War has rules

This story goes back to the 1970s when people were sensitive to political beliefs and ideologies. An engineering professor came back to Korea after studying in the U.S. A customs officer who was going through the books in his luggage asked, “Why do you like revolutions so much?” It seemed the books titled with the word revolution stood out to the officer, although the titles of the books were “Traffic Revolution” and ‘Life Revolution.’ This happened because the officer didn’t know the various uses of the word ‘revolution’ in English-speaking countries.

The word ‘war’ is also misused and overused in our daily life. Modern-day people suffer from competition-induced stress. And ‘war’ is often used to describe cut-throat and severe competition. The war of college admission exams, the war of housing subscriptions for apartments, the war of various reservations, and today we even hear, that every day is like war.

The word ‘war’ entails another meaning other than fierce, cruel, and extreme competition. It is mercilessness that indicates something is done by hook or by crook. Some battles have rules while others don’t. The latter is called war. In war, lies and frauds are appreciated. Betraying, buying off people, and breaking promises are normal. Civilians are killed by misused bombs and bullets. Cities are destroyed in the name of strategies such as local procurement, causing fear, and surrendering one's will to fight. War makes people turn a blind eye to the atrocities that kill civilians and children. This is the magical meaning of the word ‘war.’

The Geneva Conventions, war crimes, the world keeping an eye on relevant issues through social media, condemnation, imposing international rules on war, and making efforts to comply with those aren’t old endeavors. Humanitarian interventions were significantly made during World War II compared to the 18th and 19th centuries, but on the other side, unprecedented massacres took place through bombing, atom bombing, and gas chambers.

Will the rules on war operate in the 21st century where social media is raging fiercely? Everyone wanted to believe so, which turned out to be a total delusion. Just people change when a war breaks out. Justice is about fighting off the beast inside us.