Human nature is complex. Even if we do have inclinations toward violence, we also have inclination to empathy, to cooperation, to self-control.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
We really are creatures of a violent world, biologically speaking - watching violence and learning about it is one of our cognitive drives.
Our aggression is a deep instinct which survives in all kinds of manifestations in modern man.
Aggression is inherently destructive of relationships. People and ideologies are pitted against each other, believing that in order to survive, they must destroy the opposition.
But does that mean that war and violence are inevitable? I would argue not because we have also evolved this amazingly sophisticated intellect, and we are capable of controlling our innate behavior a lot of the time.
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
When we can lay down our fear and anger and choose responses other than aggression, we create the conditions for bringing out the best in us humans.
In our struggle to restrain the violence and contain the damage, we tend to forget that the human capacity for aggression is more than a monstrous defect, that it is also a crucial survival tool.
All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do.
Even in the most peaceful communities, an appetite for violence shows up in dreams, fantasies, sports, play, literature, movies and television. And, so long as we don't transform into angels, violence and the threat of violence - as in punishment and deterrence - is needed to rein in our worst instincts.