[tattoomytoe]

i never have understood the appeal of violence, be it fist fights, wars, movies. what is the appeal?

in school there was a lot of fighting, we had gang violence too. people would always be running to see someone get his or her faces trampled or bashed. it always made me feel so uncomfortable, even scared.

[Pyrannaste]

I am fascinated by violent movies ...but any flick of real violence terrifies me.
I'm a very peaceful person perhaps that's why I like movies where there is people fighting.
I'd too run to see a real fight, to see if anyone needs help or it would be better call the cops.

[Aonz]

Humans are violent creatures by nature, genetically we are killers (designed by God?).

Why do you think we need laws in order to live in peace with each other? If we didn't have laws do you think your neighbor wouldn't kill you to take what you have?

We are the dominant species on the planet, and we didn't get in this position by default. No other species stands a chance against us.

Every indicator demonstrates our appetite for violence is unparalleled: our propensity for warfare, the brutality of many members of our kind to weaker specimens, and the unnecessary acts of cruelty we read about every day in the newspaper.

It seems to me that God put us here to test us, to see if we are worthy, in my opinion many of us have failed.

Or maybe God isn't all we have expected him to be? Humans have morality but that doesn't mean God does, maybe he is as moral as a hurricane, empty but for the force of his gale.

[moimeme]

Well, actually, there are two philosophies about the nature of mankind, and I believe the one which is the polar opposite of that which Aonz mentioned. I think people are, at heart, basically peaceful. I think that people watch violence in order to dispel their own frustrations and anger at things which go wrong in their lives. They can't afford to take out their frustrations on other humans, so they do so vicariously.

This is about anger in retribution for wrongs, not a basic urge to kill. I don't think people start out with violence as an action; that it is generally a reaction to events which have occurred.

[Aonz]

Originally posted by moimeme
Well, actually, there are two philosophies about the nature of mankind, and I believe the one which is the polar opposite of that which Aonz mentioned. I think people are, at heart, basically peaceful. I think that people watch violence in order to dispel their own frustrations and anger at things which go wrong in their lives. They can't afford to take out their frustrations on other humans, so they do so vicariously.

This is about anger in retribution for wrongs, not a basic urge to kill. I don't think people start out with violence as an action; that it is generally a reaction to events which have occurred.

Humans are omnivores meaning we eat vegetation and meat, but the more significant factor in this discussion is that we eat meat, and thus we are designed by nature to kill—a violent act.

Genetically we are killers, our eyes give us away. As predators our eyes are placed in the front of our head, called binocular vision, rather than at the side, as are those of the grazers who have more peripheral vision.

The fact that we now buy our meat nicely shrink-wrapped in plastic at the supermarket does not change our basic nature. We simply hire others to do our killing and butchering for us, just as we hire policemen to maintain order and our armies to kill for us.

But we havn't always been been so pampered. Our ancestors only a couple of generations back had to kill their meat and other humans.

Some of our cities are violent, indeed. The are people out there ruthlessly killing people apparently at random, sometimes without any motive at all.

Originally posted by moimeme
This is about anger in retribution for wrongs, not a basic urge to kill. I don't think people start out with violence as an action; that it is generally a reaction to events which have occurred.

Thinking about it again you might be right on this part.

[faux]

Violence seems to have always been a very intimate part of humanity. I suppose violence appeals to us as humans because it reflects part of who we are. Violence shows where we came from, where we now stand, and where we perhaps hope, or fear to be in the future.

[Aonz]

Originally posted by faux
Violence seems to have always been a very intimate part of humanity. I suppose violence appeals to us as humans because it reflects part of who we are. Violence shows where we came from, where we now stand, and where we perhaps hope, or fear to be in the future.

When it comes to the basic physiology of aggression, we differ little from other animals. In neurological terms, our survival instinct is rooted in the amygdala. We may pride ourselves on our large frontal cortex, that part of our brain that gives us our unique human consciousness. But in the heat of battle, when the bullets start to fly, this evolutionarily advanced region of the brain is completely bypassed. Instead, our behaviour takes its cue from the amygdala.

If we look at our nearest evolutionary relatives; chimps and gorillas, who were long considered to be relatively docile and placid creatures, we know that they can be vicious killers. In gorillas, the killing is usually done by lone males, intent on displacing a male rival in order to gain access to females. And sometimes the loser is not the only one who gets killed. A victorious male may extend the slaughter to include the loser's infant offspring.

Chimps can take killing to a more sinister level. Acting in small groups, they seen make commando-style raids on neighbouring chimp groups, singling out individuals for slaughter. These kinds of attacks can go on, intermittently, for years, until all rivals are killed or evicted. Nothing less than systematic genocide.

Weapons and technology have increased the scale of our slaughter. But perhaps the original motivation is deep-seated within the animal kingdom.