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Full Idea
For our contemporaries the role of Helen in the Trojan War is is played by words with capital letters. …When empty words are given capital letters, then, on the slightest pretext, men will begin shedding blood for them and piling up ruin in their name.
Gist of Idea
Modern wars are fought in the name of empty words which are given capital letters
Source
Simone Weil (The Power of Words [1934], p.241)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.241
A Reaction
This seems particularly true of the 1930s, where specific dogmatic ideologies seemed to grip and divide people. Simple aggressive nationalism seems to be the cause of current wars, now the fear of Communism has diminished.
Related Idea
Idea 23830 A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil]