Us Versus Them

Martin Luther King once said that "If a man has not found something worth dying for, he is not fit to live." I like the idea that the things we support, that we would die for, define us. I have a pretty long list of things I'd die for: my family, the Bill of Rights (except for the second amendment), my country, and so on. On the other hand, I feel like the decision to die for a cause is actually relatively easy. For example, if anyone ever gave me the option to die for something noble like art or knowledge or courtesy, I'd be right there. It would really sweeten the pot if they offered to throw in a statue of me. Nothing too tacky--maybe me reading a book in front of the lamp of knowledge with cupids frolicking at my feet. You know, tasteful.

And being a martyr is actually a pretty good gig, if you think about it. You are officially absolved of all sins and become a beacon for the ideals of your culture and country. Legend has it that J. Edgar Hoover ran through the halls of the FBI loudly rejoicing the day that Martin Luther King was shot. However, it's not to hard to imagine him tearfully regarding the reams of blackmail-worthy material that he'd amassed over the years. Today, however, any discussion of MLK's weaknesses borders on blasphemy. The same goes for John F. Kennedy: in an instant, he was transformed from a brash, self-impressed cocksman to the symbol of a nation's lost innocence and the guy on the fifty-cent piece.

While I recognize the value of King's statement, I'm inclined to consider the opposite side. I ask myself what I would willingly kill for. Who are the martyrs I'd be willing to create? Which ideas are so compelling that I'd be happy to be vilified if I could only support them? This is a tougher one for me; while I despise cruelty, stupidity, laziness, discourtesy, halitosis, and so forth, I realize that the only thing I would really kill for is the people that I love. Actually, killing is only one end of the spectrum on this one. On the other end is the fact that I will gladly make an ass out of myself if I feel that someone I love or care about--one of my people--is being insulted or threatened. I have done so on many occasions and will probably do so in the future. Still, as embarassed as I was...well, you shoulda seen the other guy.

It's interesting that, as evolved as I think I am, I still have this very human tendency to attack, to fight. It gives me a certain kinship with soldiers and serial killers, policemen and terrorists, heroes and bullies. We share the willingness to injure or even kill others, in spite of the fact that our basic empathy, not to mention our sense of logic, mitigates against violence. What is it about humans that makes us so willing to go to the mattresses, to pull the gun, to drop the hammer?

As any student of the past will tell you, the history of mankind is a series of wars and plagues. I sometimes imagine that plagues are the earth's way of culling the human herd. Since instinct doesn't control our reproduction, and since we've mastered most of our natural predators, we clearly need an outside force to keep the population within sustainable limits. Enter Bubonic Plague, the Spanish Flu, Typhoid Fever, AIDS, SARS, cancer, and heart disease. Viewed through this lens, disease seems almost reasonable, as if it is merely part of our ever-evolving relationship with the earth. I'm not saying that we shouldn't fight disease--quite the opposite, in fact--but I do think that disease serves a purpose.

I'm less certain about war, vendetta, murder, massacre, and other assorted forms of human brutality. The fact that we are so willing to take the Straw Dogs route is a little unnerving. I would think that religion would take the edge off. After all, every major religion has some version of the Ten Commandments. We all know that we should not kill, should not steal, should not covet, and so on. Yet, there we are, killing, coveting, and stealing. The key dividing line becomes us versus them. We would never kill a member of our tribe, nor would we steal from him, and so forth. However, the other tribe, whoever they may be, is fair game. Of course, this isn't what God had in mind, but we can usually count on some Brylcreemed Jesus pimp to find a verse in Leviticus that makes everything hunky dory. The other side elevates some power-hungry rat bastard with an equally bent view of Islam and, Bob's your uncle, we've got a holy war. Just in time, too--things were getting a little crowded here.

Talking to a friend about this recently, I wondered aloud if this was another method that nature uses to thin the herd. As the words were coming out of my mouth, I realized that I was hoping that he'd be able to contradict me, but it was not to be. We both had to admit that, maybe, humanity has a built-in pop-up timer, and when we start to get too comfy, hostilities break out in the Gaza Strip, Ted Bundy gets a hankering for brunettes, or the next-door neighbor starts mowing a little too early in the morning.

I still don't have a good rebuttal to my own argument.