Can Saying "War Is Wrong" Protect Peace? The Anime and Manga Critic Who Gave Middle Schoolers an Impossible Assignment

An anime and manga critic whose work I often watch was apparently invited to teach a guest lesson at a middle school.

The theme of the class was peace education.

The problem was that this critic is known for being extremely harsh. At times, he can be so merciless that he seems almost vicious.

Was inviting someone like that to a middle school really a good idea?

Sure enough, the question he gave the students was brutal.

Would You Start a War of Aggression?

The critic presented the following problem.

Imagine two neighboring countries, A and B.

Country A is wealthy and has abundant natural resources. Country B is poor, and 10,000 children die from poverty every year.

You are a politician in Country B.

If you could seize Country A’s mines and oil fields, you could save the children in your own country.

What would you do?

Wait a minute. He was asking middle school students to decide whether to launch a war of aggression.

An ordinary peace lesson would probably end with, “Let us learn about the horrors of war and reflect on the value of life.”

This lesson instead asked the students to think from the perspective of the country starting the war.

It was a remarkably nasty question.

A World Where “War Is Wrong” Is Not the End of the Discussion

What makes the question interesting is that the politician in Country B also has something to protect.

If the government does nothing, 10,000 children die every year.

From Country A’s perspective, however, it has no obligation to hand its resources over to its neighbor.

So what happens next?

Country B may request economic aid. Country A may refuse.

Country B then expands its military and begins exercises near the border.

“We are not saying that we intend to start a war. We simply have to protect our own people.”

Country A now has to think as well.

Would it be cheaper to share some of the profits with Country B than to risk a war that could destroy the oil fields?

This creates room to negotiate aid or a share of the resources.

An opponent unmoved by goodwill begins negotiating as soon as it senses the risk of war.

It is an unpleasant reality, but international politics sometimes involves bargaining of this kind.

Preparing for War in Order to Preserve Peace?

The difficult part is that actions intended to prevent war can sometimes make war more likely.

If Country B builds up its military, Country A becomes alarmed and does the same.

Country B says, “This is for self-defense.”

Country A says, “We are defending ourselves too.”

Both sides prepare in the name of self-defense, until one day armies are gathered along the border.

Neither side was supposed to want war, yet a small misunderstanding could still start one.

That is why diplomacy is difficult.

You cannot afford to appear weak to the other side. But you also cannot push too hard.

It is easy to say, “War is wrong.” If that alone persuaded the other side to withdraw its army, diplomats and soldiers would have very easy jobs.

But Is This Really Something to Teach Middle Schoolers?

I found the idea behind this lesson fascinating.

Rather than portraying the country that starts a war as evil from the outset, it asks students to imagine what that country’s leaders might be thinking.

Instead of memorizing the conclusion that war is wrong, they have to think about how a war might actually be avoided.

Still, giving this problem to middle school students was certainly bold.

An ordinary lesson would discuss the value of peace, ask students to write a short reflection, and end without incident.

This lesson asked, “Would you invade a neighboring country to save the children in your own?”

Worse, neither choice offers an easy correct answer.

Those students had a difficult assignment.

Even more impressive was the teacher who chose this critic as a guest speaker.

If the teacher knew what the critic usually said and invited him anyway, that took considerable resolve.

If the teacher did not know, that is amusing in its own way.

The teacher thought they had invited someone to give a peace lesson, only to find an invasion-planning session breaking out without warning.

For the teacher in charge, perhaps that was the most valuable crisis-management lesson of all.