Regarding men’s primal urge for war, Dmitry Orlov’s writes in The Five Stages of Collapse:
“When it comes to aggressive young males, the sense of disconnection produces in them a heightened sense of insecurity and anxiety, which directly affects the sympathetic nervous system. This may cause an animal to behave more aggressively, or, in the case of the human animal, to gather rocks and to find and sharpen sticks, or, technology and finances allowing, to purchase semiautomatic assault weapons and lots of ammunition. This process may then progress through several stages. The end result is the spontaneous development of a warrior mentality—a cultural universal marked by a desire to prove oneself in battle, contempt for death and a tendency toward what Emile Durkheim called “altruistic suicide.”
The pattern is the same among Homeric heroes, Mongol conquerers, Japanese samurai, European knights of the age of chivalry and Moscow’s bandits and racketeers during the violent 1990s. Meaning is created out of meaninglessness through heroic acts of violence performed in keeping with a code of honor. Inclusion in the elite group is achieved via violent rites of passage and creates group loyalty and a sense of belonging. The gun cult in the United States is a strong precursor to this development, and the sporadic shooting sprees are its individual manifestations. This tendency may develop to the point of becoming a mass phenomenon. If it does, it will annihilate the current ruling class and the process of aristocratic formation will begin anew.”
Nicely done and thought provoking. You are an artist! Those with good hearts and eyes wide open have know this for centuries. Yet, it continues driven by what you described. There is a missing part. What is it?
War is a depopulation tool. It is a sign up based army and no conscription here in USA because there are so many desperate poor youth with no other choice. Three hot meals and a cot with free college is paradise compared to broken abusive homes. WEALTH INEQUALITY = DEATH
This is an absolute masterpiece. One of the best articles I have read in years. This perfectly sums up the endless cycle humans can never break free from. As Chris Hedges said, “War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning”
I agree. So many forces are gathering that point to war, not the least of which are dwindling energy resources. Agriculture is becoming a problem as well due to climate change. The next wars are for all the marbles, including the blue and green one we live on. I'm too realistic to be hopeful.
This whole post reminds me of a fantastic scene from All Quiet on the Western Front
“I think it’s a kind of fever. Nobody wants it in particular and then all at once, here it is. We didn’t want it, the English didn’t want it, and here we are fighting!”
>>How did this happen?—like we haven’t been walking toward this cliff for decades.<< Sleepwalking like Europe did into The Great War, and as Christopher Clark described in his book, The Sleepwalkers.
We are indeed the Ape of War. Moreover, this is how the world works, it's the contract of life. Periods of peace punctuated by periods of violence. Life would cease to exist were it just one or the other. Look at the history of formerly powerful First Nation's people for example - natural man, living surrounded by all they needed for the taking, that time in human history when the world was big and eden-like. What did they live for, significantly? Were they the original peace & love hippies surrounded by all that hippie nature? Hardly. They lived for war. Homicide, torture, the theft of land. Even at the purest level, this is how we conduct ourselves.
But I ACTUALLY don’t want war. War is disgusting, degrading, a form of human behavior that is often present but ever lingering, one that I wish to not accept as a form that I wish to practice or participate in for so long as I am myself, as I am in my sanity—not out of prejudice or pacifism, but out of my nature to help, to bring life. Even as destruction may BE a form of creation, it can still be far too unstable for many, and as we trudge further towards the future, these doomers describe—similar yet not similar to this writer Antonio's—the more I see that it is never what we make it out to be. Things are too unstable, too controlled at the same time for any whim of the elite to be predicted accurately, so as to say "war is upon us," as this is what Antonio the mf is trying to come across in his YAP. Albeit it is well-written, but the underlying message is unnecessary and destruction (even if creation) only serves as a form of catharsis for those who do not find peace in the act of mutual aid, of giving, of understanding the self and by succession, the world.
The media needs to do its job. Facts matter, information matters. Today, though, information is controlled by the same corporate interests that profit off the inevitable war you describe. “Alternate facts” trump reality that becomes a war zone or a collateral damage hellscape. Machiavelli would blush. We need to dummy up, as my dad would say.
