The Trouble with Civilization

More senseless murders happened, this time in Tennessee at a Waffle House. For a perspective on violence, let’s take a look at our beginning, some 700,000 years ago at behavior of the hunters and gatherers. They have been named Neanderthal, Homo erectus, Homo soloensis etc. We know that a drive for food and water; aggressive drives or needs to fight; to attack, injure or kill another; sexual needs or drives to have intercourse; and dominance needs to control one’s environment by suggestion, seduction, persuasion or command are in man’s nature. To survive, man had to satisfy his hunger. If some larger prey killed a more vulnerable prey, man likely had to wait his turn, in the pecking order, before he could engage. Let’s suppose another hungry group arrived on the scene. Chances are the stronger would take over and push the weaker aside and if necessary kill his human opposition. By the same token, let’s hypothesize that there were more mating males and fewer females. It’s not hard to imagine that once again, the stronger would prevail, and if necessary, injure, attack or even kill the rival. Let’s also hypothesize that a younger, stronger male wanted to be in charge of the group. If suggestion or persuasion didn’t work, it’s not hard to imagine the younger dethroning the older male. Once again, aggression, violence and death were outcomes. Thus, the fulfillment, by brute strength. Of man’s drives and needs were more easily met in this period. Much later, through evolution resulted in the cognitive, about 70,000 years ago, and the agrarian revolution, roughly 12,000 years ago, with greater numbers of people congregating in one locale. With this historic change, more and more people were subjected to residing in smaller settings; with extremely difficult labor conditions in planting, watering and harvesting the crops; building more permanent man-made structures; having less variety of food nutrients; being an employee; being dependent on the system; living in cramped spaces; and being subjected to contaminated sewage and water; with more disease and the inability to meet basic needs which leads to frustration and aggression. Within larger group formations of people congregating, group dynamics surfaced. Man either become a member of a commoner or slave group; had more pressure to conform to a particular group; could either gain power, control and influence over the group or become a follower of the group. Man seeks power, success and wealth for self. He also admires these components in others. Further, mythology flourished. In other words, the formation of larger groups created numerous interpersonal conflicts with the thwarting of man’s basic needs and drives coupled with bias, irrational thought, prejudice and fictional beliefs To Be Continued