Ethics of Weapon Development

Question: Is it moral for societies to develop weapons of mass destruction for any reason?

           

      I don’t think I am all on one side or the other because I can think of pros and cons for both sides of the argument. On one hand I think that it is wrong for a government or society to create weapons like nuclear bombs, when they know they will kill thousands or even millions of people who for the most part are just innocent citizens. One the other hand I understand that if it were to get to the point where nuclear weapons have to be used it is probably a grave situation where there is no other option. If we were talking about cannons I think since they are usually used in combat situations not just randomly, both sides know what they are doing and they are knowingly killing other men and it is their choice; not that I believe in having to use violence to fix every conflict. When people are creating these types of weapons they probably don’t realize the kind of destruction they are helping to cause and it is definitely something that everyone should think about.



Question: Discuss the ethics behind and the impact of the weapons that were used in A Long Way Gone.

The ethics behind the weapons in the book play a huge role in the story of A Long Way Gone.  They give weapon to children to go out and fight in a war which I believe is just ridiculous. I understand that it was a way to get more soldiers and make their army look less threatening but they are compromising the lives of their country’s children to fight a war. They are sacrificing the innocence of these young boys by giving them extremely dangerous and destructive weapons. These child soldiers are being deprived o their childhood and brainwashed to conform to the ways of the army.