Garbage in, garbage out

The unmitigated pedantry blog recently posted about the "long peace" - the much reduced frequency of warfare, first in Europe, then worldwide, that started in 1815 with the end of Napoleon and has lasted (with a few interruptions) until now. The pedantry blog spoke approvingly of Azar Gat's work in providing an explanation of the Long Peace, and disapprovingly of Steven Pinker's bestseller "The Better Angels of Our Nature." I knew of the Pinker book but had never read it, and had never heard of Gat. I was intrigued by the explanation proffered in the blog, and decided to read Gat and Pinker. Which I have now done, and... Gat's argument about the long peace is interesting, but it's embedded in a steaming pile of authoritarian, fash-apologist garbage. Pinker's book makes almost exactly the same overarching fash-apologist argument, but with extra helpings of racism. What follows is my response to both author's discussion of human nature and war in prehistory. Their arguments about the "long peace" will have to wait for another post. This got long. ( Read more... )