“If war were truly human nature, it wouldn’t need to be sold to us.”
For centuries, war has been framed as an unavoidable part of human existence—an instinct as natural as hunger or love. We’re told that conflict is in our DNA, that violence is simply what humans do when resources are scarce or when ideologies clash. But what if that’s not true?
What if war isn’t a reflection of human nature but a product of carefully engineered incentives—a system designed and maintained by those who benefit from it?
Look past the patriotic slogans, the historical narratives, the Hollywood heroics, and you’ll see that war is not an accident, nor an inevitability. It is a business, a strategy, and a tool—one that rewards a select few while costing millions of lives.
Who Profits from Perpetual War?
War is often justified with grand ideals—freedom, security, justice. But follow the money, and you’ll find a far less noble reality.
1. The Economic Engine of War
Wars do not just happen—they are fueled by an entire ecosystem of corporations, lobbyists, and financial interests that thrive on global instability.
- The Arms Industry: The global arms trade is a trillion-dollar business, with defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and BAE Systems profiting immensely from every escalation of conflict. These companies don’t just sell weapons—they lobby governments, fund think tanks, and influence foreign policy to ensure that war remains a constant.
- Resource Exploitation: Wars are often fought not for ideology, but for oil, minerals, and strategic territory. The Iraq War, for example, saw multinational corporations swoop in to control lucrative oil fields under the guise of democracy-building.
- Reconstruction Profits: Destruction creates markets. The same corporations that profit from bombing a country often profit from rebuilding it. In Afghanistan and Iraq, defense contractors made billions on government contracts to “reconstruct” infrastructure their weapons helped destroy.
War is not random chaos. It is a business model—one where violence creates demand, and instability ensures continued supply.
2. Power and Political Control
Beyond financial incentives, war serves as a powerful tool for political elites to maintain and expand control.
- Distracting the Public: When governments face internal crises—economic downturns, scandals, civil unrest—nothing redirects public attention like a well-timed “external enemy.” History is full of examples where leaders leveraged war to unite fractured populations or deflect criticism.
- Expanding Authoritarianism: Fear justifies repression. Wars—both foreign and domestic—are often used as excuses to erode civil liberties, expand surveillance, and militarize police forces. Governments that claim to fight for democracy abroad often use the same wars to restrict democracy at home.
- Maintaining Global Hierarchies: War isn’t just about nations fighting each other—it’s about maintaining the power structures that benefit the ruling elite. Superpowers wage proxy wars to control strategic regions, install favorable regimes, and prevent economic independence in weaker nations.
War keeps the powerful in power. Peace, on the other hand, threatens hierarchies—because peace often means redistributing power and resources more fairly.
The Myth of War as “Human Nature”
If war were truly inevitable—if it were simply a product of our genetic programming—then why have so many societies thrived in peaceful cooperation?
- Post-WWII Europe: After centuries of war, European nations chose economic integration over armed conflict—resulting in unprecedented peace between former rivals.
- The Peace Process in Northern Ireland: After decades of violence, incentives shifted from fighting to economic and political cooperation, leading to stability.
- Hunter-Gatherer Societies: Anthropological studies reveal that many pre-agricultural human societies avoided war altogether, prioritizing cooperation and negotiation instead.
War is not hardwired into our species. It is imposed. It is incentivized. It is sold.
The Role of Mythmaking: How We’re Conditioned to Accept War
Most people don’t want war. So how do governments convince populations to accept it? Through storytelling.
- The Hero Narrative: Films, TV, and video games glorify war as a noble struggle of good vs. evil—conditioning generations to see violence as honorable.
- The Fear Narrative: News outlets flood the public with stories of imminent threats—keeping populations in a state of anxiety where militarization seems like the only option.
- The Destiny Narrative: History books often portray war as inevitable—as if societies were destined to clash rather than manipulated into conflict.
Every war needs public buy-in. And that buy-in is carefully manufactured.
War Isn’t Inevitable—It’s a Choice
The most dangerous myth about war is that it is unavoidable.
But war is not a law of nature. It is a system, carefully built and maintained. And what is built can be dismantled.
The question is: Who benefits from you believing otherwise?
