BS: Violence is the American Way? Part II

Subject: BS: Violence is the American Way? Part II
From: InOBU
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 07:45 AM

Hi Folkies.... things were getting long on the origional. Here is a possible way of looking at things.
In Rome, in order to break the empathetic conection to people the Romans used extrodinary graphic violence in the arena, so that instead of the kind of person to person empathy that happens when you see someone beating a dog, the crowd chearing and the pagent of violence creates a limbic responce rather than a thought out responce. In that way, the general violence of the society is increased in a way that is socialy acceptable to the Roman people.
In the South, lynching was the same event, a group undertaking, a spectical of violence to break any emotional connection to the target community. Today, we use movies like Rambo (whowing my age) or what ever the latest big violence movies to create a knee jerk, limbic reaction to violence against those we wish to demonize and make it not only socialy acceptable to kill, but an act of patriotism. The violence in our culture is a function of our violence against the rest of the world. It makes it just a matter of doing buisness to tell the rest of the world, you don't count when you tell us to count to ten before killing lots of people to remove a leader with whom we are at odds. They are the other, the not us, who we don't empathise with or care about. As we get closer to the object of our specical of graphic violence, the flavor of the month victem in our films, the quicker we are to not only discount the opinion but actualy look the other way when our tax money and our children committ murder against them. Just ask Ali - no arms - no parents - no siblings, no reason he had to get that way, but just another Arab in the way to many Americans.
Larry

Subject: RE: BS: Violence is the American Way? Part II
From: InOBU
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 07:48 AM

As we get closer to the object of our specical of graphic violence... that should read our "spectacle"

Subject: RE: BS: Violence is the American Way? Part II
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 08:53 AM

I suggest that it might be better to carry on this discussion in the thread that Amos has started BS: The Roots of Violence in Humans - the thread is less likely to go sour with that heading...