Word: humanization
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...first, the Review jumped on the bandwagon by denouncing itself, alleging that "it was an inside job" and pledging, in language that can only be described as Hitleresque, to root out the "human filth" that had typed in the Hitler quote. But a few days later, the magazine went on the offensive and began to push the dubious theory that anti-Review forces were somehow responsible. The usual suspects were trotted out to hint darkly of liberal agents provacateurs who had burrowed their way on to the review's staff. The Wall Street Journal devoted almost an entire editorial page...
...warrior peoples have fought for the same high-sounding reasons: honor, glory or revenge. The nature of their real and perhaps not conscious motivations is a subject of much debate. Some anthropologists postulate a ) murderous instinct, almost unique among living species, in human males. Others discern a materialistic motive behind every fray: a need for slaves, grazing land or even human flesh to eat. Still others point to the similarities between war and other male pastimes -- the hunt and outdoor sports -- and suggest that it is boredom, ultimately, that stirs men to fight...
...warrior culture it hardly matters which motive is most basic. Aggressive behavior is rewarded whether or not it is innate to the human psyche. Shortages of resources are habitually taken as occasions for armed offensives, rather than for hard thought and innovation. And war, to a warrior people, is of course the highest adventure, the surest antidote to malaise, the endlessly repeated theme of legend, song, religious myth and personal quest for meaning. It is how men die and what they find to live...
...Male candidates in some of the fall contests are finding their military records under scrutiny. No one expects them, as elected officials in a civilian government, to pick up a spear or a sling and fight. But they must state, at least, their willingness to have another human killed...
...collective fantasies center on mayhem, cruelty and violent death. Loving images of the human body -- especially of bodies seeking pleasure or expressing love -- inspire us with the urge to censor. Our preference is for warrior themes: the lone fighting man, bandoliers across his naked chest, mowing down lesser men in gusts of automatic-weapon fire. Only a real war seems to revive our interest in real events. With the Iraqi crisis, the networks report, ratings for news shows rose again -- even higher than they were for Panama...