War is murder. And the military preparations now being made for a potential major confrontation are aimed at collective murder. In a nuclear age the victims would be numbered by the millions. This naked truth must be faced.
Alva MyrdalRead
Because war and preparations for war have acquired legitimacy, and because of the tremendous proliferation of arms through production and export, so that they are now available more or less to all and sundry, right down to handguns and stilettos, the cult of violence has by now so permeated relations between people that we are compelled to witness as well an increase in everyday violence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The normalization of war and violence has led to greater acceptance and occurrence of everyday violence in society.
In this quote, Alva Myrdal reflects on the disturbing normalization of war and how the widespread availability of weapons has contributed to a 'cult of violence' that permeates societal interactions. She emphasizes that as societies legitimize the military and violence, this acceptance bleeds into everyday life, resulting in an increase in interpersonal violence and aggression.
Themes
WarViolenceSocietyArmsEverydayNorms
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about promoting peace, this quote can highlight the dangers of normalizing violence.
More from Alva Myrdal
All quotes →There is a cultural factor promoting violence which nowadays undoubtedly is highly effective is the mass media. And particularly everything that enters our minds through pictorial media.
Alva MyrdalRead
The longing for peace is rooted in the hearts of all men. But the striving, which at present has become so insistent, cannot lay claim to such an ambition as leading the way to eternal peace, or solving all disputes among nations.
Alva MyrdalRead
Similar quotes
Feminism is dated? Yes, for privileged women like my daughter and all of us here today, but not for most of our sisters in the rest of the world who are still forced into premature marriage, prostitution, forced labor - they have children that they don't want or they cannot feed.
Isabel AllendeRead
Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action. For this reason, most people think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found, on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.
George LakoffRead
Once, during the drinking phase, Wendy had accused him of desiring his own destruction but not possessing the necessary moral fiber to support a full-blown deathwish. So he manufactured ways in which other people could do it, lopping a piece at a time off himself and their family.
Stephen KingRead
The pictures do not lie, but neither do they tell the whole story. They are merely a record of time passing, the outward evidence.
Paul AusterRead
Anytime I meet people who got to make the deliberate choice, whose parents chose Canada, I'm jealous. Because I think being able to choose it, rather than being Canadian by default, is an amazing statement of attachment to Canada.
Justin TrudeauRead
I hear a drum in my soul's ear coming from the depth of the stars.
RumiRead