Un-Civilizing America

Introduction

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

—Voltaire

History doesn't tell us who made the first falafel … or how Cleopatra felt when Marc Antony kissed her on the lips. But it does tell us that the Elamites slew the people of Uruk and the Amorites slew the Sumerians. Then, the people of Uruk slew the people of Kish. Or was it the other way around? In any case, at least the Bible is clear about it: Cain slew Abel.

And take a look at the Kennewick Man, a human skeleton discovered in Washington State in 1996. He lived around 9400 BCE. He died when another human shot him with an arrow.

The royal tomb at Ur, one of the oldest cities in the world, shows the pattern was already well developed in 2600 BCE.

Discovered at that site during the original excavation in 1922 was a wooden box with a frieze carved into it. This “Standard of Ur” depicts an army of soldiers, horses, and war chariots attacking an unidentified enemy. Soldiers are run down by the chariots. Others are led before the king to be sent into slavery, tortured, or executed.

On a stone stele discovered not far away in southern Iraq, it is recorded that Eannatum, king of Lagash, conquered the city of Umma.

On this “Stele of the Vultures,” as it is called, we see the victorious phalanx marching over the bodies of the defeated enemies … with buzzards picking at the severed heads underfoot. That was in 2450 BCE. By then, this ...