Opinion/Editorial
THE REAL WORLD, RIGHT NOW
We are ruled by genetics in ways we cannot fathom without resorting to study of the formal disciplines used to analyze such things. We have child abuse and infanticide all around us but ascribe these events and conditions to a small percentage of the population, as if there is simply a part of our society that does things of that nature out of mental illness. Anthropology, however, properly predicts that infanticide and abuse of the young comes primarily from males and, more specifically, from males who take up with females already pregnant or with spawn. Without know it the ‘new’ male is getting rid of competition to make way for his own progeny.
Throughout societies of all human species severe punishment and death are used as tools of supposed control, unless we turn again to the disciplines looking at such things. We quickly discover, through study, that extreme punishment has little effect on controlling individual specific behaviors.
Humans act far more out of immediate emotion than because of analysis of distant potential effects that might be applied to them for their actions. Which, upon reflection, leaves us with a vexing question. Why do we still apply extreme punishments and even execution after we know they are not effective in doing what we say we want them to do? Because we are genetically driven to enjoy the application of pain and suffering on others around us. A brutal and inescapable conclusion that no society accepts or will admit to. We hurt others because we enjoy doing it. The police who use pepper sprays, Tasers and worse are never seen in a video showing any kind of regret. No, there is always an easily perceived elation and excitement as they go about their work. We reduce competition at almost every opportunity driven by our genetic makeup.
Our leaders lead with fright never far from their minds. They use ‘displacement activity’ to redirect aggressive drives and to have populations they fear look in any direction but the one that might lead back to them.
9/11 is a classic example of this. The leadership of the United States was, at the very least, terribly incompetent in allowing the disaster to happen, if not being downright complicit in causing it. So, the United States, directed by frightened leaders, went to war with Iraq…a country that had no proven participation in 9/11. Displacement activity. The attention of the feared population was redirected. It worked. So, our leadership did it again, and sent us to war with Afghanistan. Finally, after this second success, they declared war on anyone who might be defined to be a terrorist. The definition of ‘terrorist’ remains under the sole authority of that same leadership (new people being substituted for old with the passing of time). With some thanks to the Orwell novel ‘1984,’ this terror war is likely to be our last, as it will never end. Displacement activity that can be redirected through changing definition shall remain forever the best tool for social control and redirection ever invented.
Genetic forces we are driven by also deliberately keep us in the blind. Our genetics do not allow us to see the root causes for what we are doing because we might not do them, which might lessen our survival potential as individuals. This blindness extends into the depths of our very core belief systems. We know this because all the scientific studies shedding real analytical truth on these matters are denied application. Crime was down another seven percent in 2011 alone, for example, but the televisions we all watch portray murder, robbery, and more crime every night everywhere. Quiet celebration for radical punishments to almost all ‘crime’ is constantly felt, and secretly enjoyed, across every layer of our societies.
These invisible genetic forces have caused us to be dominant on the planet and over one another, as the transmission of our personal genetic data is the most significant motivating factor in all of our lives. But, again, you will only ever know that if you study such classical scientists as Dawkins, E.O. Wilson, and Campbell. After such study you will put the books and papers down and be convinced, but with one exception. You. You will not agree that you feel or follow genetics. You will feel that the scientific proof you just accepted applies to others. You will continue to believe you are totally self-directed, and the shadowy vast world of lying behavior you live and participate in will continue as before.
Today, Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, and Russia have dived deeply into much of what this article is written about. Aging men (mostly), down on the Savannah floor from swinging and brachiating through the trees, have once again launched parts of the civilized world into deathly conflict. The lead apes of the packs, pockets, prides, and tribes will kill and maim in order to dominate the others. It’s an evil that drives them but it’s also sadly motivated by genetic forces they only play out while having absolutely no idea of how those forces really work or why.
