The capacity to neuter the way we think of people outside the tribe is normal. We employ civilised values to our own and savagery to strangers. And hardly notice we are doing so. Our brains can encompass both behaviours without really noticing the difference. Same as ants.
Sociopathic attitudes are a feature of tribal discourse. Check out the wars amongst the Yanonami peoples. Read the Old Testament. It is the normal model!!
The Israelis are traditional in this. And of course, there is real history to contend with and the sense of survival being possible only by violence. And then there's Netanyahu's personality, which appears bullying to me - although he would probably describe the values of civility and understanding as a luxury he cannot afford. I'm sure he would say that peace is only possible if you demonstrate the cost of breaching it. Three Jewish teenagers. Multiply by fifty or one hundred Palestinian deaths to demonstrate the point that this is a line that shouldn't be crossed.
I wonder if humans can do homonoia on a larger scale or if we are doomed to keep on killing one another. Maybe evolution requires us to have boundaries and to assert power over our neighbours.
Sad.
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