CIVILIZATIONAL SELF-DESTRUCTION
Richard Koenigsberg
 
  1. Faith = belief in the omnipotent object = no death.
  2.  The more death the greater the leader and the greater the sacred object. Violence in politics has nothing to do with the “aggressivity” of individuals.  Soldiers are compelled to die & kill…by the state.
  3.  NAZISM = EVERYONE HAD TO DIE (FOR GERMANY).
  4. CIVILIZATION AND SELF-DESTRUCTION.  History is unconscious self-destruction.
  5. Dying and Killing to Establish the Reality of a Sacred Ideal. Koenigsberg's Law of Sacrifice. Human beings die and kill to establish the reality of a sacred idea or ideal. Killing and dying are undertaken to prove "the truth." Political violence (war, genocide, terrorism) is undertaken when doubts arise as to the validity of a society's sacred ideal.
  6. Killing and dying constitute a demonstration of commitment, or sincerity. That which we die for becomes real or true. 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: death--and memorials erected in the name of those who have died—testify to the reality of the entity or ideal. Death and memorialization perform a validation function.
  7. Human violence has nothing to do with "biological" aggression. Quite the contrary, it is performed in the name of highly abstract ideas and ideals. Human violence separates us from other animals, who kill for practical (biological) reasons (in the name of survival, obtaining food, etc.). We prove that we are human (a different or UNIQUE kind of animal) by dying and killing for abstractions, that is, by dying and killing for nothing.