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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] It's almost over
  • Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:57:15 -0700


On Dec 4, 2008, at 8:22 AM, Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:

Am I not writing English? I don't seem to be able to make my point that
there are people, cultures, religions, etc. that DON'T start conflicts with
others. Bev and others have implied, or outright said that it's "just the
way human are" to aggress against others and take what they want. I'm saying
that as long as there are people who DON'T do that, it can't be a universal
"human" trait...it is perhaps a trait in a subset of humans, but not all. If
violence and aggression were universal human traits, wouldn't ALL people be
brawl and stealing?

Viewing the results of war instructs most of us to non-violence, but as here, there are those who are stuck in the belief that history always repeats. As with religion, dogma diverts intellectual inquiry. Alas, it is most easy to fall back on platitudes.

It might be useful to consider the various conditions that lead to violence, among them hunger, fear, and greed. Our evolutionary history is replete with examples of violence from these motivators. In our most successful societies we have pretty much eliminated hunger. The paranoia expressed here from time to time is proof that fear still plays a role even among those of intellect who have much security. And I have high confidence that greed will always be with us. It may be a necessity for continuing progress in some areas.

Seems to me that violence mostly occurs at both ends of civilization as we now perceive it, at the hungry beginning and at at the affluent end, which of course is not an end but a temporary place on a continuum. In many ways, financial business is barely controlled violence. Were it not for laws, the floors of the world's stock exchanges would likely be littered daily with bodies.




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