History Of Violence
Hello, neighbor! I hope you are well. We have officially moved into sweater weather.
The events of the past nine days have made it challenging to draft my weekly essay. Last Saturday, October 7th, Hamas militants began attacking Israeli civilians, kidnapping some to serve as human shields against the inevitable Israeli response. The simple, ruthless, horror of the attacks evoked memories of 9/11. In the days since, the Israeli Defense Forces have been responding, attacking Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip and attempting hostage rescues to the extent they can identify the locations of those who were abducted. This conflict is so big, so complex, so presently happening right in front of all of us, that it has felt hard to talk about anything else.
But I’m not the person for that. I don’t possess the knowledge of history required to add insight or context to what we are witnessing. Johnny McNulty tweeted this past week “I’ve started doing that embarrassing middle aged thing where I sincerely wish for peace on Earth.” I feel the same way.
I wonder what it will take for humans to become better at disagreeing? Steven Pinker’s work highlights the degree to which global violence has declined over time, and offers some good ideas as to why this decline has occurred.
The rise of the nation state has reduced violence greatly. Archeological forensics suggests that 15% of deaths that occurred before historical records came into existence were attributable to violence. In contrast, in the time spanning from World War I to World War II, at most 3% of deaths were attributable to violence. Pinker calls this the “Pacification Process.”
Next comes a significant drop in homicides (the Civilizing Process). Then the Humanitarian Revolution resulted in the abolition of slavery. The Long Peace that has followed World War II has been disrupted only twice - the Korean conflict, which ended in 1953 and more recently with the Russia/Ukraine war (the first war on European soil since World War II.
The Civil Rights revolutions resulted in the virtual elimination of lynchings, significant reductions in rape and domestic violence, the elimination of corporal punishment of children, and a rise even in animal rights.
In total, human civilization has drastically reduced the expression of mankind’s baser instincts toward exploitation, domination, and revenge. Ironically, more death and destruction has taken place in modern times in pursuit of Utopian ideologies like Naziism and Socialism. Somehow mankind found it easier to kill one another when they perceived utopia to be just around the corner. If only they could rid the world of these pesky obstructionists…
Civilization has created the time and space for humans to develop higher functions like self-control, empathy, moral sense, norms/taboos and reason - all of which make us less inclined to violence. The state-level monopoly on “legitimate” violence (also know as warfare), the win-win outcomes generated for most people by the rise of commerce all have combined to making the world more peaceful. Yet violence persists in certain parts of the world.
I suppose the relative peacefulness of the world makes the violence displayed this past week more shocking and disturbing. I share Pinker’s analysis of the trends in violence not to minimize the current state of the world - and acknowledge that there is no guarantee that these trends toward a more peaceful world will continue.
There is still so much work to do. As far as we have come, it still amazes me how easy it is for us to get in our own way. This interview between Krista Tippett and Baratunde Thurston offer some glimpses into a productive path forward for us all.
Sunday Supper
This past week Lori and I enjoyed this Coconut Saag Paneer recipe from the New York Times Cooking section. I used Halloumi cheese and a couple of boxes of baby spinach, and the result was immensely satisfying. FYI - I subscribe to NYT Cooking, and am allowed to “gift” ten recipe links per month. So I’m giving this a try this week. Please let me know if the link does not work for you, and I’ll privately email you the recipe.
Sunday Music
My music recommendation this week is this wonderful duet of virtuoso violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and pianist Max Levinson at the NPR Tiny Desk. Enjoy!
Have a great week ahead! Offer support to others. Make good use of this day. And let me know how I can help.
Peace & Love,
Neal