By Qaisar Sultan
What causes violence on this earth? Is it the survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom, or recognition in human societies that makes the killings necessary? The recognition comes through power; and man has to be more powerful than others. The egotistical and sometimes pragmatic nature of things is such that we do require some power over others. The design of nature is that the big fish has to eat the small fish; and the predator has to kill the pray to survive. So there may be a purpose in violence itself? Then were wars necessary? The self-defense was deemed a requisite if cultures were to preserve its ways and norms. There were religious obligation to defend God and gods. Socrates had to be poisoned as he was charged of corrupting the minds of youth against what their gods had prescribed. The first historical tale, Iliad, is full of “heroic violence”; their gods were so proud of the killings in the name of valor and courage that Achilles and Hector were considered human gods. The violent heroes were prophets to gods whose valor were glorified, praised and worshipped. The first Biblical narration of Cain killing Abel was described to find the moral underpinning of human race. There were two main motives in the first violent killing; woman and possession. Cain did not like the idea of a more beautiful sister to be married to Abel; and after the murder, he yelled, “I am free to take all of his possessions, all of his flocks fell unto my hands”. Then he cried for the rest of his life with the feelings of guilt of committed violence. There is another explanation of the murder of Abel that Cain could not give animal sacrifice as he was a farmer and his brother was a herder. There seems to be a sense of injustice that propels to anger; and anger transforms to violence; that something ought to belong to someone and does not. Two things enter into mind; one is the envy and the other is the sense of injustice.Read More »The Cause of Violence
