Human Nature

For the past week in my Anthropology class we have been discussing human nature, specifically if violence is inherent to human nature. For this we were using A Long Way Gone as an example.

Many people contended that violence was not part of human nature and something that occurred in extreme situations such as Beah’s. However, some of us were also of the opinion that everyone is capable of violent acts, such as the ones Beah committed; a person just has to be pushed to their limits.

I am going to compare two very different cultures, America and Sierra Leone, and how cultures shape human behavior.

In American culture violence seems to be all around us from sporting events and big screen movies to causality reports from the wars. Maybe we live in a culture of violence or at least a culture of fear, which often leads to violent actions. So when I heard of the man in Washington State shooting his five children and then himself after his wife told him she was leaving him, it was just another story of someone who snapped and honestly I was not very shocked. These stories of shootings run rampant on the evening news, along with other grisly news from around the world. We see it, we internalize it, and we move on. What we see in our culture most definitely affects our mental well-being and can shape our actions. The idea of shooting another person seems less extreme, when somebody is being shot on every other channel on TV.

This brings me to Sierra Leone and Beah’s experience. From his description of Sierra Leone in his childhood it seemed rather peaceful. Close communities and strong standards of respect for their elders. From the picture described by Beah this was not a culture prone to violence, as we could argue more so about American culture. However, between political corruption and an aggressive revolutionary movement this seemingly peaceful culture erupted into one of fighting and distrust. Many people saw this degeneration of their culture and their loss of love ones and became capable of horrible acts themselves. At one point in A Long Way Gone Beah says,

“My mind had not only snapped during the first killing, it had also stopped making remorseful records, or so it seemed.” (Beah 122).

For Beah to act out as horribly as he did it had taken the slaughter of his family, friends, and culture and for James Harrison it took a little bad news and perhaps the bad economy. There seems like a vast difference in cause and effect there. My point being that some cultures may be more prone to violence. But regardless of culture it seems anyone who is pushed enough can be capable of violent behavior. Although how far someone has to be pushed before they act out, may depend on the culture. Over all these examples do show that nearly everyone is capable of violence and it is an aspect of human nature. We can all say we would never do such a thing, but Beah also thought that.

sources:
Beah, Ishamel. A Long Way Gone. New York: 2007.
US Father ‘shoots his children’

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