Conflict 011115

It has been generally accepted that babies are born as blank slates where everything is yet to be written.   Science has proven newborns are more like blackboards covered with fine chalk dust left by prenatal experiences. Acknowledging Genes, DNA, mothers who listen to classical music or abuse drugs, all babies are open to environmental input and delivered into a human world at war with itself.

From the days of the cavemen type "A" personalities have risen to leadership by blaming "Those" other people.  The first marks on babies' slates are about fear, anger and hate.  Those ancient leaders conditioned their followers to the ideas that it was Those other people who are responsible for all the troubles.  Over time and despite "civilized enlightenment" demonization continues to seize whole populations.  Conflicts raged to exhaustion only to rise again on new generations repeating old allegations.

By age 12 children have developed most of their core values and beliefs.  The scribbling on the slates come from parents, schoolmates, politicians and doom merchants. Few ever question the truth of various claims because they are constantly reinforced within a given culture.  The other guys are evil; they are responsible for all your woes.  Similar to Stone Age leaders, modern opinion mavens amplify, broadcast and focus attention on Those people and away from their own failures.  The demonization spans generations and it is difficult to break the convenience of suspicion and blame of Those people.

Early Christians found it convenient to blame the Jews for all their troubles.  Hundreds of years later these spurious charges directly led to the Holocaust.  For a while after the end of WWII anti Semitic rhetoric died down but the old claims are again being widely circulated.  The Cold War began decades before there ever was a Soviet Union.  Marx published his manifesto as the world began to industrialized and emerging capitalist sized on its rumored contents to attribute all labor disputes as foreign Communist inspired.  When the Soviets overthrew a corrupt regime in Russia the capitalist found communist revolutionaries behind every rock to justify violent suppression of workers.  Decades of demonizing Communism prevented any peace as the Soviets gave in to their own fears and demonic rhetoric. The Soviet Union has been gone for almost three decades but old cold warriors on all sides are again stirring the same old rhetorical pot.

Everyone has had a shot at bringing peace between Israel and Palestine over the decades but that conflict lingers.  While the antagonist have grown old and seek a settlement the babies born during the conflict were conditioned by mutual demonization and now keep the culture of conflict spinning across the region.

All efforts to break the free of racism, xenophobia and the quest for political advantages are doomed to fail by the constant regeneration of ancient fears.  Resolution intentions are at the mercy of politicians, clerics, business interest and media characters that see it is in their own interest to socialize new generations into the culture of conflict.