Political Violence as a Methodology of Verification:
The Proof of the Pudding is in the Dying
Trench
“Science is organized around a limited number of concepts, certain pillars that support the entire structure. There are a limited number of such concepts (or “laws”), but they account for everything we see in the world around us.” (Hazen and Trefil, 2009).

“Newton developed compact laws that apply to an immense assortment of situations. His three Laws of Motion—like all fundamental laws that govern science—seem simple, almost simplistic. The deepest insights of the human mind often have this characteristic.” (Hazen and Trefil, 2009).
  1. Societies invent ideological concepts that they elevate to “absolutes”— worshipped as foundational ideas that constitute the reality of their culture. But how do people persuade themselves that these social constructions are real and true?
  2. Franco Fornari states that war is the spectacular establishment of a general human situation whereby “death assumes absolute value.” The ideas for which we die have a right to truth—because "death becomes a demonstrative process.”
  3. Beliefs become real when citizens (and enemies) die for them. Sacrificial death “gives witness” to the depth of devotion, becoming the source of the truth—and power—of the idea.
  4. The nature of the idea or belief or entity for which people sacrifice their lives is fungible. The ideal might be called preserving the Union, France,  the British Empire, Germany, the Emperor, Communism, Allah, a Tamil homeland, or “freedom and democracy.”
  5. The ideas or entities—the nature of the sacred ideals or objects for which people die differs. However, the mechanism of validation is the same. The sacred object or ideal comes alive to the extent that human beings die and kill in its name.
  6. The concept of “killing” is subordinate to the concept of “dying.” The purpose of acts of “aggression” (killing in war, genocide or terrorism) is to get others to die for the idea that is worshipped by one’s own group. One kills members of the other group—so that they will die in the name of one’s own group’s sacred ideal (death to the non-believers).