Genocides and Slaughters
The
Interests of Genes and the Power of Human Love
There are multiple indications and historic records of
genocides in several places, from our human past. The Bible
contains several references to those ancient carnages.
Moses, for instance, ordered the slaughter of the Midianites,
a neighbouring tribe of the Israelis, as referred to in
detail in the Bible Book of the Numbers:
And they [the Israelis] slew all the [Midian] males. And the
children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives (…)
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and
kill every woman that hath known man lying with him, but all
the women children, that have not known a man by lying with
him, keep alive for yourselves.
In this viewpoint, Hitler and Stalin aren’t aberrations or
exceptions. There where many other horrendous genocides
before them, and, closer to us the examples do not fall
short: Pol Pot in Cambodia, the slaughters of Rwanda, in
Africa, or Kosovo, in the civilized Europe.
According to the view of today’s evolutionist genetics,
slaughters such as the ones described in the Bible, represent
strong advantages for the genes of those who practise them. They
spread themselves, while the genes of the victims are wiped out.
And genes may well favour those behaviours. In other words:
without knowing, Moses and his followers were following the
interests of their genes; they were incited by these same genes.
A scaring vision?
Yes. Chiefly if we take into account the persistence of
genocides in human history. They suggest that some fundamentals
of human nature are difficult to change, and that our forms of
love are incapable of opposing deeper genetic impulses - and
also that these same genetic impulses may be fed by some forms
of love: the love of some ideas of God, in the case of the
followers of Moses… Yes. And that is scaring, indeed.
Books, Films,
Cultural Stuff on
genocides, Nazism, dark side of men, politics and so on? See
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LOVE AND EVIL?
See also:
Evil, Indifference,
Cruelty and the Love of Our I
Hitler and
Nazis'
were surrounded by their Loves
When
Love Nourishes Evil
and Hate
Love and
the Dreams of Better Societies
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