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Sebastian Junger

Tuesday 25th of August 2026

Modernity Humans don't mind hardship, in fact they thrive on it; what they mind is not feeling necessary. Modern society has perfected the art of makng people not feel necessary. Sebastian Junger, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging © 2016 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say It's not the spider I'm worried about. Ellis Settle, quoted by Sebastian Junger in Tribe: Homecoming and Belonging, responding to a young boy who said pulling legs of spiders was OK because spiders feel no pain © 2016 Kwiple.com
Technology Whatever the technlogical advances of modern society —and they're nearly miraculous— the individualized lifestyles that those technologies spawn seem to be deeply brutalizing to the human spirit. Sebastian Junger, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging © 2016 Kwiple.com
Veterans The vast majority of traumatized vets … return from wars that are safer than those that their fathers and grandfathers fought, and yet far greater numbers of them wind up alienated and depressed. This is true even for people who didn't experience combat.  In other words, the problem doesn't seem to be trauma on the battlefield as much as reentry into society. And vets are not alone in this. It's common knowledge in the Peace Corps that as stressful as life in a developing country can be, returning to a modern country can be far harder. Sebastian Junger, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging © 2016 Kwiple.com
 
War As awkward as it is to say, part of the trauma of war seems to be giving it up. Sebastian Junger, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging © 2016 Kwiple.com