Wilding (part 1)

US Warrior Culture

Wilding can be defined as behavior that undermines community and damages the social fabric (Derber, 2002). I contend that there are three major components that promote wilding in the United States: A capitalist “warrior culture” engaged in the never-ending acquisition of more resources, an unofficial “state” religion that reinforces “violence” as an acceptable means to an ends (legitimizing an everlasting war against “evil”), a political system created to favor the rich that creates a vast socioeconomic stratification between the have and the have-nots. These three components of wilding have been the cornerstones of American society since the seventeenth century. This first paper will address America’s “warrior culture”.

United States history is one of violence and warfare since its inception. War with the Native Americans began in 1637, with the virtual extermination of the Pequot in New England. The conflict against US indigenous peoples continued for 250 years finally ending December 29, 1890 with the bloody massacre at “Wounded Knee”.

During the two and a half centuries of “Indian Removal”, the US fought for and won its independence in 1776, defeated Britain again in the war of 1812, defeated Spain winning the U.S.-Mexico war in 1846 (annexing Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada) and fought the bloodiest war in United States history, the US Civil War. Less than forty years after the Civil War, a united, industrialized US provoked the Spanish-American War in 1898.

The Spanish-American War proclaimed to the rest of the world that the US had finally turned away from a century of isolationism and was now a major player in world affairs. The Spanish-American War was the beginning of US imperialism (the taking of colonies) with the US acquiring Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Within the next fifty years the US fought in World War 1 and World War 11. Since the end of WW11, the US attacked China (1945-46); Korea (1950-53); Guatemala (1954, 1967-69); Cuba (1959-60); Belgian Congo (1964); Vietnam (1961-73); Cambodia (1969-70); Grenada (1983); Libya (1986); El Salvador (1980-92); Nicaragua (1981-90); Panama (1989); Iraq (1991-04); Bosnia (1995); Sudan (1998); Yugoslavia (1999) and Afghanistan (2001-03).

The US was also involved in "a police action" in Columbia (1997-02), an insurrection in Chile (1973), and numerous other covert bombings under the direction of the CIA. From 1945 to the end of the 20th century, the U.S. has attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments and succeeded in crushing more than 30 populist movements who fought against intolerable dictators.

In the process, the US bombed 25 countries and killed several million people (Vidal 2002) The last fifty years of continual military conflict, combined with a insatiable capitalist mind-set of “I’m gonna get mine, now” has socialized Americans into a violent, warrior culture even now preparing to start yet another war with Iraq (Derber, 2002).

The US media, following in the capitalistic footsteps of newspapermen like Hearst and Pulitzer who perfected the “art” of yellow journalism, continue to offer more and more sensationalizing stories, whipping the public into a frenzy and promoting a warrior culture for the simple purpose of increasing circulation.

As we read in Charles Derber’s book, The Wilding of America, Hollywood also mirrors a cultural belief system that accepts violence as a way to solve its problems. From John Wayne to Sylvester Stalone and Mel Gibson, “good” violently over coming “evil” is ingrained in America’s collective consciousness. As I will show in my next journal entry, America’s values of “good fighting a never-ending war against evil” and “violence as a acceptable means of conflict resolution” are constantly reinforced by the State (unofficially) sponsored religion, Christianity.

The major difference between the “warrior culture” (fighting a never-ending war for peace) prevalent in US society, and the “peace culture” established in Sweden is one of nation wide peace education in public and private schools. Unlike the United States male dominated society, in Sweden, the equality of men and women has allowed for continued commitment in the peace agenda. Peace education programs include instruction in conflict resolution, cooperation and interdependence, global awareness; and social and ecological responsibility (Larsson 1985).

Peace education in the United States began in the early nineteenth century, promoted by a small group of New England educators, writers, and free thinkers who shared a vision of the world without war or violence. The many different Quaker sects established peace churches that echoed the non-violence sentiment. However, the US voice for peace was small and only marginally effective against an ever growing, capitalist howl. By the end of the Second World War, the US government and the massive US military/industrial complex had become inseparable.

In a country steeped in militarism and driven by an ever-growing military machine, United States peace education was maligned as being subversive. Peace educators who dreamed of a unified, peaceful world were considered un-American. The negative stigma for peace educators has continued in the US for the last five violent decades, fueled by the excesses of McCarthyism, Reganism and Bushism. The stigma of peacemakers being “anti-American” still greatly hampers the efforts of peace educators in the US to this day, and continues to legitimize America’s warrior culture (Vidal 2002).


Works Cited

Derber, Charles: The Wilding of America, Worth Publishers, New York, New York, 2002

Larsson, M: De arbetadefirfired: Kvinnofbreningar i Sverige medfired pj sitt program (They worked for peace: Women's associations in Sweden with peace on their agenda) Stockholm: F6rfattares Bokmaskin, 1985.

Vidal, Gore: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, Thunder’s Mouth Press, New York, New York, 2002