When there is war we are all savage: No Angels ( a page from my upcoming book Science versus Humans)

When there is war we are all savage: No Angels

(  a page from my upcoming book  Science versus Humans)

     Many genocide scholars have observed  that dehumanization of enemy is a psychological prelude before committing  most savage acts against fellow men.

   In general , most people might- with effective brainwashing- view targeted  hostile groups, subgroups or nations as subhuman and furthermore  view” killing” as necessary for survival or survival of loved ones.

     In 1915 for many Turks in the Ottoman Empire Turkish Armenians were viewed as parasites. This belief made it easier for many to look the other way when atrocities began.  Also  possibly all Turkish Armenians were  seen as a threat to Turkish survival.

    Nazi Germany did something similar to Jewish Germans which made the horrors committed against the victims appear as necessary for nations survival.

   From a psychological perspective in the minds of soldiers  engaged in bloody battles there is no difference between the  civilian enemy or a soldier, a decision maker or a real influence in the conduct of war.

   For a man to kill, he must regress, relinquish humanity, totally insulate feelings from actions driven by a core belief that the people to be killed are sub humans , lethal toxins:Incompatible with survival or the survival of loved ones.

    This is war psychology. A good soldier is well prepared,  fully brainwashed  to kill. When there is war we are all savage.

    Thus for instance for the Allied fighters bombing churches , hospitals and civilians in Dresden or Tokyo was nothing more than being a good soldier.

     This was true in the Ottoman Empire in the Armenian genocide in 1915 when more than 2500 churches were burned in one year. Some 5000 clergy perished. And of course a million or so Turkish Armenians died too.

    The war psychology prevailed in 1945 as Allied forces bombed Dresden, Tokyo deliberately targeting schools hospitals and buildings occupied by civilians. They were the enemy. They were the Germans and the Japanese.    The more you kill them and the faster you kill more the greater number of American lives would be saved.

    At a time of war, there is no time for  psychology.

  There is only one thing. Winning the war. And if that means

killing children and civilians that is okay too as long as the war is won. This is because the winners write history and decide who did bad things during the war.

   As long as you keep winning there will be no questions asked about why Dresden, Tokyo or Nagasaki  were bombed with civilians  as the predominant  and obvious target for destruction. And that is why it is important not to overlook the crimes against humanity regardless when where and by whom  And by applying the same principles of UN resolution on genocide.

  At the risk of repetition, it may be helpful to emphasize this book’s central thesis that a possible key factor of our relatively limited knowledge of the genocidal aspects of Dresden Tokyo and Nagazaki is  our perception that these acts were not possible within the American paradigm.