Violence In Freud's Why War

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Violence has been an inherent part of the animal kingdom ever since the dawn of time. Chimpanzees waged bloody turf wars with rival groups while wild packs of hyenas ran down elephants, tearing their carcasses apart for sustenance in the African plains. Man is no exception to this law of nature, violence is intrinsic to life for all species that inhabit this world. During the Vietnam war, the Viet Cong displayed their enemies heads on pikes while the American forces dropped gallons of napalm on bystanders homes, burning their families and livelihoods. Throughout history, there has been a constant struggle between man and nature and man and itself. In both of these conflicts, the violence that one group exerted on the other was always met with…show more content…
While violence may be a biological instinct it should be suppressed and rejected because it has been the root cause of numerous atrocities throughout history, ultimately causing anarchy. This can be seen in Freud's “Why War” as shown by his claim, “We react to war in this way because everyone has a right to his own life, because it brings individual men into humiliating situations, because it compels them against their will to murder other men...We are pacifist because we are obliged to be for organic reasons,” (557 - 558). Freud claims that we are inclined to rebel against war because of all the calamities that it brings with it. He claims that because the burden of war is so great on society we must be pacifists naturally because no man could wish these harms upon another. However, this cannot be true as Freud mislabels pacifism as an inherent trait, rather than a changing sign of the times. In recent times, humanity has developed weapons of mass destruction forcing society to succumb to passivity as they are afraid of utter annihilation. Furthermore, the violence in society is still existent in the forms of treaties and laws, therefore, society cannot be passive by nature but warmongers bound by fear. Similarly, Fanon argues for peace through opposition to colonization, “They insist on the nationalization of business transactions, i.e. reserving contracts and business deals for nationals.…show more content…
Additionally, as part of the human condition, violence has contributed to the development of ideas and laws across civilizations. Only through this violence can the stability of societies be ensured. In modern times, violence is often seen as something to be avoided at all costs because it comes with suffering. However, we must advocate for and embrace suffering as part of the human condition because only after we realize our destructive potential can we begin to work towards peaceful solutions. If we reject and shame our destructive nature we will bring ruin upon ourselves as we will not appreciate our powers of devastation. Thus, violence must be embraced as one of our most effective tools for
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