This is not a political blog. The point of the link is to point out the costs of conflict in its most extreme manifestation, war. There are many commonalities in conflicts both large and small. Conflict is a unique field of study. Consider the following.
At its heart, conflict is about inequality. I am not being treated fairly as an equal. My husband thinks I'm no good with money and is very controlling. He dies not see me as an equal. The police treat some in the community less equitably than others. Why does region A get all the benefits from the Federal Government and not us? Country G wants to dominate all the others. They must be stopped.
Fellow human beings are all too often reduced to objects-objectification. The person mistreating me is just a "_____." My husband is a "gold digger." The police become "pigs." The people living in ____ are just a bunch of "hicks." The people in country G are "imperialists." Taken to the extreme, this dehumanization can lead to war and other atrocities. Wh cares? They were only gooks.
Communications can quickly breakdown as the parties cannot see past their own positions, beliefs and sense of entitlement. Instead of talking to each other, thay talk past one another. The husband only hears his wife's insults as she never addresses the reasoning behind her anger. She also feels she will not be herd, even if she tries. The police feel like they are under siege. Regions and countries stick to talking points based on inflexible positions instead of listening to each other to resolve differences.
Feelings of powerlessness are also present. I may feel powerless to stop being treated unfairly, depending in that person's position. The wife feels she's stuck in the relationship with her husband. The community has "lost control" of the police department. My region cannot get the help it needs. No one can stop country G.
The feelings caused by this seeming lack of control are real and impact us all at every level. Stress leads to serious health problems in individuals, groups, communities all the way up to nations. What is a healthy community? In the next post, we will consider different techniques of conflict resolution hat work no matter the size and shape of the conflict.
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