A Russian proverb says that it is easier to destroy than to create. Just as
every life needs to be carefully nurtured and preserved, it can also be destroyed
and lost in an instant. Perhaps due to lack of sufficient knowledge in this
field, scientists seem strangely unable to grasp, foresee and adopt the necessary
solutions to prevent violence on a large scale.
Convict pelted to death by a bloodthirsty mob on the pillory.
The bull: a totured victim of the bloody ritual of bullfighting
The first step in a close study of the process of killing is to identify the
"objects" or victims - called "targets" by Professor R.
Baenninger (Temple University USA, 1991). In this way we can compile an endless
list of daily victims of ordinary people such as insects, fish, birds and other
animals.
As these living beings resemble their human counterparts anatomically, physiologically
and behaviourally, according to their evolutionary development human beings
may be seen to develop either as killers or as killers' clients.
To overcome the barrier of post factum analysis and have a better understanding
of the genesis of animals, we must explore the many factors which either prevent
or favour the transition from killing animals to killing people. To do this
the following points need to be considered:
1. Parents tend to encourage young children to acquire a habitual pattern
of destructive behaviour.
1. Those who grow up as killers, with a specific ideology and skills, can in
certain circumstances - well described by criminologists, sociologists and psychologists
- inflict that habitual act upon a non-habitual victim such as their fellow
human beings.
1. The individual action of a maniac, or the collective behaviour of street
gangs or militarists, is triggered and determined by a set of circumstances.
The following is proposed as a typical behavioural model for such aggression:
a. A man isolates and restricts his victims' qualities to a single one - out
of a chosen few - bad, black, dirty, harmful, etc. Likewise, he may focus his
attention on his own feelings of anger, greed, hatred, lust, sadism, etc., thus
narrowing his vision of his victim's qualities in order to justify his personal
motives: "He bothers me", "It's profitable", etc. - a phenomenon
comparable to viewing the victim through the sights of a gun.
a. The following stage may be to recall their previous victims (often animals),
uttering abuse driven by some imaginary symbol.
a. Finally, they will try to kill, help to kill or order to kill in the way
they usually do.
Alternatively, in what is described as the "friend - estranger" model,
the stranger is either "used" or killed.
People do to other animals what they are capable of doing to other humans. Cattle
farms and slaughterhouses are prototype concentration camps, there is a link
between the poisoning of insects and the manufacture of chemical weapons, and
so on. Military propaganda is full of slogans such as "Lousy intelligentsia",
"Russian pigs", "Fascist beasts", "Gusanos" (worms),
and so on.
Another way to stimulate a spirit of attack and induce human aggression is the
use of military paraphernalia with images of predatory animals on the various
emblems and state insignias of the military forces, as well as the names used
for weapons - the "Eagle" aeroplane, and so on.
This set of propositions reflecting the connection and transition between the
killing of non-human animals and the taking of human life may be further enriched
by many other views and related themes dealing with the impact and influence
of the act of killing upon a person's personality and character, allowing us
to comprehend and explain many aspects of terrorism, totalitarianism and the
way in which armies are structured and organised, as well as the root cause
of criminality, suicide, fear, depression and other human problems.
I will be glad to co-operate with anyone interested in this subject.
Thesis by S Mordynsky, adapted by the editor
[St. Petersburg Vegetarian Society, box 37, 191011 St. Petersburg, Russia. E-mail:
Natalia Tsobkallo lag@infopro.spb.su ]