Aside from checking my standings in the company hockey pool, the first thing I do when I get up is to check the CNN, NY Times and BBC sites for the latest violence, the latest depths of the human soul. The current situation in Iraq is a mainstay, though Lebanon, Palestine, Somalia and Pakistan can't be forgotten. Closer to home, Haiti, the failed state extraordinaire, has its moments as well.
In political science terms, I would describe myself as a realist, which means that the happy-happy joy-joy, "can't we all just get along" stuff is pure crap. Or pure shite, if you want to say it with a Scottish accent. I think in terms of rapport de force. And the notion of the Leviathan, or the state's monopoly on violence, rings true in my mind.
Some folks like to think that we as a society (though a Western society would be more exact) are more civilized, but our ability to rapidly fallback to our baser instincts serves to remind us that nothing has changed. How many times have we seen a person (or been that person) willing to inflict pain, even death, on another for the simple incivility of being cut off in traffic? (When someone can effectively explain that riddle, I promise to buy in.) Until then, probably hard for us to tell those fighting (or looking for a fight) in the Middle East to lay down their arms.
'nuff said.