Each person experiences abuot 30 wars during their lifetime. That isn't a far off estimate, considering that there are so many ongoing conflicts at the same time. And these are large scale military conflicts that happens usually in our personal perspective, on foreign soil, but we have not discounted the small-scaled wars that happen much closer to home. Pirates, gangs, organized crime, all these people play a part in a war that is against society. It is for sure we live in a war-plagued society; it's a disease that is as very much our nature to breath as it is our nature to kill our neighbour for better gains.
I was watching Hotel Rwanda, and while it dramatizes the massacre of the Tutsis by the Hutus, I thought, oh sh*t, imagine this happening a thousand times over. We'd have no one left. Sometimes I wonder, what is the incentive that these people have to kill? Could we take away that incentive? Because the matter of the rod doesn't work anymore. No one is afraid of capital punishment anymore. Especially in a warzone, it's kill or be killed. There is no retribution, even to those in business suits, waging their wars from their white towers back on home soil, with blood on their hands. I think somehow the international tribunal which puts on trial war criminals who've committed supreme crimes against humanity, is a white elephant; it neither deters nor punishes, it's simply a tool to "legally" kill a former head of state after he has lost the war. The international tribunal simply can't punish those that need to be punished and punishes those who can't do any more evil.
We are fast running out of time to save ourselves, and the more this worldly state of wars prolong, the more likely we are going to be dragged into a cataclysmic war that would annihiliate ourselves. Because at the end of the day, it isn't some killer flu or some large meteor hurtling towards Earth that would wipe out humanity. It is the weapons that we've invented to defend ourselves that would inadvertantly destroy ourselves. There are enough bullets and bombs out there to kill every single person on this planet, twice over, with ammo to spare. So the question that the world's best minds should try to figure out right now is, how the hell can we save ourselves?
There's a solution I had in mind, which comes to writing this blurb. It's perhaps so ridiculous, that it just might work. I suggest that the governments of the world give each and every person on the planet,
a television set with cable.
That is my solution for world peace. How might this work? Those who've watched television can testify to the immense amount of time that television just eats up. Switch on the tube to watch a 30 minute sitcom, with 500 channels from cable, you could be channel surfing from now till next Tuesday. This is time which other people without televisions, would be killing each other. The question I pose to you, do you think that anyone would be intent on going out and shooting their neighbour if there was an episode of Seinfeld on? Or American Idol with over 50 million Americans pressed to their screens? How likely is it, that anyone could be motivated to do anything, including waging wars, if there was enough television to watch?
The unifying power of television should not be underestimated. The total viewership of the World Cup 2002, as reported by FIFA is over 1 billion. Imagine that, 1 billion people sat quietly through a 90 minute game of joys and disappointments. That's 90 minutes where these 1 billion people don't shoot or kill each other. Then, imagine, as you know guys, these 1 billion people spend the next 1 week talking to each other about the game with just about anyone they meet who has watched the game. That is the power of television. That is why it is sad to see Israel and Palestine still going at it, during the World Cup 2006. Don't these people have any decency? To stop killing each other during the greatest competition in the world? Even the Greek cities knew how to lay down their arms for the Olympics, because there are much more important things to do than kill each other.
There are also two inadvertant benefits that arises from having a television for every person, one of which is education. I can say honestly, from watching television, that I've learnt a lot more than my entire years of formal education. I am more informed from watching television. With so many people having access to media, and not just local media, but also foreign media, they become more informed and global-minded. They aren't just a single individual on their single plot of land, but they realise that they are a part of a collective. They know things, they listen to news from different perspectives. Anyone who has read a newspaper from Singapore and Malaysia could tell so differently about how they view each other. People become informed and they avoid media bias. Americans for once could see how other nations view their country. Muslim radicals no longer need to become suicide bombers but just as dangerously television evangelicals. And informed global citizens is what we need now. We need informed individuals, those who can make wise decisions, because that is the basis of a democratic society.
The second happy side-effect that would result from all of this is that we actually have a measure that would at least slow, if not prevent the spread of AIDS. AIDS as we know, spreads by sex and syringes. Now, if there were soccer matches on Saturday nights and Desperate Housewives on Tuesday nights, that's two days when people won't be having sex. Television would replace sex as a form of entertainment. And television forces people to stay at home more. Else they would miss their favourite dramas. And yes, drugs are an expensive habit, so why not just stay at home and watch cable television? That is the basis of this whole idea for world peace.
There would be critics to this plan, mainly there would be two contentions, the first less pressing. Who is going to pay for the television and cable? Why, government and advertisors of course. Imagine the current viewership of your ad on television. Now imagine that viewership expanded to over 6 billion people. Instant global recognition. Instant branding. Make the perfect advertistment, you become a market star. This plan allows access to over 6 billion people. What other medium lets you reach out to so huge a market? All it costs would be a couple hundred for the television and satellite dish, plus a couple hundred million for a couple more satellites. Though, if the government cooperates, we could use those now-defunct military satellites as communications satellites for the world. Total cost of this project? About 3 trillion dollars. That's about 500 dollars per person, for a television, satellite dish, as well as cable. As a result of this massive viewership, the price of ads increase, hence the cost of cable borne by consumers drop drastically. That is the price of world peace.
Also the other point that critics might have is that not every place in the world has electricity. This is actually a smaller point than the one above. This is a chance to practice alternative sources of energy, e.g. biomass or solar energy. No one needs a huge coal plant in their backyard, sometimes a simple diesel engine would do, to provide electricity. And with a bit of ingenuity, a small hydroelectric dam could be built over a small river, to generate electricity for a small African village. Sure we're upping our energy consumption, but remember we are creating electricity in rural areas; the need to create electricity for cable television would without a doubt spur on further progress in rural areas. There are at present, ways of generating electricity remotely, so this isn't exactly not feasible.
There are other lesser benefits as well as problems. But indeed this is a solution that should be considered. Because television unifies us as a planet. A common understanding, a common vision and a common television show.
And now I humbly accept my Nobel Peace Prize.
