Myth as a Mirror of Conflict and Violence Essay

Myth as a Mirror of Conflict and Violence - Essay Example For the first century and a half of our national existence, our relations with the people of the Middle East were largely beneficent and protective, not withstanding our conflict with the Barbary Pirates in North Africa. But Islamic civilization was on a downward trajectory that could not be arrested. Its social and economic structures, its values, its neglect of education, its lack of scientific curiosity, the indolence of its ruling classes and its inability to produce a single modern state that served its people all guaranteed that, as the West's progress accelerated, the Middle East would fall ever farther behind. The Middle East has itself to blame for its problems. Conflict and violence are common concerns to whether it was the story of Cain Killing Abel, the start of World Wars I and II or the Trojan War and The War of the Spartans. As a result of the influence of myth, these cultures have used violence as a means of resolving conflict. For the myth makes war palatable. It giv es war a logic and sanctity it does not possess. It saves us from peering into the darkest recesses of our own hearts. And this is why we like it. It is why we clamor for myth. The myth is enjoyable, and the press, as is true in every nation that goes to war, is only too happy to oblige. One of the first conflicts known to mankind that resulted to a violent demise was that of Biblical times between two Middle Eastern brothers' Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel were brothers who both developed different attitudes. One brother felt acknowledged more than the other. As a result Cain began to "[grow] hot with anger, and his countenance began to fall which eventually led to him developing a bad heart and cold blooded murder" of his brother Abel (Bias (2006), p. 22). ). In myth "creation is an act of violence" so the myth's perception would have perceived that when Cain and Abel were created they were meant to be created with violent tendencies (Wink, 45). Cain's actions were a result of jealousy and because humans are usually confronted with issues that are out in the open, we sometimes don't want to deal with the issue when confronted with our actions. In Cain's case after killing his brother Abel he became unremorseful and heartless when God confronted him and asked "where i s Abel