I refer you to my original blog of August 26, 2004 on the subject
and definition of humanicide, where I suggested:
“Humanicide is quite different from other forms of mass murder in
that there is no motive other than the destruction of large numbers of human
beings simply for its own sake. There is no attempt to rob the victims or steal
their land or women or anything else. They were not killed because they were
resisting. They were not taken prisoner, raped, tortured or otherwise abused.
They were simply killed for no reason other than for some perverted idea that
had nothing whatsoever to do with them…
For true humanicide you must have an innocent group of human
beings for victims. The victims must have nothing in common other than being
present at the time. The attackers must have no specific knowledge of who will
be present. You must have a motive that has nothing whatsoever to do with those
you are about to murder. It must be impersonal and involve some form of
relatively modern technology.”
I suggested that the Oklahoma City bombing and the attack on the
Twin Towers were examples of humanicide. It seems clear to me that the Boston
Marathon bombing is yet another example of this seemingly inexplicable
behavior, bizarre attacks on large numbers of human beings that have nothing
whatsoever to do with the attackers and only very distant connections, if any, to
their motives. The recent murders of school children in Sandy Hook, the Aurora,
Colorado theatre massacres, along with the Virginia Tech case and others might also
be considered also acts of humanicide, although in these cases there may have
been more understandable motives involved, such as personal revenge for past
slights or bullying. In any case, I believe mass murders like the Twin Towers
and Boson cases are a very recent phenomenon that did not occur prior to the
last of the 20th century and will quite likely become increasingly common
in the 21st century. Why this is so I do not know but I should think
the answer is of grave importance.
I think we may have seen the first inclinations of humanicide in
the bombings of Guernica, Dresden, and Nagasaki. These were not acts of humanicide
because they occurred for obvious military purposes, however terrible and
misguided they might have been. Technology obviously played a role in preparing
us for humanicide, as when warfare and plundering occurred previously it was
mostly a matter of face-to-face fighting where the enemy was obvious, the
outcome was expected, and the means of killing limited. Even bombs, if present,
were relatively small and inefficient. As far as I know there were no examples
of what I am now describing as humanicide. But the technology necessary to
carry out attacks of humanicide need not be highly sophisticated and its
existence cannot by itself explain the phenomena. It has to have something to
do with human behavior itself, especially as it relates to morality and human
attitudes towards each other, and importantly to the value placed on human life
in general. Prior to, and during the Middle Ages, human life, as such, was
obviously not regarded as terribly important, the Vikings and Mongols and
others raided, plundered, and killed with impunity. They may sometimes have
wiped out entire villages and killed virtually everyone there, but it was
obviously for the purpose of plunder. After the Enlightenment in the 17th
and 18th centuries, and up until recent times, the attitude towards
human life somewhat mellowed and the previous excesses were at least partly curbed.
Could it be said that we are now experiencing a return to a basic human nature
that just killed, raped, and plundered at will? I don’t think so, something
else seems to be involved.
Humanicide does not seem to involve much in the way of emotion.
The victims are not hated (I think and hope), there is not even an element of
sadism involved, empathy seems to be absent, ordinary moral strictures seem to
be irrelevant, there is a quality of complete detachment involved, nothing
material is to be gained, rape and robbery are not involved, no individuals or
groups are targeted as people of all races, ethnic backgrounds, religions and
beliefs are equally victims, and there appear to be no precedents for acts of
humanicide. So why do they occur, and with apparently increasing cases?
We have not yet heard from the one remaining bomber and, if he
chooses to remain silent, we may never hear from him. But what can he possibly
say to explain this heinous attack that would truly explain it? It was for a
“free Chechnia? It was because the U.S. is an immoral country? It was revenge
for U.S. involvements in the Middle East? It was part of a Muslim jihad? None
of these explanations, nor any explanation of this type, can possibly explain
it. No explanation I can conceive of forgives the basic fact that large numbers
of completely anonymous innocent people were destroyed. There are no political
or religious beliefs that justify humanicide, even anarchists would never
condone humanicide. As far as I know, no one, until recently, even conceived of
such mass acts of terror.
Is terror the answer? Is the purpose of such acts to strike terror
in the minds of all? We might say that, but does it make sense? What, after
all, is the purpose of terror? Terrorizing a population does not destroy it,
and, indeed, might well strengthen it. And you probably cannot effectively
terrorize millions, even billions of people. Terror as a tactic can never work
as the terrorized are still going to live and defend themselves. I doubt that
even the perpetrators of humanicide can adequately explain their senseless
acts. I do not know the answer to the fact of humanicide as a recent human
phenomenon. It may have something to do with the dehumanization that has come
with technology, the evolution of culture and its effects on aspects of human
nature such as basic emotional features like empathy, shame, guilt, beliefs
about the sanctity of life, and so forth.
If you ask someone who has just destroyed hundreds of fellow human
beings why he did it, and he replies he did it to save the world, protect the
children, bring democracy, or free Chechnia, or some other group, don’t believe
it. I want the perpetrators of humanicide to explain precisely and in serious
detail their justification for what they have done, simple political or
religious explanations are not enough, unless, perhaps they are so stupid and
vile they really do not know better.
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