"Humanitarian Intervention" Is An Oxymoron

There is no such thing as "humanitarian intervention." It's an oxymoron, and a blatant one if one were to take the time to ponder it's meaning, the usage, and the context of the phrase. Interventions of ANY kind are not humanitarian ventures; not in the slightest. Lives are still lost, people get uprooted from their homes, instability is caused, and chaos ensues. There is nothing humanitarian about military interventions of any kind. Violence should only be used as a last resort in the act of self-defense, but even then, there is nothing humanitarian about it. A life will still be taken. Lives will be affected as a result of the life that is taken.

If one were to put the definitions of "humanitarian" and "intervention" side by side, there will be a stark contrast between the two. That's exactly what I'm going to do.

Humanitarian, as an adjective, according to Dictionary.com ( https://www.dictionary.com/browse/humanitarian ) means "having concern for or helping to improve the welfare and happiness of people."

The definition of intervention, or military intervention, according to TheFreeDictionary ( https://www.thefreedictionary.com/military+intervention ) is "The deliberate act of a nation or a group of nations to introduce its military forces into the course of an existing controversy."

Humanitarian intervention, according to Encyclopedia Britannica ( https://www.britannica.com/topic/humanitarian-intervention ) , is the implementation of "actions undertaken by an organization or organizations (usually a state or a coalition of states) that are intended to alleviate extensive human suffering within the borders of a sovereign state. Such suffering tends to be the result of a government instigating, facilitating, or ignoring the abuse of groups falling within its jurisdiction. This abuse often takes the form of deliberate and systematic violations of human rights, including forced expulsions, ethnic cleansing, and, in the most extreme cases, genocide. Humanitarian intervention can apply also in situations where there is no effective government and civil order consequently has collapsed."

"Humanitarian intervention constitutes a calculated and uninvited breach of sovereignty (state rights) in the name of humanity (individual rights). Though humanitarian interventions do not necessarily require the employment of military force—as they could include, for example, the imposition of sanctions—the term refers normally to situations in which force (or the threat of force) is used. Humanitarian intervention has become a major focus of debate within governments, international organizations, and think tanks and across a variety of academic fields, including international and comparative law, international relations, political science, and moral and political philosophy."

When militaristic force is used in humanitarian intervention, the term becomes an oxymoron, because as soon as lives are lost AT ALL as a result of the intervention, the concerns of people's welfare and lives are thrown out the window. If a person is truly a humanitarian, and people want to strive for humanitarian interventions and solutions, violence is not the way. Human lives have value. We have to start treating lives as though they have value. We cannot treat people like they are dispensable, because they are not. Once a person is gone, they're gone for good. To be truly a humanitarian, one would strive for peaceful solutions, even in the most difficult situations. Violence is not always the answer. We have to be better. We have to strive to be better. There are so many people who glorify violence and militarism and think it's a good thing to start conflicts with a bunch of different nations and assassinate dictators because it's "trying to stop a war." It's not. Let's try to take steps towards finding peaceful solutions to conflicts, otherwise. If we don't, we may one day reach the dreaded midnight on the Doomsday Clock.