Conversation

"Learning to Kill

It's odd the way that societies change. Time and time again historians and sociologists are taken aback in wonder and confusion at the sudden, dramatic, and often dangerous transformations of a people’s basic nature and identity.

When this occurs in individuals we call it insanity, and often look for psychological or biological illness to explain the anomaly. When it occurs in societies we call it inhumanity, and have yet to address its root cause.

There are of course the classic and well known transformations of good societies into those who embrace darkness, such as the Germans adopting the ideals of the madman Hitler, or the Italians adopting his lesser counterpart Mussolini. But there are unfortunately many lesser discussed and equally tragic examples of a societies transgressions against its own mores. From the ancient Greeks and Romans, to modern day Americans and Europeans, societies have shown a great propensity for suddenly abandoning their most cherished beliefs and morals, and in their stead, learning to kill.

To be sure, these transformations do not occur overnight, but are instead attended by a slow, steady, but ever increasing drumbeat of misinformation, dehumanization, beratement, and ultimate hysteria directed towards any perceived enemy. The voices of reason and dissent are routinely suppressed and discredited, the rule of law abandoned, and any possible sense of guilt muted by vague and overt appeals to absolute nationalism.

And so we find humanity today.

In the midst of the abandonment of our most basic precepts of all that is human, we stand bare.

Learning to kill.

It's not as difficult as we thought."
SearingTruth