Week 5: Alexander Soong (A03)

Alexander Soong
ASA 002 A03
Week5:

Personally, I've never given too much deep thought to murder in the world. The most I've thought about is how terrible it is for someone to kill someone else, and what drove this person to become a killer. At the beginning of “Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence”, Darrel Y. Hamamoto almost makes it seem that murder is part of human nature. This idea was really provocative to me at first until I realized that killing really "stands at the core of what it means to live in human society."
I found the direct correlation in homicide rates domestically and the Vietnam war to be particularly alarming. To me, it means that because all this killing is happening in the world, being publicized for everyone to see, killing for some may seem like an acceptable thing to do. Whether it be attributed to a sexual fetish, an outburst of frustration or racial prejudice, it seems that kinds of violence that happens in wars on the international scene also happens domestically. Perhaps some of this may be attributed to how much pride Americans have in being an American and what it means to serve in the military. Civilians give so much thanks for military women and men for protecting our country and our beliefs, but what about all the wrong doings that take place? When something is highlighted or criticized against the military, the whistle blower is seen as unpatriotic or anti-USA. I believe the idea that the US military can do all things and fight for everyone is an incorrect and unfair label that shields all the crimes the military may be committing while "doing the right thing."

Question:
When or how did this innate violent nature of human beings come to be? Is it truly just a biological phenomenon, or was it developed as civilization became more advanced. You would think that as our civilization became more advanced, people would find more diplomatic ways of solving issues, than just deferring to killing on another.


References:

Hamamoto, Y. Darrell. “Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence.” Masters of War: Militarism and Blowback in the Era of American Empire, by Carl Boggs, Routledge, 2003, pp. 277-292.

“POP CULTURE OR THE GOVERNMENT: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MASS MURDERS?”PopLand Security, Medium, 21 June 2016, medium.com/homeland-security/pop-culture-or-the-government-who-is-responsible-for-mass-murders-a7aaa6a2d55b