Is War A Part of Human Nature?

You hear this alot from various people,even liberals sometimes,that war has to happen before there's ever peace.That war is just an inevitablity,it's"the way things are". I was reading some quotes from Micheal Ledeen over the weekend(what a piece of work this guy is,holy shit)in a book I'm reading(more on that later),and it got me to thinking about what happened to people to make them only want to feed upon the worst humans can do.Maybe the better question is: Is being destructive just a part of human nature we can do nothing about?

A common arguement uses the animal kingdom(which is accurate to a huge degree,we are mammals after all)and the food chain as an example of yes,we fight for survival,we kill to eat.And therefore,it's in our nature to be protective of our food chain and by extension our personal property,even if it means someone's gotta die in the process.But this is way different than war.Animals don't commit genocide,except for human animals.War is a Human Creation.Animals don't drop bombs and use horrifically toxic chemicals to kill or maim thousands,even millions of living creatures(war destroys the landbase too folks,not just houses and people). Animals don't plot and plan to systematically destroy entire other groups of animals.I don't notice any animals living in mansions(except pets)or getting rich off of war,or owning large companies with fleets of private jets either.Only humans do the mass killing thing.And only we toxify our landbase(which is really stupid-THE most stupid thing we've done,bar none).I find it hard to believe that humans are at the top of the proverbial heap just so we can seek and destroy everything that lives,that makes no freaking sense. Or that we evolved just to sit in front of a TV,computer or video games,spend all our time in buildings or cars and shop(a lifestyle that creates the impoverishment of others and destruction of their landbases,which is kind of a larger part of why America isn't on everyone's happy list). Or work(and go to school) in buildings with windows that often don't open, often looking out on other buildings with windows that don't open.

Maybe we're cranky and mean because we don't live as a part of the planet anymore.We've created a huge separation between us and the land(this is especially true in cities).Instead of being a part of a living breathing planet,we've become fearful of nature,view it as an enemy full of danger.It has to be subdued,"managed","cleared","developed",even stolen(or forceably sold)in the name of"progress".That's not a natural way of being at all. I think if we were more aware and in tune,and stopped confusing needs with spoiled wants, we'd be less apt to be assholes when it comes to looking ahead at consequences for actions. The rich boy "canned hunt"thing is prime example of this disconnect,it seems like the more wealthy and privledged you are,the bigger the disconnect.This goes past just living in a "bubble". It's a sickness,is sickness"normal"?

There is no"away"where we can throw all our crap you know,it all sits in SOMEONE'S back yard,even if it ain't yours,yet.The planet is only so big,and all these ecosystem dealies are connected,you can deny it all you want,but that is a fact.You mess with the water in too many places and pretty soon all(or at least most) of the water is gonna be a mess.We can go without food longer than water,and yet we really don't get how important it is that it remain clean,otherwise we'd never have allowed it to become polluted.When the water's polluted, the land(you know,where our food is supposed to grow,where kids are supposed to play,the surface we build our homes on)becomes toxic too.Alot of the crap we've created doesn't just crumble and become harmless either. The more heinous examples would be shit like Depleted Uranium or Plutonium,but even the stuff we use daily contains chemistry that doesn't break down into harmless stuff later on.Hell some of this shit won't break down for millions,even billions of years.Rather stupid of us honestly.

So I wonder,what happened to us? Was it the creation of big cities that started this disconnect? It sure seems so,looking at human history. I don't think this is "normal",if anything I think it's this disconnect with nature(and you don't have to be a"hippie treehugger"to get that poisoning one's landbase is insane)that's led us down this path.

I'm not saying we should give up and move into caves either.But surely we can do better than this.And even if every well off human gave up and moved to a cave,industry and economic practices(and those who own and control them) would continue to do damage as long as they could.One wise move might be to slow the hell down a little.Do we need 20 new breakfast cereals in the next year or two?Or a new and bigger SUV design?What if we just started by using what we have?

I don't know what the answer is,but in my heart I just feel like destruction isn't something"normal"at all,and maybe if humans weren't ripping the shit out of everything on the planet we might be less prone to being so collectively sad and pissed off so much.What do you think?