Andrew, when I first said savagery is in the eye of the beholder, I was not really advocating a personal belief in any kind of relativism. I was saying it in the sense that there are so many differences of opinion about everything on this thread, I was sure some people would now want to have a huge debate about what is savage and what is not.
For example, I try to be vegetarian--this is a running struggle I have with myself. I could never ever kill an animal, though--well, maybe I could catch a fish and resist kissing it on the mouth and throwing it back, but I sure couldn't kill a bird or a mammal. I also believe that if you are going to eat animal flesh, you should really kill it yourself, because that is honest and direct and clear. So to me it is more savage for me to go to the store and buy clean, carved, plastic wrapped beef flesh than go out to the stockyard and slay a cow myself.
I guess savagery for me is sort of wrapped up with pretending and hypocrisy for me, because I think that when I can avoid looking at pigs spending their lives suffering in small pens, or can avert my eyes from children suffering, I am less likely to do something that I consider ethical and good.
I also think that is how the atrocities in Europe during World War II were achieved, because enough distance was created that people could convince themselves they were not happening. I think the first widely televised war, Viet Nam, was interesting in that public opinion here changed after the carnage was shown nightly on television.
I think I am really rambling here. None of these points is very well fleshed out or anything, and I am ill and a little drowsy. I just wanted to talk a little about what I meant by savagery--probably not the usual definition. |
