4 ms·

Sebastian Junger might disagree: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/sebastian-junger-knows-why-young-men-go-to-war-f163804cbf6 https://medium.com/war-is-boring/se

• hitekker 12y ago
  Right. Specific quote that highly relates to the OP: "He tells me about a primatologist friend of his who studies chimpanzees. He began to study how chimpanzees wage war. “He was literally told by a fellow academic, ‘You’re undermining the cause of peace,’” Junger recounts."
• asgard1024 12y ago
  Thanks, that was an interesting article. Yet, in the light of the OP, it also seems to be tied to specific American culture. It seems that there are societies (like in Europe) where going to war doesn't have so much that connotation of "being a man". Maybe they just do the ritual differently, for example, in Nordic countries, by trekking and hill-climbing. Now that I think about it, I am not sure this article is in disagreement with OP. The OP argues that war is a capacity, not some given natural trait. This article claims that people have need for "the ritual of manhood", whatever that is, but doesn't claim it has to be "going to a war". So even Junger may consider the war to be a capacity.
  • joshuapants 12y ago
    > Maybe they just do the ritual differently, for example, in Nordic countries, by trekking and hill-climbing. ... or by compulsory military service
  • s_q_b 12y ago
    Nordic cultures have quite the history of the passage to manhood being warfare...