“After they had killed the Edomites, they killed each other.”
The inevitability of violence is that sooner or later it turns on itself.
Tag Archives: war
At war with reality
Something happens. Mind says, “That should not have happened.” So now I’m at war with reality, still bullishly unaware that I invigorate and prolong whatever I’m against.
Man as conformist
Institutional violence kills vastly more people than criminals do. War is conceived and executed by the sane and sober, by institutions whose chief feature is conformity.
Is there anything more dispiriting than sameness?
Imagine
Imagine the world if men had no opinions. There would be no war.
Not me
We are quick to see violence in others, slow to see it in ourselves. Humanity is steeped in violence. Are we not human? Where in the teapot is there no taste of tea? Ambition is violence. Winning is violence. Sport and fandom are violent. Wanting is violence. Pornography, politics, poverty and religion are violent. Putting the young in uniforms, training them to kill—this is not violence? Our penitentiaries legalize criminal behaviour in the name of good government. Women are paid less than we are. Our daughters are assaulted, raped, murdered, disappeared. But no, I am not violent. Not me.
