Not long ago I visited Athens for the first time. And as I expected, I was awed by the remnants of the ancient civilization that was centered there. Even today, the jigsawed temples, theatres and other structures are achievements worthy of the gods themselves. When you see these partial edifices, you can’t help thinking how much grander it would be if we could see them unspoiled. And it’s all the more pity when you realize that their ruinous state is not entirely due to the attrition that is a symptom of the disease known as Time. Some of the damage was inflicted intentionally, by human hands — if humanity could be said capable of doing such a thing.
Some of the mayhem was the byproduct of looting — most notoriously by Lord Elgin, who hijacked some of the Parthenon’s stone goodies and liberated them to Great Britain, where they remain to this day. Some of it was accidental, such as, possibly, the explosion during an armed conflict in 1687 that, more than any other event, resulted in the classic state of disrepair we currently observe. But some of it was just deliberate, wanton, soldiers-will-be-soldiers destruction, such as the invading Persians wrought in 480 BCE, when they pulled down statues, demolished temples, burned houses, and in general did everything they could to raze the vanquished city to the ground (with a mission accomplished rating very near a hundred percent).
As infuriating as this is, it’s really not at all surprising. There is nothing the least bit novel or out of the ordinary about wanton destruction. In fact, it’s really the rule rather than the exception. Whenever one powerful group of people comes into contact with another group of people less powerful, the first instinct is often to murder, rape, pillage and desecrate. Not necessarily because it’s human nature to do such things — at least not all humans — but because invaders and conquerors are often led by the worst specimens of humanity. As a result, they leave a swath of devastation in their path to the glory of conquest and rule.
That may have been what happened to the legendary library of Alexandria. The Visigoths did it to Rome. The Romans did it to Carthage. The Mongols under Genghis Khan did it to Baghdad and other cities, obliterating libraries and mosques in the process. The Spanish did it to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. The crusaders did it to Constantinople. The British did it to the Summer Palace in Beijing. The Nazis did it to the Warsaw Ghetto, and other places. Jihadists did it to Timbuktu. U.S. forces did it to Native Americans, and then to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, deliberately choosing “virgin targets” in order to better assess the destructive force of their powerful new toy.
But not all destroyers go after buildings, monuments, cities and villages, books or works of art. Some of them go after institutions, organizations, alliances, programs. Anything that might be of benefit to a large number of people is a prime target for malicious marauders. Such as, say, the Department Of Education. Or USAID. Or the National Endowment for the Arts. Or DEI initiatives. Or FEMA. Or Social Security. Or national parks. Or public libraries. Or health care. Or ACORN. Or Planned Parenthood. Or the Kennedy Center.
Destructive urges are also directed toward people themselves — always the most vulnerable sectors of society. Gays, transgenders, pregnant teenagers, refugees. It may not be feasible to actually kill such individuals, but you can at least make their lives as miserable as possible — and perhaps even bring about their deaths indirectly. You’ve heard that “cruelty is the point”, and that’s often true; but so is devastation. They are twin pillars of the lust for power. It’s no coincidence that Genghis Khan, in the course of laying waste to every settlement in his path, reportedly remarked that one of his biggest joys was seeing the tears from the loved ones of his victims.
Nowadays, of course, the perpetrators often don’t admit their destructive and sadistic motives. Instead, they claim to be acting in the interests of “efficiency”, of preventing “waste”, of saving the victims from themselves, of protecting the country from some them or other. But when they use phrases like “I have a mandate” or “pack your bags” or “it’s our due” or “there’s a new sheriff in town”, it’s a dead giveaway that the real purpose of their actions is to feed an insatiable and twisted ego by conquering, subjugating, brutalizing and eliminating. It isn’t enough for megalomaniacs to build palaces, towers and border walls as monuments to themselves. They must also tear down what other people have worked hard to build up.
To be clear, when we call them “powerful” what we mean is that they are in positions of power. It absolutely does not mean that they themselves are strong. On the contrary, it generally means that they feel the need to compensate for their inadequacies with big guns, big trucks, flashy cars, cowboy gear, military cosplay, and icons of themselves in superhero guises. And of course flexing the muscles of those they command as often and as brutally as possible. Destruction is the disguise worn by the weak to make themselves appear to be strong.