It’s terrifying how close it feels, and how few people around me are aware of it yet. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
You're not the crazy one
Regarding men’s primal urge for war, Dmitry Orlov’s writes in The Five Stages of Collapse:
“When it comes to aggressive young males, the sense of disconnection produces in them a heightened sense of insecurity and anxiety, which directly affects the sympathetic nervous system. This may cause an animal to behave more aggressively, or, in the case of the human animal, to gather rocks and to find and sharpen sticks, or, technology and finances allowing, to purchase semiautomatic assault weapons and lots of ammunition. This process may then progress through several stages. The end result is the spontaneous development of a warrior mentality—a cultural universal marked by a desire to prove oneself in battle, contempt for death and a tendency toward what Emile Durkheim called “altruistic suicide.”
The pattern is the same among Homeric heroes, Mongol conquerers, Japanese samurai, European knights of the age of chivalry and Moscow’s bandits and racketeers during the violent 1990s. Meaning is created out of meaninglessness through heroic acts of violence performed in keeping with a code of honor. Inclusion in the elite group is achieved via violent rites of passage and creates group loyalty and a sense of belonging. The gun cult in the United States is a strong precursor to this development, and the sporadic shooting sprees are its individual manifestations. This tendency may develop to the point of becoming a mass phenomenon. If it does, it will annihilate the current ruling class and the process of aristocratic formation will begin anew.”
So well written. Thank you for this perspective
Thank you for reading
Nicely done and thought provoking. You are an artist! Those with good hearts and eyes wide open have know this for centuries. Yet, it continues driven by what you described. There is a missing part. What is it?
Those in power are psychopaths and we don't do shit
I really hope you're wrong but I think that you are right, and as a pacifist female, it terrifies me.
It's extremely terrifying
War is a depopulation tool. It is a sign up based army and no conscription here in USA because there are so many desperate poor youth with no other choice. Three hot meals and a cot with free college is paradise compared to broken abusive homes. WEALTH INEQUALITY = DEATH
This is an absolute masterpiece. One of the best articles I have read in years. This perfectly sums up the endless cycle humans can never break free from. As Chris Hedges said, “War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning”
I agree. So many forces are gathering that point to war, not the least of which are dwindling energy resources. Agriculture is becoming a problem as well due to climate change. The next wars are for all the marbles, including the blue and green one we live on. I'm too realistic to be hopeful.
This whole post reminds me of a fantastic scene from All Quiet on the Western Front
“I think it’s a kind of fever. Nobody wants it in particular and then all at once, here it is. We didn’t want it, the English didn’t want it, and here we are fighting!”
https://substack.com/@baylorheath/note/c-71651207?r=29jhoa&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I'm male and I'm antiwar. There must be something wrong with me.
>>How did this happen?—like we haven’t been walking toward this cliff for decades.<< Sleepwalking like Europe did into The Great War, and as Christopher Clark described in his book, The Sleepwalkers.
Old men who are incapable of battle, commit their country to war.
Live for your country, don't die for it.
We are indeed the Ape of War. Moreover, this is how the world works, it's the contract of life. Periods of peace punctuated by periods of violence. Life would cease to exist were it just one or the other. Look at the history of formerly powerful First Nation's people for example - natural man, living surrounded by all they needed for the taking, that time in human history when the world was big and eden-like. What did they live for, significantly? Were they the original peace & love hippies surrounded by all that hippie nature? Hardly. They lived for war. Homicide, torture, the theft of land. Even at the purest level, this is how we conduct ourselves.
Starve the war machine. There is a better way.
But I ACTUALLY don’t want war. War is disgusting, degrading, a form of human behavior that is often present but ever lingering, one that I wish to not accept as a form that I wish to practice or participate in for so long as I am myself, as I am in my sanity—not out of prejudice or pacifism, but out of my nature to help, to bring life. Even as destruction may BE a form of creation, it can still be far too unstable for many, and as we trudge further towards the future, these doomers describe—similar yet not similar to this writer Antonio's—the more I see that it is never what we make it out to be. Things are too unstable, too controlled at the same time for any whim of the elite to be predicted accurately, so as to say "war is upon us," as this is what Antonio the mf is trying to come across in his YAP. Albeit it is well-written, but the underlying message is unnecessary and destruction (even if creation) only serves as a form of catharsis for those who do not find peace in the act of mutual aid, of giving, of understanding the self and by succession, the world.
The media needs to do its job. Facts matter, information matters. Today, though, information is controlled by the same corporate interests that profit off the inevitable war you describe. “Alternate facts” trump reality that becomes a war zone or a collateral damage hellscape. Machiavelli would blush. We need to dummy up, as my dad would say.