On and Off Aggression

first edition On Aggression 

Are you the kind of angry person who wouldn’t hurt a fly? Konrad Lorenz wrote a book on the subject called On Aggression, but like sexuality, aggression is an instinct that has braved the shoals of consciousness. Simply speaking, aggression is more easily exerted by creatures who do not partake of complex ethical and moral systems and have never heard of Kant’s “categorical imperative.” Still some humans find it relatively easy to go after what they want. Undoubtedly Vladimir Putin’s nostalgia for Imperial Russia and the unmitigated zeal with which he's willing to violate the principals of the liberal global order that was on the verge of forming in the years following Glasnost and Perestroika is indicative of, for good or bad, a rather unmitigated competitive instinct. Is this the kind of unrepressed behavior one finds in sociopaths who are challenged in the area of conscience? Still if you have any problems expressing aggression, you can't but have a longing for this kind of unfettered expression. Popeye is a cartoon character who generally faces a comeuppance when he flexes his muscles, but franchises like The Bourne Identity and Mission Impossible appeal to flyswatters and anyone who like Peter Finch in Network feels like crying out: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore.”