Somehow I did not think you were going to be in complete agreement with me, Fraggle! I do not know why you tell me I am describing a "mythic" figure. Healthy societies have honoured the Warrior throughout history. The virtues, above all of courage and comradeship, which are most enhanced in the Warrior class are part of what being human, at its best, embraces. If you have never felt the tangy bloody taste of danger and excitement in your mouth, and felt the adrenaline pump through your veins anaesthetizing against both fear and pain, then you have not properly lived. When a society ceases to honour the Warrior, only the element of violence in human behaviour persists, disruptive and undirected. Today in Western society we see a feminization of values; the triumph of unlimited pity and the fear of death. We see wretched unhealthy babies, sick and deformed, kept miserably alive by medical treatment that it will take the productive output of a dozen healthy beings to pay for. Such a society grows as sick and deformed itself. Inter-tribal battle long kept the populations of many parts of the world within the limits afforded by resources. Parts of Africa which were close to being the Garden of Eden a hundred years ago, luxurient in growth, now look like semi-desert. The White Man (the outsider) imposed pacification. Without war, the population exploded and brought poverty. Without war, men were deprived on the exhilaration of battle. Saul hath killed his thousands, And David hath killed his tens of thousands. I Samuel 18:7.
Erm, exactly what parts of Africa haven't been in White Man induced conflict for the past half century? And conflict for millenia before that?
Your reasoning is something like: Africans were at war, which made Africa an eden. Then it was pacified, making it suck. Have you ever picked up a newspaper? What part of Africa is without strife? The whole continent has been mired in bloodshed and ceaseless war since the colonial powers pulled out. And the conflict isn't helping anyone. If you calculate daily caloric intake from wealth levels, you find that during periods of war, Africa is the least eden-like. It is actually "hellish".
This is simply untrue. Many countries suffer from banditry and occasional rioting, but populations do not quadruple (and more) during periods of inter-tribal warfare. The White Man's superiority in weaponry made battle unequal and led to the undermining of noble and brave warrior traditions that had persisted for many centuries. Since the White Man departed, it has been the State that has possessed the White Man's weapons and, since the battle remains unequal, it has usually been possible to deter warfare. Take a country like Malawi. The population grew when the nation (as Nyasaland) was under British control, but the country was still lush and bountiful when the British left. Now thirteen million people are turning into a wilderness what was once a Garden of Eden for two or three million. The elderly recall the golden times of their youth when the living was easy. The quality of life now is far below that experienced in the days of tribal warfare before the White Man came. The self-esteem enjoyed by the warrior who had proved himself in battle is replaced by the weary hopelessness of the scavenger.
