Conflict

Sean Maletsky
June 23, 2009
Professor Baines
English 101

The Need for Conflict

Conflict is central to the human character. Whether it is used to enact great evil or to ennoble the human spirit through the pursuit of justice, all humans in all times and places seek conflict. Conflict can be as trivial as an argument as to what is on TV or as grand as the fate of nations and peoples. From the moment a child has a glimmer of independence conflict is a part of human life. Conflict is the means by which humans achieve, greatness and depravity.

Conflict has many faces, many of which are ugly. War, brutality, rape can all be classified as conflict. Wendell Berry states, “Modern war has not only made it impossible to kill ‘combatants’ without killing ‘noncombatants,’ it has made it impossible to damage your enemy without damaging yourself” (186). The execution depicted in a photograph kept by Georges Bataille, “the death of a hundred cuts” is nothing short of brutal conflict (Susan Sontag 238). “The girl who lets herself get dead drunk at a fraternity party . . .” and is then raped is part of a conflict between the sexes that has been going on since there have been two sexes (Camille Paglia 228). All of these conflicts are despicable, yet they all fill human needs, human desires. The need to be in control, to impose one’s collective and individual will upon another is deep seeded in the human psyche.

Conflict is also the catalyst that corrects many wrongs. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wielded conflict with mastery; “nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue” (217). The Seneca Falls Convention incited conflict with statements like “the history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her” (Stanton and Mott 282), with the direct intention to elevate the position of women to that of equal to man. Dynamic social change is at it’s core conflict, the old way rarely if ever goes easily to it’s grave. “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 218).

In the grand course of human existence the question of what should be on TV is quite trivial, yet conflict on the topic is rampant. The American Psychological Association states “parents can outright ban any programs that they find too offensive” (445). Tim Goodman contends “to demonize Hollywood . . . [is] just plain wrong, reeks of censorship and, in the context of parents worried about their children, it’s looking for a scapegoat when lax parenting skills are more to blame” (448). TV is not the only trivial source of conflict, Emily Tsao writes of the conflict between politically correct speech and everyday speech (138). In a tongue in check style Tony Kornheiser (348) echoes Deborah Tannen (182) about the conflict in style that men and women use to communicate. Something as simple and trivial as tic-tac-toe is still full of conflict.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the great events of the past. Dr. King was greatly influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, who “perfected methods of satyagraha- peaceful (nonviolent) protest (or resistance)” (Howard Gardner 234). Dr. King’s actions changed the course of our nation, Gandhi’s actions created the modern incarnation of the independent nation of India. During the Nuremberg trials, at the conclusion of the greatest violent conflict in human history, Justice Robert H. Jackson said “That four great nations, flushed with the victory and stung with injury, stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason” (Alice Kaplan 243). Yet conflict still ensued, yes a more peaceful kind, for the very tittles of the lawyers speak volumes, prosecutor and defense. Thomas Jefferson incited conflict, and changed the course of human history, with his famous Declaration of Independence (276). Most great events of human history are firmly rooted in conflict.

From a young age it is human nature to be involved in conflict. Babies claw at faces in frustration with miniature fingernails. Toddlers punch, kick and bite to get the attention and results they desire. “Children’s play often focuses on the most salient and graphic, confusing or scary, and aggressive aspects of violence” (Diane E. Levin 446) Levin explains that this aggressive play is how children attempt to understand the violence around them (446). In her essay Girl, Jamaica Kincaid writes, “this is how you bully a man, this is how a man bullies you” (127) illustrating how human culture passes conflict from one generation to the next. We raise our children to understand that the world is a place of conflict.

Conflict is at the core of the human experience. In a world of limited resources, opposed world-views, and the sheer spite of human nature ensure we will always be in conflict. Ugly conflict can be avoided and the conflict of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi can be emulated; yet conflict will be with us. Conflict is unavoidable; it is an inate human trait.

Worked Cited

American Psychological Association. ”Violence on Television-What Do Children Learn? What can Parents Do?” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston:Pearson Longman, 2007. 443-445.

Berry, Wendell. “The Failure of War.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 186-191.

Gardner, Howard. “Leading Beyond the Nation-State.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 233-237.

Goodman, Tim. ”Hate Violence? Turn It Off!” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 448-449.

Jefferson, Thomas. “The Declaration of Independence.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 276-279.

Kaplan, Alice. “War on Trial.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 241-248.

Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 126-127.

King, Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 215-227.

Kornheiser, Tony. ”Women Have More to Say on Everything.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 348-349.

Levin, Diane E. “Beyond Banning War and Superhero Play.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 445-447.

Paglia, Camille. “It’s a Jungle Out There.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 227-230.

Sontag, Susan. “Regarding the Pain of Others.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 237-191-240.

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, and Lucretia Coffin Mott. “Seneca Falls Convention.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 281-284.

Tannen, Deborah. “Sex, Lies, and Conversation.“ Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 182-186.

Tsao, Emily. “Thought of an Oriental Girl.” Touchstones: A Truckee Meadows Community College Reader. Ed. Hugh Fraser. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 138-140.