> >Thus, instead of a unified genetic inheritance as grist for the mill,
> >Ehrenreich presents us with picture of a conflicted dynamic
> >inheritance. While her thesis doesn't bear immediately on human nature
> >vis-a-vis economic cooperation vs. competition, it does inspire us to
> >think more complexely about the nature of our prehistoric inheritance,
> >and the mutability and flexibility of "human nature."
> >
> >--
> >Paul Rosenberg
> >Reason and Democracy
>
> I guess I have gotten used to how bad the Nation magazine has become, but
> every once in a while I run into something so rancid that I have to pause
> and catch my breath. This was the case with a review by DSA leader Barbara
> Ehrenreich of 3 books on war. This review was accompanied by a review by
> Susan Faludi of Ehrenreich's new book on war titled "Blood Rites". All this
> prose is dedicated to the proposition that large-scale killing has been
> around as long as homo sapiens has been around and that it has nothing much
> to do with economic motives. Looking for an explanation why George Bush
> made war on Iraq? It wasn't over oil, "democratic socialist" Ehrenreich
> would argue. It was instead related to the fact that we were once "preyed
> upon by animals that were initially far more skillful hunters than
> ourselves.
The full title of Ehrenreich's book is *Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passion of War*. She was explicitly NOT trying to propose a grand theory about WAR, she was writing about the PASSION of war.
Of course, it's much easier to invoke a straw-man argument, and NEVER expose ourselves to new ideas. If that fails, we can invoke an EITHER/OR mental filter, and treat the offending new idea as a fascist attack on THE CORRECT LINE.
I mean, it's such a chore to actually READ a whole book! And then THINK about it! Marx forbid if we actually had to EXPAND our thinking! Where's Stalin when we really need him????
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"