thinking

The same thought forms create separation between ourselves and nature.
The father that beats the child was probably beaten himself.
Compassion and sympathy in men is often seen as weak and "womanly".
So, what other options are there? Aggression, violence, and domination...?
The father that beats the child also chops down the 1,000 year old tree without realizing he's cutting himself down.

I wasn't raised religious, but it seems to me that harming one's own child and partner and environment can stem from the ways of thinking promoted by organized religion (specifically Catholicism). If "God" created all things, and put Man in His image, then everything else is secondary: Man reigns supreme. This model doesn't bode well for women, animals, plants, and the Earth in general. I know I don't hav to re-tell you this, but for thousands of years this male-dominated religious view has been maintained by hundreds of millions of people world-wide. I don't get it; I think that we created God, not the other way around.

Hyperallergic just updated their post that the monuments that ISIS destroyed were actually replicas.
Although I'm relieved that the actual statues may still exist, the actions of violence against art feel like crimes against humanity.