Comments on: Coming Anarchy circa 2008: Exhibit A

By: Soob

Soob — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:54:52 +0000

The Strategist has an interesting counter-point. Seerov, in light of your above comment, you might be especially interested in reading it.

http://kotare.typepad.com/thestrategist/2008/03/the-dawn-of-war.html

By: Seerov

Seerov — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:22:54 +0000

This picture reminds me of the ethnography called “Dead Birds.” Many people mistakenly believe that warfare at the primitive level is only “ceremonial” which produces low rates of casualties. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Primitive societies in Africa, South America, and New Guinea inflict and sustain rather large amounts of casualties if one considers the scale of the society being studied. They also ambush children and have no remorse for doing so. These pictures look just like the battle scene from “Dead Birds.” Dead Birds is an anthropology classic. I’ve been forced to watch it at least 8 times.

By: Mitch H.

Mitch H. — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:26:39 +0000

IIRC from my old anthro courses, this sort of ritualized open-field battle tends towards low casualty rates, but it’s also usually accompanied by night-time raids which cause the vast majority of bloodshed.

In other words, the bows are cutely exotic, like a multi-cultural version of British soccer hooliganism. But it suggests that the tribal violence which kills is probably getting started in the darkness, with, yes, machetes and knives in the dark.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:06:09 +0000

With that out of my system, big question in my mind is: Why are the Maasai and Kalenjin fighting? Did the Maasai take the Kikuyu side in the recent conflict? Was there an intrusion of one group upon the other’s territory that wasn’t covered in the news reports?

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:55:56 +0000

Swap all their arrows for SCA-style golf tube arrows. Force the losers of the fights to pay for post-fight beer.

By: kende

kende — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:56:38 +0000

Yes, it’s very serious. But there is also something absurd about it. Maybe even more serious because of how absurd it is…

How does anyone bring a stop to this violence that at its root is so irrational? Its methods are thankfully irrational so far (there would be much greater carnage if they chose weaponry from a recent century), and while I think you are right in stressing that the implications towards a spiraling descent into much worse social collapse are worth looking at seriously (or at least that’s how I’m interpreting what you’ve said), I also think there is a benefit in disarming some of the seriousness of the concept of tribes attacking each other with bows and arrows. My immediate reaction along that line is just “You’ve got to be kidding me. Bows and arrows?”

When taking a bigger view and mapping out the whole problem, I can’t think of any better way to get this conflict to settle down than by starting with a reminder to ourselves that this kind of anarchy, while a default state of nature, does not need to be inherently unavoidable or impossible to counter. It’s a reminder that this whole thing is rooted in the choices of players outside of those focused on in this photo series. The tribes are acting out in reaction to not much more than the reactions of the tribes, and that is pretty absurd. By returning to that point it gives a contrast to what an alternative reality for this situation could be. I would say the joke of it all gives the start of an answer for how to resolve this mess.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:37:41 +0000

Dammit, you’re trying to be funny when this shit is serious! On one level we can be happy that the casualty rates are low, and as one friend noted, as these are following long-standing tribal rules of war, this is really a perverse version of primite sports.

By: kende

kende — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:12:04 +0000

Damn, I was just getting used to the idea…

The photo with the bows and arrows is just classic. I wonder how fast this innovative technology will spread to the rest of the continent.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:55:40 +0000

Corrected, thanks Kende.

By: kende

kende — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:04:09 +0000

Heh. Well that’s the problem right there. The seedbed of anarchy, even. Kenyans were in the mood for rebellion thanks to their displeasure at having their entire nation moved from East Africa to West Africa. If I were them, I’d be at least a bit disoriented too. How exactly this tremendous feat of geographic upheaval took place… :)