For general context, the opinion piece was published April 2014. Bezos owned The WaPo at the time and had since 2013. Author is Stanford historian and archaeologist Ian Morris.
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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Thanks for sharing the link in the interest of fact and transparency.
I looked at the premise of his book that this article seems to connect with, and it basically boils down to "History shows that societies becomes a lot more peaceful and productive after periods of war."
Wow, who'd've thought that things get better for the people who survive a war? It's a good thing we can apply survivorship bias to the whole of human history with such confidence like that.
So it's not that war makes things better, but that we become better off after we stop fighting? We become better off after we decide fixing our problems peacefully is a good idea? Brilliant.
It's also not true when you consider all the times war follows war and societies see decades if not centuries of decline involving numerous civil wars. On top of that, when war is not devastating for those that start it, it does not inspire them to change; rather it becomes part of their norm.
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He seems like not a great guy.
WTF this is a real article
Of course it was WAPO
It says it right at the top ...
Artist putting the dove of peace in there should be shamed, too. Mf’er thinks they have some design porn going on there when all it is is selling out to oppressors
I will do one better and provide a link to an archived copy of the article so you all can read it for yourselves!
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Define "us".
Us, the wealthiest owners of Raytheon and Lockheed shares. Who did you think?
US...A
Probably the author of the article and the people who paid him to write it.
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"Democracy dies in darkness, and we're on the side of darkness"
Democracy dies in darkness
This stopped being a warning and started being a mission statement.
Right up there with Google's "Don't be Evil"
That's why Bezos has his secret mansion on the dark side of the moon.
Democracy died in daylight
So, not agreeing with the premise but: this article is from 2014, written by a legit historian, and is specifically not discussing the short term.
Their premise is effectively that war consolidates power and minimizes violence at scale inside the unified territory afterwards. Further, the things nations do to be ready for conflict, like build roads, administrative statates and all the social structures that accompany a standing army facilitate trade and prosperity.
It's less that he's arguing for war, and more just ... Describing the historical consequences of war in aggregate.
It was certainly only titled the way it was because he was publishing a book and this is more eye catching.
Ironic that this post is trying critize propaganda while being a bit propagandish itself
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Did a war write this article?
Yeah, I mean, what it said. Genocide! Love that. I respect The Washington Post and its commitment to corruption, abuse of power, and harm to kids.
And this is the newspaper that played a major role in bringing Nixon down at the time... what an utter disgrace.
Probably not for ethical reasons but more uhh aristocratic in-group disputes/conflicts of interest.
This right here, and he was never taken down. He voluntarily resigned and faced zero consequences.
I didn't even see the WaPo part of the post at first... and I didn't need to.
What the fuck.
if by "us" they mean the billionaries behind this company then sure it does
nice try bezøs
Just a heads up - you don't have to self-censor names on lemmy. These are communities, not corporate servers.
Yeah, fuck Bezos! I hope him and every single billionaire fuckhead spend a decade in prison for every person they fucked over. I hope they need to actually kill themselves in prison rather than get assassinated by people who don't want them to talk. They need to meet this fate, not because they deserve it, but because society needs to get rid of them to ever recover.
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Did someone say Blowback?
Go walk in the rain some more, you’ll dry quicker.
Am I the only one that sees a Wehrmact soldier with an MP-40 in hand? Like... Come on.
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"Yeah because after WWII there was peace!!!1"
Technically, after the war is before the war.
Of courses it does, especially when you are the world's biggest arms dealer! By far, not even China, Russia, and Germany combined, throw in UK and France, too
That's the problem.
Pictured dove ofc carrying cluster bombs.
At the cost of murdering others and taking what is theirs.
Even if true, there has to be a better way to achieve safety and economic security for all. War causes losses for far too many.
ETA: grammar & clarity
Well, shit...
Somebody turned off the lights at Washington Post then lol
Keep in mind that this is a guest opinion, which means it is not intended to reflect the official opinion of the Washington Post—in fact, it might be the opposite, but published anyway in order to provide a diversity of viewpoints. (Personally, I do not like everyone they have chosen to platform, but it is not unreasonable for them to want to err on the side of listening to what the other side has to say to avoid creating an echo chamber.)
Nah fuck that, that's like posting straight Nazi gibberish and playing the "representing both sides" argument when someone calls you on it. In this day and age that whole idea can go fuck itself right into oblivion. We are all grown enough to known the difference.
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I think opinion pieces are great for matters of taste.
War, on the other hand, is about life, death, money, and politics all rolled into one giant horror-show. Publishing op-ed on such a topic, on such a well-known paper, is basically elevating -whatever- to the same level of validity as actual journalism. It's a really bad show on the Post's part.
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Bezos changed the editorial line of the paper so that conflicting views are not allowed.
Imperialist wars are, in fact, a pillar of neoliberalism, so of course they support it. They also make you richer, as the title claims, if you're the propaganda appendage of a fascist regime, or own stocks in military corporations.
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