This article really hit all areas when talking about vengeance. The author, Jared Diamond, had a great layout to make the reader relate to Daniel, the yearning-for-vengeance Handa. Diamond goes from Daniel's story(show how vengeance can become craved for and consumming) to Jean-Jacques Rosseau(to show theories and cirsumstances in which state governments arise) to Pearl Harbor to, my favorite section, his personal account of his late father-in-law, Jozef (to show how vengeance is dealt with by state governments) The following list, derived from the article, are definetly thought-provoking.
1. "...it took three years, twenty-nine more killings, and the sacrificeof three hundred pigs before Daniel succeeded in discharging their responsibility."
-Absolutely outstanding consequences and results for one death
2."...in 1964, most Higlanders still lived in thatched huts with walls of hand-hewn planks, and many wore grass skirts and no shirts..."
-Despite the National Geographis, hearing of uncivilized and unfound nations like this so recently in history was shocking to me.
3."...'The original cause of the wars between the Handa and Ombal clans was a pig that ruined a garden.'"
-Wow, this is what was fought over? Shows the extreme difference between our two cultures.
4."When they [American soldiers] came home, far from boasting about killing, as a Nipa tribesman would, they have nightmares and never talk about it at all, unless to other veterans...[American] soldiers who killed Japanese[after Pearl Harbor] in particularly large numbers or with notable bravery were publicly decorated with medals, and those who dies in combat were posthumously remembered as heroes."
-Diamond shows how Americans have, in fact, shared feelings of triumph through inflicting death.
5."If New Guineans end up feeling unconflicted about killing the enemy, it's because they've had no contrary message to unlearn."
-This one confused me, so I considered it thought-provoking...
6."...'If we have found that a woman married into our clan was squealing, we would have tied her up and burned her with hot wire and hot pieces of wood...woman married into our clan who squealed; they all remained loyal to us, not to their blood relatives." "...we can tear down the hut to force the enemy to come out so that we can kill him. But it's not acceptable to set fire to the hut and burn him to death."
-Not even going to start on this one. All I can say is that it shows a nation with women who do not have many rights and are regarded as shit, basically.
7."In a public fight...both men and women on the other side sing out unexpected words, which you can hear from far away and which make you feel badly. They'll sing, 'We killed your brother, and he was a coward."
-Reminded me of the playing field in sports.
8."When I asked Daniel how he felt about the battle in which Isum became paralyzed, his reaction was unapologetically positive: a mixture of exhiliration and pleasure in expressing aggression. He used phrases such as 'It was very nice," and his gestures projected euphoria...'"
-Sounds inhumane to me...but maybe it is what is deeply rooted in all of us---just not expressed and subliminally supressed.
9."...we were trapped in our endless cycles of revenge killings."
-If he realized this, then it shows that he was too weak to try to do anything about it.
10."We regularly ignore the fact that the thirst for vengeance is among the strongest of human emotions...state societies and their associated religions and moral codes teach us that seeking revenge is bad."
-TRUE!