The Instinct Of Pugnacity Analysis

The primal and violent nature of man has been exploited by governments throughout the ages. These evolutionary-based characteristics were fueled by propaganda and religiously-based arguments in an effort to mobilize the citizenry of the countries and enact “total war.” World War I was one of the first of its kind to utilize modern warfare that had soldiers fighting at higher stakes than ever before. Millions died at the hands of chemical and technological modern warfare and the inherent, animalistic, and violent tendencies of early man, presented themselves to show that the capacity to wage war was ever present in man. The findings of Freud, Ong, and McDougall are all applicable in the rallying behind World War I seen both in the advertising …show more content…
Britain in particular used the moral cause of German-ravaged Belgium, at the forefront of their moral propaganda. ideals were corrupted by both sides in an effort to incite war fever and a moral campaign. Targeted primarily at civilians, propaganda would be used to recruit new soldiers into the military, redeem public demand for the wartime effort, particularly for the Germans in light of starvation caused by the British blockade-induced, and dehumanize the enemy, seen with Great Britain’s portrayal of Germans as murderers and barbarians in caricatures. Of this dehumanization of the enemy through propaganda, Freud wrote in Der Witz and seine Beziehung zum Unbewusstenz that "By showing the enemy as small, low, despicable, comic, ridiculous, we give ourselves the enjoyment of …show more content…
These traits that humans carry within them make them more susceptible to violence against their fellow men and on the larger international scale. Over time, these animalistic tendencies have become refined by society to become more “reasonable,” yet it still leaves humans more at risk of being swept up in nationwide war fervor, as seen in the propaganda of World War I and belief in religious and superstitious aid from either higher powers or religious objects. Pacifism and nonviolent action are not strong enough substitutes for the overall reality of violence that surrounds the war effort, and in this culture, the primal propensity for violence is able to be harnessed and mobilized for the “total war”