They kill out of self-interest, and out of revenge, but it’s not constant and it’s not something they feel awesome about.
Most Native American cultures felt awesome about killing enemies in battle. I don’t know if it’s universal, but it was very common for warriors to be highly-respected in tribal cultures, in proportion to how many people they’d killed.
I don’t think you can assert that it’s not constant, either. Look at the conflict between Hopi & Navajo, Cree & Blackfoot. Similar to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and I’d call that constant.
Modern all-out, extended-duration war is a foreign concept to such groups, but “this tribe is our enemy and we will kill any of them found unprotected” and “let us all get together and annihilate this troublesome neighbor village and take their women” is not.
Most Native American cultures felt awesome about killing enemies in battle.
Weren’t you just saying there’s a lot of mythologizing of the NA past?
Did you know there are specific Navajo rituals designed to cleanse warriors returning from war before they re-enter the community, to prevent their violence from infecting the community? And that these rituals have counterparts in cultures around the world, and are of interest to modern trauma researchers?
It is helpful to separate desirable status as a successful warrior from desire for war. It is very common for very successful warriors to prefer peace, in tribal societies as in modern. That’s not to say young guys don’t want to make their bones and old guys don’t see the need to take care of business: it’s to say that only a totally deranged person kills without any barriers, and very few people are totally deranged.
It’s interesting that you adduce the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in this context. I am very certain that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians are capable of empathy for each other. This doesn’t mean they wouldn’t shell each other or commit atrocities. But you’re arguing a hard line: that tribes attach “zero or negative” utility to each other’s continued existence.
Most Native American cultures felt awesome about killing enemies in battle. I don’t know if it’s universal, but it was very common for warriors to be highly-respected in tribal cultures, in proportion to how many people they’d killed.
I don’t think you can assert that it’s not constant, either. Look at the conflict between Hopi & Navajo, Cree & Blackfoot. Similar to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and I’d call that constant.
Modern all-out, extended-duration war is a foreign concept to such groups, but “this tribe is our enemy and we will kill any of them found unprotected” and “let us all get together and annihilate this troublesome neighbor village and take their women” is not.
Weren’t you just saying there’s a lot of mythologizing of the NA past?
Did you know there are specific Navajo rituals designed to cleanse warriors returning from war before they re-enter the community, to prevent their violence from infecting the community? And that these rituals have counterparts in cultures around the world, and are of interest to modern trauma researchers?
It is helpful to separate desirable status as a successful warrior from desire for war. It is very common for very successful warriors to prefer peace, in tribal societies as in modern. That’s not to say young guys don’t want to make their bones and old guys don’t see the need to take care of business: it’s to say that only a totally deranged person kills without any barriers, and very few people are totally deranged.
It’s interesting that you adduce the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in this context. I am very certain that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians are capable of empathy for each other. This doesn’t mean they wouldn’t shell each other or commit atrocities. But you’re arguing a hard line: that tribes attach “zero or negative” utility to each other’s continued existence.
This needs modifiers: it looks to me that with “always” added this is wrong, but with “sometimes” added this is correct.