![]() ![]() ![]() in Iraq and Syria - already quite high under Obama - has increased precipitously during the first two months of the Trump administration. And as Glenn Greenwald wrote yesterday :Īlthough precise numbers are difficult to obtain, there seems little question that the number of civilians being killed by the U.S. Such absolution is especially unwarranted, given that the new commander-in-chief (our euphemism for tribal warlord) presiding over these airstrikes has spoken of wanting to relax the rules of engagement intended to mitigate the likelihood of civilian casualties. And it is rank tribalism to regard “accidental” civilian massacres to be acceptable, simply because the victims are foreigners. Again, savagery is characterized by collectivist violence. Neither is the crime absolved by the fact that the civilians were not the targets of the strike, but were “collateral damage” in a war against the savages of ISIS. The act was no less barbaric for the facts that the attacker was an American military pilot, the victims were Iraqis, and the city was Mosul. Airstrikes elsewhere in that city killed another 100 civilians. A different tribal warrior got behind the controls of an aircraft and dropped a bomb on a building, killing over 130 civilians: men, women, and children. ![]() That very same week, another savage attack on civilians occurred in a different city. The twin savageries of state warfare and terrorism (non-state warfare) are intimately related. Just as individual rights and harmony are the essence of civilization, collectivist (tribal) warfare is the essence of savagery. He looked on his victims as a savage warrior looks on members of a rival tribe: not as fellow individual civilians with rights, much less potential trading partners, but as members of an enemy population to be eradicated. Through the crowd’s harmony and spontaneous order, he cut a swath of carnage and chaos. Massood’s attack was a barbarian invasion of this civilized scene. And in all of the above respects, the London metropolis is one of the greatest centers of civilization in human history. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life for there is in London all that life can afford.”Ĭivilization is most vividly represented by the human city. Peaceful economic cooperation, including foreign trade, creates material abundance, thanks to which civilians (and city dwellers especially) can afford cultural and leisurely pursuits: like taking a stroll on Westminster Bridge, where you can pose for pictures with Big Ben in the background.Īs Samuel Johnson wrote in 1777, “You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. Indeed, in addition to Britons, the victims who had been intermingling peacefully on the bridge, according to The Telegraph, “included four South Koreans, three French children, two Romanians, two Greeks and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, Italy, China and America.” There the Jew, the Mohammedan, and the Christian deal with each other as if they were of the same religion, and give the name of infidel only to those who go bankrupt” and you will see representatives of all nations gathered there for the service of mankind. The advantages of commerce breeds tolerance, even among people of widely different cultures. And indeed, before the attack, the strangers on the bridge were surely rubbing along peacefully and politely, making for each other all the subtle adjustments in path and pacing that pedestrians make every day on urban thoroughfares all around the world. Thus, Ludwig von Mises regarded the division of labor as the ultimate source of civilization. The division of labor breeds economic interdependence, which in turn breeds civility and mutually-recognized individual rights. Leslie Rhodes, who was sent flying into the air and crashing head-first into the pavement, was a retired window washer. She was rescued by boat operators (who thus distinguished themselves as eminent civilians) and is in serious condition. Andreea Cristea, who was forced off the bridge and into the River Thames, is an architect. And indeed, Massood’s victims were almost all specialized producers. The Westminster Bridge pedestrians represented civilization: the way of life of the civilian.Īs I explained in a recent essay, the core of civilization is the division of labor. Here we have a vivid representation of civilization versus savagery. Khalid Massood then left the car and lethally stabbed one more victim before being fatally shot by police. Last Wednesday afternoon, a malicious savage got behind the wheel of a car and plowed through a crowd of strolling civilians on London’s Westminster Bridge. ![]()
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