because it not only seeks to become a nuclear power, but it combines the spector of anti-American/European religious fanaticsm running amok with nuclear weapons.... Even the French are beginning to react negatively to things Islamic.

For the forseeable future, the world will not be able to "get along". There will only be the continuation of the age-old, much maligned "peace through war" process. The face of war will change, but the reasons behind the ongoing struggle are fairly constant. Why? Because. That is also the reason for age-old hatreds. Because.