Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 00:19:16 EST
Subject: Psychology of War and Genocide (Richard Koenigsberg) 


"Why do we think of it as something ordinary simply because it is done for a 
large community--the nation? . . . . We can begin to understand the history of 
the last century, explained Dr. Koenigsberg, when we are able to acknowledge 
that the national norm can be pathology --that profound sickness may be 
inherent in the
structures of civilization."
______

An interesting and well-argued presentation, but it moves one to ask why 
(looking forward in this century) the argument should identify "the national norm" 
as the locus of pathology. 

It is just as easy to imagine people, later in the century, giving their 
lives for The United Nations at the behest of some future Hitler of globalism. 

In the past century, national wars killed millions precisely because power 
was organized along national lines. 

In this century, power is increasingly organized by the force of global 
capitalism into legal and economic structures which constrain nations. No doubt Dr. 
Koenigsberg's "profound sickness" will still be there, just as it is in small 
groups. 

People do die for their counties, after all. I'm sure people have died in 
small-scale combat defending the honor of The Yankees, the Red Sox, the 
Manchester United Soccer Team, and many other small group identifications.

Posted in case anyone wishes to discuss the issue.

Regards to all,
Eric Yost
NYC




    
    

    
    



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