Watchmen

Yesterday I found myself contemplating why when it is so easy for us to comprehend the horror and futility of war, why humans fight. A phrase snuck into my head: "Swords to plowshares". I was curious where this wording had come from, and those that know me from back in high school will immediately know: this was an old school magic car. Of course the name of the card was a biblical quote [Isaiah 2:3]. While reading a bit more about it I learned that it was for example used in Ronald Reagan's Address to the 42d Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, New York:

Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognise this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences world-wide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien than war and the threat of war?

Is this then where the idea of the watchmen emerged? It seems to be the central plot point: Dr Manhattan is the representation of science being "shaped into something gaudy": a weapon. Then during the movie him and Ozymandias are working to make him that external threat, very reminiscent of the last question.

I hope sincerely that globalisation, and specifically the freedom of communication though the internet, will allow us to recognise our common bonds. This is why net neutrality is important to me.