This dramatic photograph by Reuters illustrates clearly the violent nature of human males. If you study the faces and bodies closely you'll see that both men are fully engaged in the task of smashing the other into oblivion.
Faces are contorted, muscles stand taut, the fists as weapons are raised both offensively and defensively, ready to strike at body or head, to create damage, a knockout if possible or to deflect or absorb a blow. Both fighters duck and weave and dance during each three minute encounter while they seek a golden opportunity to put the other away.
The result of these encounters sometimes can be no more than a black eye, a cut eyebrow or even a broken bone but there is also the real possibility of brain damage and death. The prize for the victor might be a smallish purse or a garish belt although, in the highest ranks, millions of dollars are sometimes at stake.
Next time you wonder about the sanity of wars, remember this photograph.
10 comments:
i wonder everytime i see the 'male channel' spike tv. they have the ultimate fighter on tv and from what i understand- i refuse to watch it- it's a bare knuckles, no holds bared kind of thing in the ring. no real rules. i have a sneaking suspicion that that is why american football is so popular- all of that contact. do ya suppose it really is innate or innate because it's a learned thing from generation to the next? not being of the male variety- and not having a violent husband- i don't really know.
Only human beings would aspire to be people who knock the hell out of one another for ego/money/whatever. Animals are made to do it but humans do it because they can. I will never understand it.....never!
It's part of the male package, Betmo and Patrica. That's why I advocate sedatives or genetic tinkering because that's the only way it can be controlled.
Castration is probably too extreme a remedy but that would work as well!
I cringe at that latter suggestion their Daniel.
This stems from the male need to show off and to put on the whole macho facade that is engulfed in stupidity!
Testosterone make fools of us all, Damian!
I have to admit, I just recently got a taste of how pure psychological derangement can lead to a full blown war, unprovoked, unreasonable! There I was minding my own business, and a visitor had an episode of psychosis, which I ignored, which exacerbated his psychosis so much so that he started a hate-blog about me!!!
There are creatures who suffer certain chemical deficiency that makes them violent (it's a form of sensation seeking) and paranoid (hypervigilance, associated with sensation seeking). The rush they get of violence and confrontation is what they get their energy from.
These individuals are prone to manipulation, and the process of rational behavior is so disturbed in them that they can be made to commit crimes of passion: such as genocide!
Humans are not violent; violence is pathological behavior. And recent studies in gene-environment interaction are revealing much about sociobiology of violence (check out Steven Suomi for example) . Just as we managed to get rid of plague, we CAN get rid of this disease. we have not been looking for a cure for it on a global scale.
aargh, I made a long comment here, telling you about my very recent experince with e-violence in my blog:
and unprovoked individual started a campaign of hate about me, based on what seemed to be nothing but chemical imbalance and pathological violence and paranoia (outcomes of imbalanced neurochemicals involved in sensation seeking behavior)
(if curious, see the comment threat in no war with iran)
I think violence is a sociobiological disease, and there is cure for it. Recent studies in gene-environment interaction (e.g Stephen Suomi's work give us hope that just as we irradicated plague, we CAN cure violence, if we address it in a global scale.
Speaking as a male, Naj, I can vouch for the existence of a tendency towards violence though in my case it's rather undeveloped (but if I had to fight to protect myself or my family I would).
It's common among many species and I suppose it's related to dominant males securing the right to mate.
The adrenaline rush aimed at survival is healthy.
The steroid rush aimed at defense is healthy.
Excess violence is ill!
We are not vegetables.
And not all alpha males are violent.
We ought to do away with darwinian biological determinism; I am becoming more convinced of this by day!
I actually enjoy a good fight and think it is quite natural for individuals to participate in violent fare. I think the real problem is not violence, which is a part of our human condition, but the way violence is used by groups and individuals. (for example nations and terrorists in warfare on civilians or symdicates and thugs on ordinary citizens)
I believe that individuals should embrace both thier violent and peaceful sides of their humaniry and express them appropriately. Just as I think the same with sex. To try and wipe out violence is counterproductive but to teach individuals how to do deal with their innate tendicies is worthwhile.
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