Lily Tomlin: People Profit from War
on Sunday, September 1, 2019Lily Tomlin Money Quote saying if war was not profitable, it would stop killing people, if only for business reasons. Lily Tomlin said:
“I guess if people couldn’t profit from war I don’t think there would be war. But there are too many people that make so much money at the cost of lives of other humans and for no reason but to make the money” — Lily Tomlin
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In this quote, Lily Tomlin is expressing her view that the profit motive is a key driver of war and conflict. Her interpretation is that if certain groups and industries did not stand to gain financially from warfare, there would be significantly less wars.
Tomlin argues that “too many people” are willing to make money from arms dealing, military contracting and other war-economy business “at the cost of lives” lost in combat.
Her perspective is that for these profiteers, human casualties are an acceptable price to turn a profit, with no higher strategic or moral purpose behind their war-related business activities beyond wealth accumulation.
The overall message seems to be that Tomlin believes greed and financial incentives are major underlying factors prolonging wars, since many benefit economically from continued fighting and instability.