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Why do we kill?
Why are we such a violent species? Almost every time I log onto my computer, the news services on my homepage show me headline after headline of death, and not accidental death, deaths of humans at the hands of humans. For some reason, this weekend seemed especially violent, but when compared to other weekends, it probably would have been considered average. Two killed in a church in Tennessee, fifteen dead from bomb blasts in Istanbul, forty-nine dead from bomb blasts in India, two shot outside of a bar in Detroit, seven Shia pilgrims shot dead in Iraq walking to a Shia shrine. And those are just the ones that made the news headlines here. There were probably hundreds of other violent deaths in the far and forgotten corners of this miserably violent earth. Men and women killing men and women all over the world, and often faceless, killing people the shooter or bomber has never seen before in their life. Sure, animals kill other animals, but that is for survival, that is for food, that is nature. But have our advanced minds taken a natural act of survival, and twisted it to an advanced form of perversion that gets no satisfaction unless it takes the life of another of our own species? Humans have always been the most violent species on earth, and after centuries of so-called civilization, we have made unbelievable advances in technology, the arts, medicine and science, but for some reason we can’t get over the hump when it comes to stemming violence. Why do we do it? People kill for many reasons. When we kill for territory, we call it war, and somehow it seems justified. The best killers in wars are called the victors, and victors kill to conquer, once a war is begun, even if it was ill-advised, we must “win” the war, or we feel we have “lost”. We often kill for greed. Money and other forms of wealth have caused many deaths over the centuries, and today killing in the name of greed continues. This form of killing is also often justified by calling it war. This type of killer, sits in his or her mansion, never staining their own hands with blood, while somebody else does the dirty work they’ve commanded. For me, one of the most dumbfounding forms of killing is done in the name of religion. Desperation, anger, hate, jealousy and a host of other excuses motivate men and women who feel they are justified and have God on their side, and slaughter men and women from other religions or sects in the name of God. This practice has been going on since man created the religious experience, and has tainted every religion known to man. It is a particularly sad form of killing, because its justification is based on twisting philosophy created to nurture the good in man, and those who do the killing often act out their violence believing or even “knowing” they will be rewarded by their God. Similar to religious killing, is killing over a difference in ethnicity no matter how slight. This has historically been one of the most horrific forms of killing, and ethnic genocide has caused literally millions of deaths. This is still happening today, and this weekend alone, ethnic cleansing probably caused hundreds of deaths we’ll never hear about. The bodies will be dumped in mass graves, never identified, never to be heard from again. And the victim’s only crime is that they are somehow different in some way from their neighbor. Finally, we have the sniper or shooter who takes one or more guns, and goes on a random shooting spree killing as many people as possible before the spree of death ends. These shooters often finish the killing by taking their own life. Growing up in the fifties, I don’t remember hearing about this type of killing, until I had reached my teens. On August 1st, 1966, armed to the teeth, Charles Whitman, age 25, shot and killed his wife and mother, left suicide notes he had typed the night before, and then went to the observation deck of the 32-story tower on the University of Texas campus in Austin, where he was a student. Whitman then went on a premeditated rampage that ended up killing a total of 14 people and wounding 31 others. Charles Whitman started a trendy new form of killing, and it has resulted in something that has become commonplace in this country, known as school lockdowns. The Charles Whitman style of killing has taken place in schools, fast-food restaurants, malls, and churches, and is one of the most inexplicable forms of modern day killing. So why must we kill each other? I wish I had an answer. I only know that it happens every day, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. History has shown that the more you preach non-violence, the more likely you’ll die a violent death. Men like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin-Luther King Jr., and John Lennon, they all stood for and preached peace and non-violence, and were all slain by the very violence they abhorred. But in the words of Elvis Costello, “What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?” If I were him, I’d buy a good bullet-proof vest. William S. James, Non-violent |
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