BEAT THE DRUM SLOWLY is the story of war—and, unfortunately and unavoidably, the story of mankind itself. From our earliest days, conflict has been one of humanity’s defining characteristics. Man has fought man, and groups have fought other groups, on every continent, ocean, and island from the moment one tribe first encountered another.
Whether this is xenophobia or a form of insanity is difficult to tell. In any case, the difference is drowned in the deafening noise of war. The weapons themselves hardly matter—bare hands, clubs, knives, swords, spears, arrows, muskets, machine guns, or atomic bombs. The result is always the same: lives are lost, like candles sputtering in the wind, with darkness having the final word.
We could easily research the thousands of battles fought throughout history. Countries fighting countries, people fighting people, long before records were even kept. We do not need this book—or any like it—to recount those bloody timelines.
Instead, Beat the Drum Slowly digs into the underlying motivations that compel humankind toward war and murder. It looks beneath the convenient explanations offered by conquerors (the losers rarely get a say) and attempts to peel away layers of rationalization, lies, and hypocrisy.
The central question is: What is it in humanity that drives us to engage in wholesale slaughter of our fellow man?
War often appears to be a “blood sport” practiced mostly by men. Perhaps testosterone is the culprit? Women do not generally seem driven to don uniforms, march to martial music, and run screaming into battle… do they? Those women who do participate, the author observes, often seem to resemble their male counterparts more than they differ.
Unless every nation on earth were to place women in all positions of power—giving the female of the species complete control—we will never know what might change. As unlikely as a vegan devouring a bloody steak, the world must wait to see whether such a future could ever arrive.
In reality, men are physically stronger, more competitive, and more combative. Men fight for power and refuse to relinquish it. Seen through this lens, it is unsurprising that the world is governed by men.
Men fight for survival, dominance, money, religion, race, patriotism, land, and revenge. This book examines each of these motivations in an attempt to understand what in holy hell is wrong with us.
If warfare is truly the best method we have devised over thousands of years to settle disagreements, then perhaps mankind is doomed. Sooner or later, one side will develop the ultimate weapon—and, given our historical inability to foresee consequences, humanity may finally succeed in wiping itself out. The animals may well rejoice.
Is it possible for us to resolve differences through intellect and common sense? Or are we a doomed species? This book attempts to answer that question.
Regardless of the method—religion, nationalism, revenge—war is born from man’s hand. Trying to count all deaths caused by war would take months. Beyond war, murder and violence further demonstrate that humans are their own worst enemy. With our ability to annihilate the earth “at the press of a button,” mankind may be one of the deadliest tools death has ever used.
Like Pogo said: “We have seen the enemy—and he is us.”
Robert J. Firth
The USA
February, 2012
