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Old 01-14-2010, 10:18 AM   #6
Aikibu
Dojo: West Wind Dojo Santa Monica California
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Re: Hormonal & Psychological Responses to Combat

Quote:
Erick Mead wrote: View Post
"scared out of their wits" ... does not equal "resistant to killing our own kind" -- it means "scared of dying next" and for this reason the prudent instinctive response to threatened violence is usually to run away -- I detect no moral-minded chumminess in that Darwinian forced choice. What I said was most people "don't mind killing that much." With 160 million dead in the twentieth century from war -- somebody REALLY wasn't minding the killing so much. And they don't seem to be going away.

Really? Count the wars of less than five figures mortality -- hint -- in one of them they drank Guiness.

Why do you disagree with him? I don't see your point more broadly though. In a martial setting SOMEONE is by definition bent on harm, so whatever our statistical cases boil down to on rough tendencies, how does that position practically affect the psychology of the conflict?
A very simple set of questions refutes Hillman's Book Eric....How many Human Beings on this Planet have personally Killed another Human Being during their lifetime? 5%? 10%? 50%?
I submit to you the number is in the single digits...

What the single largest producer of casualties in War Time....Answer... Technology

If War is a natural state and men don't mind killing that much" Why do Armies Spend Billions of Dollars removing their soldiers further and further away from the consequences of their actions through the use of technology?

I could go on...but my point is Killing another Human Being is not a "natural state of being" and for the average soldier despite all their training goals that condition them to kill... they still suffer huge psychological and emotional consequences for their actions... Unless of course they are Sociopaths.

As for someone being bent on harm...In my experience that harm is mostly based on fear Though I have had experience with those whose intent goes beyond fear into malice.

I am enjoying the discussion about hormonal responses to Violence" and look forward to more of your posts on the topic.

William Hazen
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