Aura of Irrationality

Nuclear Bluff or the Aura of Irrationality

In a very deep psychological sense war is murder writ large. When our illusions about ourselves are challenged by any circumstances, when our well-being is threatened, we tend – some of us at least, to fly into murderous rages (when the same provocations are applied to nation states, they too, sometimes fly into murderous rages, egged on often enough by those seeking personal power or profit).

As the technology of murder improves and the penalties of war increase, a great many people must be made to fly into murderous rages simultaneously for a major war to be mustered – and because the organs of mass communication are often in the hand of the state, this can commonly be arranged.

However, nuclear was is the exception and it can be triggered by a very small number of people. What is often called the strategy of nuclear deterrence is remarkable for its reliance on the behaviour of our nonhuman ancestors.

Adopt a credible pose of irrationality, get used to it and it becomes pretense no longer (Megan Jorgensen). Illustration : Elena

Henry Kissinger, a contemporary politician, wrote : Deterrence depends, above all, on psychological criteria. For purposes of deterrence, a bluff taken seriously is more useful than a serious threat interpreted as a bluff.

Truly effective nuclear bluffing, however, includes occasional postures of irrationality, a distancing from the horrors of nuclear war. Then the potential enemy is tempted to submit on points of dispute rather than unleash a global confrontation, which the aura of irrationality has made plausible. The chief danger of adopting a credible pose of irrationality is that to succeed in the pretense you have to be very good. After a while, you get used to it. It becomes pretense no longer.

Murderous rages or Rage is War

A very big war can be triggered by a very small number of people. What we see, is a conflict between our passions and what is sometimes called our better natures – between the deep, ancient reptilian part of the brain, the R-complex, in charge of murderous rages, and the more recently evolved mammalian and human parts of the brain, the limbic system and the cerebral cortex.

In the past, when humans lived in small groups, when their weapons were comparatively paltry, even an enraged warrior could kill only a few. As our technology improved, the means of war also improved.

Rage Is War. Photo by Elena

We have learned to temper our anger, frustration and despair with reason. And we have ameliorated on a planetary scale injustices that only recently were global and endemic. But our weapons can now kill billions.

Are we teaching reason as effectively as we can? Have we courageously studied the causes of our rage, anger, irrationality, the causes of conflicts? Why do we sometimes fly into murderous rages?