Seminar Three
Warfare, genocide and ethnic conflict

Warning: this material may be deeply disturbing.

My overriding premise in this terrible documentary is that warfare, genocide, and ethnic conflict are not aberrant human nature. They are human nature. The dark side of human nature is fortunately only part of our nature, but it is a terrifying side; it is to be feared as much as the bright side is to be cherished. The dark side has led to heart-rending atrocities over the face of the planet, nonstop, over the course of human history.

The image below shows a cache of unexploded land mines in Iraq, waiting to be exploded as part of the American military's Captured Enemy Ammunition program. The Director of the United Nations Demining Program, Patrick Blagden, estimates that upward of 200 million uncleared anti-personnel landmines are scattered in fifty-six countries around the world. Most of the victims are poor farmers, women or children who are collecting firewood, tending cattle or gathering food in an area that was previously a battleground.

“Jumper” mines found in Mozambique in 2010 pop up out of the ground and detonate at waist level, showering victims with shrapnel.

The sobering fact is that violence and warfare are characteristic of virtually all cultures throughout human history. One could even say that they are a trademark of human nature. If this is so, we cannot avoid the frightening question: does it somehow have an evolutionary logic, that is, could such a tendency actually have been selected for over the course of human evolution?