Rethinking Violence And Human Nature

If there is one thing that is holding this species back from a world of peace, freedom and abundance it is the idea that destructive behavior is naturally present in human nature. Whenever someone suggests finding peaceful solutions to problems that are currently being “solved” with violence, they are typically told that peaceful interactions just don’t line up with human nature.

It seems that a very negative picture of human nature is ingrained into the social consciousness, but in reality we have no way of truly determining what human nature is, due to the various environmental factors that influence our thoughts and actions.

Many people get their impression of human nature from how others around them behave, and from what they were told about the history of the human species. At face value this approach seems logical, but still overlooks the mass manipulation of the human species that has taken place at the hands of various “authorities” throughout history.

People who were living in the past were subject to extreme abuse from family, church and monarchy, as well as the harsh wilderness that they were forced to contend with. These factors, along with the terrible example that was set by those in power, have resulted in the abhorrent behavior that we observe in history.

In our own time, gangs called governments, indoctrination camps called schools, and propaganda called media have molded the minds of nearly everyone on the planet. With this being the case, does it make more sense for the negative behavior we see in our fellow human beings to be a result of human nature, or does it make more sense that this behavior is the intended result of the external manipulation that I have just mentioned?

Did the brutal Crusades of the Middle Ages occur as a result of human nature? Was this a natural occurrence that could not have been prevented? Or were the Crusades simply an example of a time when people in power took it upon themselves to convince other people to kill each other. Sure it makes us feel a lot better to say that these kinds of things are unavoidable and will always be a part of our culture, but that won’t help to prevent similar atrocities from happening in the future.

If anything, it would make more sense to observe children who were uncorrupted by these factors if you actually wanted to get an accurate idea of what human nature might be. Children are kind and curious beings who don’t exhibit signs of violence or greed until they learn these traits from their family and society. It isn’t until children are abused into submission by their culture and by those in authority that they start taking on the traits of their abusers and acting out against others.

This situation presents itself on many levels. It is fairly common psychological knowledge that a vast majority of serial killers and extremely violent criminals were severely abused as children, and their current aggressions are directly related to the pain that they felt when they themselves where hurt and defenseless. So it would make sense for the macrocosm of our civilization to work the same way; a species that has been abused for centuries is going to think that abuse is a natural part of life, thus ensuring that abuse will continue.

This is how our perception of human nature becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we think that human beings are dangerous and violent creatures, then some of us will be able to rationalize and justify malevolent behavior by writing it off as human nature, instead of condemning it as we should.

If we actually condemn this behavior instead of making empty excuses for it, we will without a doubt drastically lower the level of violence on this planet. Individually, and as a species, we can only go as far as our imagination will take us. We are only capable of what we can imagine, and if all we can imagine is violence, submission, and domination, then that’s all were ever going to get.

This is really common sense, but there has actually been a scientific consensus that humans are not innately violent for well over 20 years. In 1986 scientists from around the world got together and shared psychological and biological evidence until they came to the conclusion that human nature is no excuse for violent behavior. The findings that were released came to be known as “The Seville Statement”.

This statement made 5 propositions, which are:

1. “It is scientifically incorrect to say that we have inherited a tendency to make war from our animal ancestors.”
2. “It is scientifically incorrect to say that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our human nature.”
3. “It is scientifically incorrect to say that in the course of human evolution there has been a selection for aggressive behavior more than for other kinds of behavior.”
4. “It is scientifically incorrect to say that humans have a ‘violent brain’.”
5. “It is scientifically incorrect to say that war is caused by ‘instinct’ or any single motivation.”

This profound statement has been ignored by the mainstream media for decades and maligned by many state sponsored foundations. According to psychologist and researcher Aflie Kohn, the media actually told the scientists “call us back when you find a gene for war,” after they released the Seville statement. However, despite this lack of attention new studies continue to reconfirm that human nature is no excuse for violence.

Recently in Vancouver, British Columbia at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a biologist named Frans de Waal put forward the idea that adopting a more cooperative culture is possible, necessary and natural for our species. According to his studies, animals are naturally prone to co-operation when in the right circumstances, which reconfirms the Seville statements consensus. Hopefully this new study can tear down some of the barriers that are created by our cultures defeatist perception of “human nature”.

By accepting the view that humans are naturally violent, our culture is basically saying that we are wild beasts that need to be controlled, and since violence is accepted, violence is ultimately used in this process of “controlling”. This very idea is the root of genocide, oppression and exploitation. The violence that we see in our society today, and the violence that we see throughout history is actually only acted out by a very small percentage of the population. This tiny percentage of our population is obviously a “bad sample” in terms of measuring what our species is actually capable of.

A study published in 2012 in Nature Journal suggests that humans are naturally good. This study adds to the mounting evidence against the popular misconception that corruption is a trait of human nature.

In ten experiments using economic games, scientists observed that faster decisions result in more cooperation and generosity, while slower, calculated decisions show a decrease in cooperation and generosity. The conclusion is that the automatic reaction is to be friendly, generous and cooperative, and only upon further consideration do humans become greedy or violent.

From the study:

“To explain these results, we propose that cooperation is intuitive because cooperative heuristics are developed in daily life where cooperation is typically advantageous. We then validate predictions generated by this proposed mechanism. Our results provide convergent evidence that intuition supports cooperation in social dilemmas, and that reflection can undermine these cooperative impulses.”

Any scientific studies these days should be taken with a grain of salt, because we are without a doubt living in an era of soviet style science, where state and corporate entities are using the scientific establishment to project a particular worldview into the mainstream consciousness. This is why it is important to always look for funding sources and seek many different avenues of research. However, in this case, this particular study is just one of many proposals put forward by the scientific community in the past several decades stating confidently that corruption has nothing to do with human nature, as the popular misconception states.

Study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22996558

Seville Statement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville_Statement_on_Violence

(sources for article are hyperlinked at the site above)
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John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. John just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through his experience, if you wish to contribute to his medical bills consider subscribing to his podcast to support at https://www.patreon.com/johnvibes