End War Forever Survey Attitudes and Beliefs
by Jan Stephen James Cavanaugh, Ph.D. on 04/01/19
The intent of this survey was to get a reading on beliefs and attitude of citizens of the United States of American in the matter of ending war in a time of unending war. They were presented with a meme “End War Forever” as the stimulus. To the degree this survey got a valid reading, to that degree the results of the survey can be projected onto the larger population. The major limitation of survey is sample size.
What seems clear is that even with all the reservations about the concept of end war forever expressed by this population, there is openness to an alternative to war. One might conclude that the ground is being prepared for a populace ready to embrace end of war, but they do not see a plan to make that happen. This implies they are unconsciously looking for a plan to make end war forever happen.
Peace through Justice does emerge as a unifying refrain, but there is a lot of work to be done to tell a story of ending war that jane and mary doe will find trustworthy. Most specifically, if law is to be the answer to war, who gets to decide what justice is … the overwhelming concern.
In the main at this time in our body politic ending war generates great ambivalence. Ambivalence can be a tool of change.
I was at No War 2016 Conference. I attended with mindset of Jane and John Doe. In the opening session of the conference a question arose as to what the “is” of war is. The tension in the room is deflected by agreeing to not to “go there”, to table resolution of what was clearly an uncomfortable topic. In my Jane and John Doe mind-set I was horrified. I observed a large group of seemingly well-intentioned persons agreeing to meet on ending war, but could not agree on what it was they were ending. And not agreeing on the what, offered no plan as to how.
It appears the major psychological issue to ending war is trust … building trust in justice and law to keep folks safe from war. And a plan folks can vote to support..
“The more peacemakers talk down war, the more people distrust peacemakers.” Jsc
