The source of conflict
This post is a rebuttal to "What's Going On?" dated July 14th, 2006
People killing other people is bad. Violence against fellow human beings is senseless in the sense that we all do experience the same human condition -- we all feel the same range of emotions, care about our friends and family, and strive for the best lives we can have. By attacking, hurting, and killing people who are very much like us, we commit the ultimate sin against ourselves.
However, I do not believe that violence is senseless or irrational. I believe that at its core, violence is born of rational and calculated decision-making. It can take on a life of its own, spiraling out of control, but most violence begins with logical thought.
This logical thought can be conscious or sub-conscious but it shares the same biological root: the need to survive. This can be instinctual, or it can a be complex and highly developed decision making process that weighs economic benefits with the costs.
The history of violence begins way before human beings ever appeared on the planet. Animals, plants, and other organisms have been competing for scarce resources for millions of years. It may not have been conscious, but every population of organisms must compete with other organisms in the ecosystem for resources like food, water, and territory. Violence is a way to control resources, and those organisms that used it effectively and were able to instill fear in their opponents established dominance in their environment.
Once human civilizations began to emerge, armed conflict soon followed. Empires grew through violence, but it was a way for the leaders of the groups to acquire more resources and establish dominance over their competition. The difference this time was that the violence was intra-species. Having learned through agriculture and technology to completely dominate all other animal competitors to the food and water supply, we inevitably started competing with each other for territories and resources.
The argument that violence stems from differences in culture fails to take this into account. Culture is the vehicle through which groups of humans beings band together. It provides an identity as well as a sense of belonging. It creates the idea of an exclusive "we" or "us". Different cultures emerge as a function of proximity and geography -- isolation and a lack of interaction or information create islands of identity. Violence occurs when these islands interact, and one of the groups attempts to control the other in order to control the land or resources.
Violence is a method to gain control, or power. Power is the control of people and resources. Violence and conflict exist because all resources are scarce and the best way to ensure one's survival and the survival of one's group is through the control of these resources.
People killing other people is bad. Violence against fellow human beings is senseless in the sense that we all do experience the same human condition -- we all feel the same range of emotions, care about our friends and family, and strive for the best lives we can have. By attacking, hurting, and killing people who are very much like us, we commit the ultimate sin against ourselves.
However, I do not believe that violence is senseless or irrational. I believe that at its core, violence is born of rational and calculated decision-making. It can take on a life of its own, spiraling out of control, but most violence begins with logical thought.
This logical thought can be conscious or sub-conscious but it shares the same biological root: the need to survive. This can be instinctual, or it can a be complex and highly developed decision making process that weighs economic benefits with the costs.
The history of violence begins way before human beings ever appeared on the planet. Animals, plants, and other organisms have been competing for scarce resources for millions of years. It may not have been conscious, but every population of organisms must compete with other organisms in the ecosystem for resources like food, water, and territory. Violence is a way to control resources, and those organisms that used it effectively and were able to instill fear in their opponents established dominance in their environment.
Once human civilizations began to emerge, armed conflict soon followed. Empires grew through violence, but it was a way for the leaders of the groups to acquire more resources and establish dominance over their competition. The difference this time was that the violence was intra-species. Having learned through agriculture and technology to completely dominate all other animal competitors to the food and water supply, we inevitably started competing with each other for territories and resources.
The argument that violence stems from differences in culture fails to take this into account. Culture is the vehicle through which groups of humans beings band together. It provides an identity as well as a sense of belonging. It creates the idea of an exclusive "we" or "us". Different cultures emerge as a function of proximity and geography -- isolation and a lack of interaction or information create islands of identity. Violence occurs when these islands interact, and one of the groups attempts to control the other in order to control the land or resources.
Violence is a method to gain control, or power. Power is the control of people and resources. Violence and conflict exist because all resources are scarce and the best way to ensure one's survival and the survival of one's group is through the control of these resources.
posted by Unknown | 2:21 PM
|
0 comments
