FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War
by Barbara Ehrenreich
Metropolitan Books, 292 pp. $34.95.Ask, "Why do we make war?" and soon you'll hear about the "aggressive instincts" of "man the hunter." Sounds plausible. All those suburban guys playing paintball in "camo" jumpsuits - why would they do it if instinct and testosterone weren't yanking their chains? Only the legacy of man the mighty hunter could make wispy mutual fund managers and "patriotic" right-wing columnists start shouting about "kicking Saddam's sorry ass."
Adventurous thinker and respected author Barbara Ehrenreich says the aggression accounts poorly for the passions attached to war. It might explain individual violence, but organized military action is impersonal and bureaucratic. And where does all this "sanctity" stuff come in? Why all the grim but holy talk of "sacrifice" and the often quite noble group emotions aroused by war (obligatory example: the London Blitz)?
Forget man the hunter, argues Ehrenreich. To understand what we feel about war, look back further to men - and women - the hunted. Groups of slow, frightened humans with small muscles, puny teeth and helpless offspring, isolated on prairies full of truly gifted predators like tigers - this is the experience which formed the fear and veneration of sacrifice that societies draw upon to make war. It's the root of the "high" felt by groups who band together to fight. It's why we feel awe toward those who offer themselves to the teeth and claws of the "other," the beast whose image we always assign to wartime opponents, however arbitrarily chosen.
Ehrenreich ends up speculating that we once both feared and yearned to imitate animals who preyed upon us. We venerated the sacrifice that bought brief safety. Spilling blood for the group created a deep bond. Yet we keep living out this cultural pattern even though the tigers are endangered and the neighbors pacified. (Except in Montana.) Maybe such patterns, or what geneticist Richard Dawkins calls "memes," really do ensure their own survival by feeding on other life. Perhaps we created the cultural virus we now call "war" in order to stop being prey, only to be preyed upon by the behavior we created.
Big topic. Large speculations. Ehrenreich knows she's merely opening a new line of investigation, not offering answers. In crisp, readable prose she links old and new data in intriguing patterns. The question "why war?" is important, and the old ways of thinking about it have barely affected our behaviour. Perhaps the ideas in Blood Rites will help us find ways to prey on each other a bit less.
Harry Vandervlist
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