> It's not amped up actually. The degree of butchery that goes on in historical outbreaks of violence is astonishing to the post-19th century mind. Mass executi

> It's not amped up actually. The degree of butchery that goes on in historical outbreaks of violence is astonishing to the post-19th century mind. Mass executions of enemies and conquered cities (and accompanying rape and pillage) happened with regularity in some parts of history. "... in some parts of history"? Atrocities like that have never ended - human nature doesn't change. In the civil wars in western and southern Africa, rape is regularly used as a weapon of war. We all know the kind of massacres IS has been committing. I don't know an awful lot about Genghis Khan, but I'm pretty sure the machete-wielding executioners of the Rwandan genocide must have been just as effective. That kind of violence has nothing to do with the time period in which you live, there's nothing magic about the post-19th century world/mind. It's about humans being, well, inhuman. And that, unfortunately, can include pretty much everybody.