December 31, 2004
African Savagery
I was just watching a TV program detailing some nastiness going on in Africa.
Groups of a “tribe” will psych each other up, and then go out on raiding patrols. When they find a member of another tribe in their territory, they beat and or kill him. In one videotaped case, 15 males surrounded the intruder, beat him, tore off his genitals, ripped out his throat and organs, and left him lying there. Another videotaped case, the offending intruder was only beaten severely, and then allowed to leave.
The same program detailed hunting expeditions, where the tribe specifically likes to feast on monkeys, particularly the young. Occasionally rogue hunters will steal into villages and kill and eat human infants. It’s a level of war and savagery that we don’t see in our world.
Think I am talking about humans in Rwanda? The Sudan? Al Qaeda? Nope. This is the behavior of chimpanzees, on Nature’s Nightmares (Nat’l Geographic Channel). Those cuddly, little diaper-wearing furballs we see in TV and the movies, grow up with a dark side. The very animals that we thought were most like humans, from their DNA up to their social interaction, seem to be more like us than we thought.
All in all, this was one of the more chilling programs I’ve ever watched. Not only was it graphic and brutal, but it raises some very serious questions about humanity. What level of our human violence is closely related to genetics and evolution? What level of our violence is human nature, not the repudiation of it? If this is tied to our true human nature, to what extent can we expect to control this in the future?
I think we are not without hope. Society and communication can overcome this nature. With this knowledge, we may have the intelligence and will to fight natural violent tendencies, and achieve peace despite our genetic wiring. But to do so is a long road, and in the nuclear age, there is very little margin of error. I say that we are not without hope, but as to the odds, I’m not ready to venture a guess.
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