Violence as a survival instinct

By Dr Pius Musau For centuries, mankind has engaged in acts of violence sanctioned by such ideologies as religion and politics. In the wild, animals basically fight for food, mating rights and territorial lordship.

Man is just an animal capable of clothing his body and emotions and once the thin veneer of civilisation is peeled off, you find that one or more of these reasons heavily influence all human fights. With 1.5 million people annually lost to violence globally, analysts think that there has never been a more peaceful time as today.

Basis of violence Psychologists believe that mankind is wired to violence and all are capable of it irrespective of gender. It is thought that we are what we went through during our stay in the womb, during labour, the delivery and early postnatal period.

The suffocating helplessness, frustrating encounters with unyielding pelvic bones and states of intermittent exposures to strains and pain find similar experiences at our family, tribal and national levels. It is our advancement on the plane of civilisation that causes inhibition to aggression.

This inhibition is overcome by such triggering factors as threat

Marriage as a model Marriage was conceptualised primarily as a means to eliminate conflict over the most common survival activity involving more than one person. Sex is mandatory in the propagation of animal species and the emotive drive that comes with it goes beyond the desire for pleasure.

The proclamation of exclusivity, just like constitutional provisions, confers a sense of harmony among people. In the early days, when men were responsible for provision of the essentials of life, women were dependent on them. Substituting governments for the role men played, we know today people, just like women, are less tethered to bad governance.

It is now known that marriage or systems of governance don’t necessarily make people happy, since happy marriages and good governments make people live in a state of mutual respect for rights and obligations.

The countries in which ideas are suppressed, social liberties curtailed and the strong have their way are the countries where violence is domesticated. Once survival values are eliminated in human encounters, those involved automatically regress into the instinctive behaviours of threatened animals and violence ensues. The brute force of the caveman is what then filters to the rest as news of massacres.

The writer is a Consultant Urologist and Lecturer at the Department of Surgery, Moi University, and School of Medicine.