The power of vengeance

I just finished an article in the New Yorker (Apr. 21) by Pulitzer prize-winning author Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel).  He contrasts tribal societies' behavior around revenge with that of countries with stronger government control.  New Guinea is his example of a society where tribal disputes are settled personally, with each killing demanding a revenge-killing by the victim's relative.  This causes an endless state of war, with people demonizing enemy tribes and constantly fearing for their lives. 

In contrast, more developed countries' meting out of justice by an impersonal government allows us the luxury of peace, and allegiance to that is ingrained in us from an early age by religion and law.  While New Guinea children are taught that to die avenging one's enemy is the most honorable death one can have, American kids are taught to rise above revenge by sayings like "Two wrongs don't make a right;" "Love thy neighbor as thyself," "Do unto others....," and "Sticks and stones will break your bones...".   

However, Diamond shows that we're not so different from tribal societies once we go to war.  Then we do our share of demonizing and dehumanizing the enemy to take our revenge.  And once war is over, we go back to curtailing our desire for revenge and again trying to rise above it.  Diamond says this is deeply confusing, not least because vengeance is a very powerful emotion.  Equally powerful emotions of grief, anger, and love are amply aired in our society, but we don't talk about our desire for revenge.  This is an emotion that has been made shameful by our laws and religion.   

I think Diamond has put his finger on why those who fought WWII were so quiet about it when they came back.  There was such a disparity between the savagery they'd experienced and what was expected of them when they returned: to paste on a smile and build the peace, make up for lost time, that they couldn't talk about their sorrow or anger for lost comrades, the hatred of the enemy that was necessary for them to fight, and other dark thoughts.  Our Christian ethics made these thoughts unseemly.   

And another thing that reduced our returning soldiers to silence was the euphemistic way WWII was purveyed to civilians by the media.  Newspapers thought their readers wanted heroes, so stories of men taking out Japanese singlehandedly led the headlines. The gruesome side of war was left out, so that returning soldiers felt their experience of savagery was untranslatable to folks back home.  And that made them despair of ever telling it. 

Everyone I've ever talked with whose parents went through the war said the same thing: there was almost no talk about it except in very general terms for the rest of their parents' lives.  And because WWII was probably the most cataclysmic experience of their parents' lives, this silence was doubly strange.   

Our opposite stance to vengeance in war vs. peace still causes hesitance between military personnel and civilians.  At least I experience this when I talk with today's soldiers and sailors.  We don't talk freely about provocative subjects of war, vengeance, and what it takes to maintain peace.  But we should.   

One of the best things about researching my dad's service was beginning to have this dialogue.  I realized that people who have served have thought long and hard about these subjects.  They've had to.  They've lived it, and come home to silence.                      

Comments

[joared]

This is one of the books I'm reading now -- also have a couple more of his to get to, "Collapse" and "Why Is Sex Fun?" Will have to come back and read what you've written here later, but recall hearing extended discussion with the author on Bill Moyers' PBS program some time ago referencing issues you mention -- stimulated my interest for the book "Guns...etc."

Right now, I'm busy reading a really fascinating book titled "Full Fathom Five." Had hoped to finish it over the previous weekend but other issues have interrupted.

Am really impressed with your presentation of the many political factors preceding and during WWII. I'm also angered by how the submariners were not always provided the maximum types of support they needed -- distressed by the pressures brought to bear on vessel commanders.

I certainly agree with the commenter on an earlier post who noted how readable and understandable with layman language you've made the experience of being a submariner.

[Anne]

My Dad fought in WWII, he was on one of the first troop ships from Canada to Britain and returned in 1946. One of my best friends' parents lived in the Netherlands through the German occupation. We compare notes on growing up with parents who experienced the war first hand and we agree that it was the elephant in the livingroom of both our childhoods. Nothing was ever said but it coloured everything, we only realized as adults the huge impact of war not only on our parents but on our own generation as well.

[ml]

Anne:
Your comment is spot-on. I had no idea that the weird silence in our house growing up, plus my stepfather's frequent nightmares, were vestiges of WWII. Nor did it dawn on me that I had been shaped by these responses and thus by the war until I started asking questions about what happened to my real father; I'm chagrined to say that all that didn't happen until I was in my mid-fifties! This personal experience, plus the information I've gathered interviewing other post-war generation adults, leads me to believe that that post-war silence was pervasive, impenetrable, and enduring.
And Joared: glad to hear you're reading that fascinating book! Thanks for the feedback.

[Terri]

I can add my experience as the same of others here.
My dad did talk about WWII and the Normandy Invasion that he was a part of. But I always got the "softer" side of war....the little German girl that the US soldiers gave oranges to. The humorous joke that my dad played on a shop owner in Paris that "backfired" because the shop owner had the same thing in mind.
It's not until recently that I realized I never got the "real" story from my dad about the War or the Invastion. Like his emotions, thoughts, etc. And now, of course, with my dad gone, I'll never get the answers to subjects that just were not talked about for all those years after he came back from WWII.
Concerning vengence...I've always felt that every human being has a "dark" side, so to speak. Hopefully, it doesn't emerge until it's necessary. But I think during war it insidiously surfaces and allows those fighting the war to do what they have to do without guilt during a truly ugly time.

[mythster]

I recently returned from a month in Vietnam with thoughts about war, revenge and Karma. The French invaded and occupied Vietnam (or "Indochine" as they called it) for
almost 90 years and then the Vietnamese fought for nine years to expel the invaders.

The English left India quietly and with grace and dignity and most of the other European colonists did the same in their Asian and African colonies but the French did it the "hard way" in Vietnam and later repeated their performance in Algeria. It's a good thing (for the French) there's no such thing as "collective or national karma"