|
THE PURPOSE OF WAR IS NOT TO KILL, BUT TO DIE. THE ENDLESS SLAUGHTER OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR WAS UNDERTAKEN IN ORDER TO BUILD WAR MEMORIALS, TESTIFYING TO THE REALITY OF THE NATION-STATE.
THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE DYING.
Human beings die and kill to prove the reality of their sacred ideals. The nature of the entity or idea for which human beings die and kill is fungible. The mechanism is the same, regardless of the nature of the idea or entity or ideal: Death--and memorials erected in the name of those who have died—testify to the reality of the idea or entity or ideal. Death and memorialization perform a validation function.
Human beings have died and killed for:
- France
- Germany
- The British Empire
- The (Japanese) Emperor
|
- Allah
- Freedom and democracy
- A Tamil homeland
- A more perfect unio
|
“A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its area of applicability.” Albert Einstein
“Science is organized around a limited number of concepts (or “laws”), that account for everything we see in the world around us.” Hazen and Trefil,
|