Why are we so violent?

How else are we here, as homo sapiens-sapiens?

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Evol/violence.html

This creates a situation of murderous conflict - I'm going to survive even if it means killing you.

Alternatively, man is a fallen creature; through our separation from God, we have become venal, weak, and violent.

Alternatively, capitalist systems have engendered and preserved a zero-sum mentality, which forces us to compete with each other brutally.

Alternatively, the Devil made us do it.

Alternatively, we are tiny sparks of consciousness alone in a sea of nothingness and since nothing matters why not slaughter each other while we wait for inevitable oblivion. Everything is permitted.

Alternatively, Violent movies and video games made us do it.

Other alternatives are available.

Bryant

but we focus on it. There aren't nearly as many monuments and statues for those who advanced civilization as there are for those who fought battles, conquered and dominated.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/domestic-cats-kill-billions-mice-birds-annually-study_n_2575833.html

But I also feel like I am just completely surrounded by violence.

It's not just in the cities. It's also a huge problem in rural areas.

I think I have paid a pretty big price for being non violent. Working in our society is difficult if you are not competitive. I look at the competition and the stuff that goes on in some business and I am just appalled. Being vicious is just part of the game. It's expected and rewarded.

I believe that we've become complacent about others. The mindset these days seems to be, "I have mine. Screw anyone else." They lack any type of empathy. So sad.

New research touts findings that conservatives have bigger amygdalas while liberals have bigger cingulate cortices. The bigger amygdala means conservatives could be driven by fear while the bigger cingulate cortex means liberals have more decision-making power. Hmmm. Is it possible that our politics are fixed at birth?


http://keenetrial.com/blog/2011/01/24/excuse-me-potential-juror-but-just-how-big-is-your-amygdala/

That is an interesting idea.

The combination of great big brains, opposing thumbs, and finding a sweet spot in the "fight or flight" balance landed us at the top of the food chain. Unfortunately, we've evolved our social constructs a lot faster than our innate psychology...and the aggression that served us so well is showing us its dark side in spades these days.

an unhealthy psychology, as irrelevant as Freud has become to explaining normal human psychology, I think a lot of his work can be applied to psychologies that resort to violence. Basically, whatever it is we value and feel we need, whether a legitimate need or not, if our striving fails to satisfy a need, the energy that would normally be applied and pacified in obtaining that value, can turn chaotic and get transferred to unhealthy and abnormal activities.

So if you kind of apply Freud's theories on energy transfer to an unhealthy psychology and combine it with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, basically, repeated failures to satisfy a need, whether a physical need like hunger or the artificial needs of the ego, can push a less mentally adaptive psychology to channel their energy toward an abnormal and violent pursuit of "rewards" in unhealthy activities involving desperation, blame and/or revenge.