The Terrible Truth About Being Human
"In the wars of the twentieth century, not less than 62 million civilians have perished, nearly 20 million more than 43 million military personnel killed"
- War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning - Chris Hedges - Page 13
Hedges paints an unforgettable picture of 20th century industrial-scale slaughter, rape and pillage. Much of what he writes comes from his own personal experiences, especially in Bosnia and Kosovo. His inescapable conclusion is that there is a dark, destructive, cruel side to every human personality. He holds out no real hope -- there has always been war and there will always be war. The difference these days is the industrial scale of war. The desire to totally obliterate the enemy has often been referred to as "Biblical" for good reason. The story repeats itself down through history. For example, Hannibal's repeated slaughter of the Roman legions sent against him should not be remarkable to the modern reader. I suppose what makes it so horrible is that the Roman legions were killed person at a time, "up close and personal". The modern mind finds this especially offensive. Beheading of one reporter is somehow less "civilized" than destruction of a village by a drone attach launched with cold precision from thousands of miles away.
Anybody who pretends to understand reality, especially human reality must come to terms with the "dark side".
Words can't do much to address this horror, but I do have some (inadequate) reaction ...
- War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning - Chris Hedges - Page 13
Hedges paints an unforgettable picture of 20th century industrial-scale slaughter, rape and pillage. Much of what he writes comes from his own personal experiences, especially in Bosnia and Kosovo. His inescapable conclusion is that there is a dark, destructive, cruel side to every human personality. He holds out no real hope -- there has always been war and there will always be war. The difference these days is the industrial scale of war. The desire to totally obliterate the enemy has often been referred to as "Biblical" for good reason. The story repeats itself down through history. For example, Hannibal's repeated slaughter of the Roman legions sent against him should not be remarkable to the modern reader. I suppose what makes it so horrible is that the Roman legions were killed person at a time, "up close and personal". The modern mind finds this especially offensive. Beheading of one reporter is somehow less "civilized" than destruction of a village by a drone attach launched with cold precision from thousands of miles away.
Anybody who pretends to understand reality, especially human reality must come to terms with the "dark side".
Words can't do much to address this horror, but I do have some (inadequate) reaction ...
- Buddha taught that attachment is the cause of suffering. Such advice seems hollow in this case. Are we expected not to be attached to our loved ones, our homes, our own lives? And the suffering is obviously being caused by other human beings, not our attachment to the limbs they are cutting off.
- To plum the depth of this mind boggling suffering, we need to understand the perpetrators, not just sympathize with the victims. Hedges puts his finger on many of the thought patterns that -step by step - lead normal people to believe that the "others" deserve the most horrible fate that can be arranged.
- I believe Hedges is correct in pointing to Nationalism, especially ersatz Nationalism, based on purely artificial distinctions. Nations are the players in this apocalyptic game. It is Nations that go to war and if they don't exist, creation of the Nation is often the cause of the War.
- How do you turn a population of peace loving (or at least self-preoccupied) people into a blood thirsty mob? Doing this is basically just another marketing campaign, but with a few twists that are unique to the build-up to war. Suppression of free thought and expression, especially skepticism is essential. Free thinkers will be suppressed with as much violence as the war merchants can get away with. First ridicule, loss of livelihood, cutting off of access to public media, then ultimately imprisonment and murder.
- Hijack of language is central. For example the "War on Terror" is a meaningless slogan, permitting anyone who is not visibly "us" to be framed as a "Terrorist". This is exactly the same process that allowed Hitler to paint the "other" as a Jew or at least a "Jew lover". We know how that came out ...
- Corruption and criminality at the highest levels is an invitation to war, either directly through a profitable stampede to wipe out the "other" or through a revolt against corruption (as in the Iranian revolution)
Zen teaches us that we are our ideas. If that is true, we have the chance to change who we are by changing our ideas, or -- specifically -- to resist the kind of ideas that lead to senseless violence. It is important to realize that Zen does not encourage us to be more human. Zen sees human nature as a problem. The "dark side" is to be overcome by moving beyond the purely natural and "human" reaction to the world and embracing compassion.
Hedges sees this too, from a Christian point of view. He sees compassion and love as a light in the darkness, but fears that the darkness will always prevail. From a Zen point of view, the "light" can be lit within each one of us, but Zen contains no formula for converting the rest of the world.
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