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Human beings die and kill in battle to prove the existence or reality of a sacred ideal or entity. The nature of this ideal or entity is fungible. Among significant entities or ideals for which human beings have died and killed:
- France
- Germany
- The British Empire
- The (Japanese) Emperor
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- Allah
- Freedom and democracy
- A Tamil homeland
- A more perfect union
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The mechanism is the same, regardless of the nature of the ideal or entity: death-- and memorials erected in the name of those who have died--testify to the reality of the ideal or entity.
Death and memorialization perform a validation function.
The strange history of the human race might be written by seeking to answer the following question: at any given moment in time, what was the nature of the "thing" in the name of which human beings died and killed?
IS THE PURPOSE OF WAR TO ERECT MEMORIALS TO THE DEAD?
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