The Propaganda Professor 
3/29/2025
Why do so many of we humans have obsessive urges for destruction? Possibly because many of us still see the need to survive as the only path safety.
Remember the opening scenes of (2001 a Space Odyssey), in which our hominid ancestors huddled together for warmth and protection while fearing all the threatening unknowns in their environment?—until they discovered that being part of a group, not just as individuals, was best way to protect themselves. Then, when the large mysterious Monolith appeared as a message from beings vastly more intelligent than humans. But after they dared to touch it, a frightening noise made them retreat, and soon after that, our ancestors discovered that the bone of a dead animal could be used as a weapon against other animals and tribes who threatened to steal their food and territory with brute force. So, maybe the same threats are still at play between modern men, because our first close relatives go back only 6 or 7 millions years until a spark of intelligence changed everything.
Science fiction is just science fiction, but today we all know the many positive ways that being part of a larger groups can give us the means to survive. However, perhaps we are not yet evolved enough to give up those essential needs obtained as parts of a group mentality, which is limited to physical survival, fear, and violence towards those who threaten us.
Currently although we have advanced science knowledge by leaps and bounds compared to previous centuries, we still don’t know how to resist the mesmerizing drum beat that dictators and autocrats use to hypnotize us, using the power of kings, emperors, grand poohbas, or corrupt religious leaders who belong to the same extended human species as we do? Yet any government we choose to accept, no matter how destructive and/or violent, can only exist if we give our permission for it to govern us—something preliminary and typical of many human societies and cultures which are run by devious leaders who hide their greed and self-centered ambitions long enough to be elected. And any of us can also add a long list of things we are willing to do, as supposedly tolerant members of a democracy society–even if we are not beaten into compliance i.e (we steal, manipulate, and kill our fellow human beings in the name of patriotism).
A friend of mine once told me to consider that without us, the dictators, kings, and authoritarians throughout history couldn’t control us, if we just learned how to use critical thinking to avoid being hooked by greedy leaders seeking to gain control over all of us, primarily to enhance their own personal powers and financial gains.
Trump is such a guy, and now we are seeing what many politically aware human beings have known all along, such as those mentioned in the lyrics of 1960s recording artist, Buffy St. Marie, and this is not an exact quote–“We are the universal soldiers who give our bodies as the weapons for their wars? Without us how could Hitler have condemned them at Dachau? Without us Cesar would have stood alone!”….it comes from you and him and me, and brothers can’t you see, this is not the way to put an end to War!”
Yes, this is currently just interestingly stated idealism and most of us realize that wars will go on and on no matter what we as individuals do, but the essence of it is that we must find ways to educate ourselves enough to avoid the clutches of greedy leaders. So, although my temper often flares when I try to reason with MAGA true believers, I know that facts do exist, and that the extent to which they are pivotolly used can cause real changes in human behavior–even if only a few of of us are initially receptive to an artist’s heartfelt message, because they, and all the rest of us, could end every last Goddamn war.
Currently many members of fundamentalist faiths have willingly letting the wool be pulled over their eyes and see Trump as the vast fulfillment of some divine purpose, but if we look a little further than that, we see that Trump is a power hungry salesmen who enlist our help in establishing his own autocratic heaven on Earth. However, for those of us who refuse to drink the kool-aid, the followers of greedy leaders are becoming more and more visible as people who have forfeited their lives by embracing persuasive propaganda that can never be disputed, as long as they believe anyone who disputes it must somehow be motivated by the utterly unproven existence of a dark state.
The answers are in our willingness to give up negative ego hangups, in favor of a more difficult but rewarding willingness to see human beings become more tolerant, compassionate, and loving.
In High school, as a thin non-athletic young man, I was humiliatingly bullied with kicks in the butt and other inescapable aggressive actions from a classmate who had complimented me just one year earlier.
We now see kids being bullied at school and then on their cellphones or PCs all evening long– in very hurtful ways that never seem to end. So the answer is in the hands of parents and educators who understand that the psychological causes of bullying are right here in our own hands. Otherwise the obsessive urge for destruction, will destroy our peace of mind. our humanity, and perhaps, even our ability to love?
Peter W. Johnson
Superior, WI.