"Evolution of Weaponry"

The Role of Weapons Evolution in Domestic Violent Crime

Acquired Violence Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AVIDS)

There are two filters that a human mind has to go through to kill at close range. The first filter is the forebrain. A hundred things can convince the forebrain to take gun in hand and go to a certain point: poverty, drugs, gangs, leaders, radical politics, and the social learning of violence in the media--magnified when the child is from a broken home and is searching for a role model. But traditionally, all of these influences slam into the resistance that a frightened, angry human being confronts in the midbrain. With the exception of sociopaths (who, by definition, do not have this resistance) the vast, vast majority of circumstances are not sufficient to overcome this midbrain safety net. But, if you are conditioned to overcome these midbrain inhibitions, then you are a walking time bomb, a pseudo-sociopath, just waiting for the random factors of social interaction and forebrain rationalization to put you at the wrong place at the wrong time.

An effective analogy can be made to AIDS in attempting to communicate the impact of this technology. AIDS does not kill people, it simply destroys the immune system and makes the victim vulnerable to death by other factors. The "violence immune system" exists in the midbrain, and conditioning in the media creates an "acquired deficiency" in this immune system, resulting in "Acquired Violence Immune Deficiency Syndrome" or AVIDS. As a result of this weakened immune system, the victim becomes more vulnerable to violence-enabling factors such as poverty, discrimination, drugs, gangs, radical politics, and the availability of guns.

In weapons technology terms this indiscriminate use of combat conditioning techniques on children is the moral equivalent of giving an assault weapon to every child in every industrialized nation in the world. If, hypothetically, this were done, the vast majority of children would almost certainly not kill anyone with their assault rifles; but if only a tiny percentage did, then the results would be tragic and unacceptable. But it is increasingly clear that this is not a hypothetical situation. Indiscriminate civilian application of combat conditioning techniques as entertainment has increasingly been identified as a key factor in the worldwide, skyrocketing violent crime rates outlined above. Thus, the influences of weapons technology can increasingly be observed on the streets of nations around the world.

ARTICLE CONTINUES  . . .

Jump to any section of this article: Select an article section Overcoming Physical Limitations Psychological Enabling Factors Psych Enabling Factors--Page 2 Psych Enabling Factors--Page 3 Enabling the Mind to Kill The Chariot The Phalanx The Roman System The Mounted Knight The Age of Projectile Weapons Weapons Lethality Advances in Medical Effectiveness Increases in Worldwide Violent Crime Military Conditioning as Entertainment Conclusion: The Future of Weapons Effectiveness Glossary of Terms Beginning of this Article

Read a different article: Teaching Kids To Kill Behavioral Psychology Psychological Effects of Combat Aggression & Violence Critical Incident Amnesia The Morality of Bombing On Killing II: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill Trained to Kill

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