By Paul Joseph
Introduction by Joseph Gerson
We are excited to be launching CPDCS’ occasional blog with Paul Joseph’s excellent short article “Chosen Traumas, Enemy Relationships, and Common Security. His essay speaks to our moment, to history and the future. Read it with Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. and China, red states and blue in mind. As Gandhi said many years ago, “An eye for an eye for an eye leaves us all blind.” Common security, which Paul describes in his essay provides life affirming alternatives that are essential for peace, justice, and environmental sustainability.
Dr. Paul Joseph, member of the CPDCS board of directors, is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Tufts University. He served as Sociology Department Chair, Chair of Tufts’ Peace Studies Program, and President of the U.S. Peace Studies Association. His books include Cracks in the Empire, Are Americans Becoming More Peaceful, and Precious Cargo. He edited the Sage Encyclopedia of War and was Distinguished Chair for the U.S.-India Education Foundation (Fulbright program.)
Portrait of Paul Joseph
We are living in a moment where enemy images are gaining more influence. Human behavior continues to rest far more on tolerance and acceptance than on rejection of other people. And genetically we are programmed more thoroughly for cooperation than for hostility. Nonetheless, it hard to escape the fact that at least for now tensions are rising, fault lines previously considered dormant are reemerging, and hot conflicts are replacing the cold. With new and more intense tendencies to identify enemies, much of the world seems to be moving away from the goal of trying to find peaceful solutions.