The Islamic terrorist Ali Benhadj (born in Algeria) stated that a belief becomes established only to the extent that it is “watered and irrigated by blood.”
The Irish leader Patrick Pearse gushed over the massive number of deaths in the First World war. “It is good," he said, "for the world to be warmed with the red wine of the battlefield.”
Modern warfare represents a profound human desire bound to the ideology of nationalism. The violence that occurs in warfare does is not a manifestation of biological evolution.
Other species (such as lions and tigers) kill for FOOD. Lions and tigers appear vicious as they track down their prey, sink their teeth into their throats, tear them apart and devour their prey. We project our human ideas and emotions into these animals. They seem filled with rage.
But they don’t hate the animals they kill. Their “viciousness” does not express anger, represents rather a biological (survival) imperative.
Human beings, on the other hand, kill for abstract ideals. When we express violence or seek to murder other human beings in the context of political conflicts, this has nothing to do with biology.
We kill (and die) in the name of beliefs and ideals. We kill to destroy classes of human beings ("enemies") whose existence negates our sacred ideals.
