On the Beauty of Violence

As a species, we are not good at moderation. We manage to pervert all good things. We turn food into an obesity problem. We turn sex into a perversity problem. We turn shelter into McMansions. But when the chips are down, this is a real tool that is very, very valuable. And it’s the reason there’s so damn many of us on the planet. I do not personally approve of war. I think war is to be avoided under almost all circumstances. But I also believe that group cooperative effort is essential. Ten small guys with spears bringing down a mastodon to feed the entire tribe is a pretty remarkable achievement. And maybe it’s not quite as remarkable as the five hundred guys who put up the Empire State Building with only three deaths, or whatever it was, but nonetheless, these are cooperative endeavors that harness not just organizational ability, but fundamental individual aggression for the good of the community. I don’t think those things are to be lightly thrown aside. I don’t think we would be benefited if we could breed a designed population of bovine people, of sheep who would follow and bleat and never rise up and complain.

--the great Katherine Dunn