HISTORY AND TRUTH: Death performs a validation function
Human beings die and kill to establish the truth: prove the reality of a sacred ideal or entity. The nature of the ideal for which human beings die and kill is fungible. Sacred entities that have generated or produced violence include
  • France
  • Germany
  • The British Empire
  • The (Japanese) Emperor
  • Allah
  • Freedom and democracy
  • A Tamil homeland
  • A more perfect union
We may love or hate a particular ideal or entity. From a scientific perspective, our opinion doesn't matter. The mechanism establishing the reality or truth of this ideal is the same, regardless of it nature. Death--and memorials erected honoring those who have died—testify to the reality or truth of the entity or ideal. Death and memorialization perform a validation function.