how to spot the unevolved, and how to evolve together.

[mopinko]

making a reply an op here, cuz it's something i've talked about here before and i think it's an important thing to clarify right now.
so, this thread is about the new ken burns film on the holocaust and links to jim crow and segregation in america. folks are talking about which came 1st, who influenced whom.
the answer is that authoritarians still exist because we began as authoritarians and it is at the root of our evolution.
https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100217094609

it's our innate longing for the big chimp.

my son likes to say that it's pity we didnt evolve from gorillas instead of chimps. we'd be a peace loving species. bonobos w car keys. but of course, w/o chimp's capacity for violence, we wouldnt have.
i read a book on evolutionary psychology in the clinton years and felt like i'd found the rosetta stone. early tribes were just like primate tribes. the 'head man' form of society is still deeply ingrained. it's takes everything to go right in development for a human to rise above that. it takes art, music, philosophy, law and respect for law.

neither the u.s. nor nazi germany invented any of this. and it's past time for the species to see this shit clearly, and reject it soundly. ye shall know them by their actions. they burn books, they hang witches, they control women.

wake up ppl.

how do we evolve? we support every baby. we support every mom. we support every group that identifies as a family. we stop brutalizing children. we end domestic violence. the theory states that a child adapts to the level of violence they see around them. it is an important adjustment to make. end violence in the home, end it in the world.

ftr, the book was 'the moral animal' by steven wright. i read it when it was pretty new. it's still out there, despite many subsequent books on the subject, because of how clearly it explains the theory. he illustrates key points w events in the life of charles darwin. it's an easy read.

https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Animal-Science-Evolutionary-Psychology-ebook/dp/B00486U8N6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=B44PQQTBFN9A&keywords=the+moral+animal&qid=1661775172&sprefix=the+moral+%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1

[Walleye]

1. My parents never fought or argued. It was a very loving home

To this day I get very upset when I hear people arguing especially domestic fights. I hate when they drag their quarrels into public. I hate violent conflict

[mopinko]

2. and i bet you had books and music, too.

and art. amirite?

[Walleye]

5. Oh yes. I was in orchestra. Played violin. Was reading Shakespeare in the seventh grade

Of course I realize now how lucky I was.

[2naSalit]

3. My parents...

Fought violently and my father and brother were violent against me and I get upset when I hear people raise their voices or pound on things like doors. But my aversion is from PTSD.

We were never shown any genuine positive regard from the people who brought us here, we had to figure it out entirely by ourselves. Most of us have survived to date.

Still, recognition of the difference between right and wrong is strong with a very intense need for accountability to prevail.

[mopinko]

4. yeah, i'm 68 and just now getting over the number my sibs did on me.

my da drank. he was also very ill, and no one knew it, including him and docs of the day.
i got my shogren's from him. it had turned him into an ancient at 50. brittle and easily broken.

my sibs raised me, mostly. da was still working til i was in school. my mom took a pt evening job st the hospital down the street. we could go there any time, and i often did.
i was the 6th of 7, but a bright star to my da. i am his clone. eventually my mom figured that out and i was pretty much her least fave kid almost to the end.

da was brutal to my only bro, the 4th of the lot. that rolled downhill onto me. in some part due to my unrecognized childhood epilepsy. no one knew, but a lot pf people sensed there was something off about me. i was a klutz who couldnt throw/catch a ball. partly cuz a game of softball w said bro and a neighbor ended up w me, on the ground, w my head smashed. i think he always felt a bit guilty. he misremembers the day.

but the 1st born, as often happens, was the 2nd mom. the oldest 3 girls are irish triplets. they all pitched in. they dragged us along on dates so they kept their bf's in check.
we lived in 1 gorgeous old house, never missed a meal, but we barely scraped by once my da couldnt work any more. i was otherwise a feral child. it was good.
we had few books, no art to speak of, and only some music. but we did have the teevee.
one reason my seizures, hallucinations, didnt bother me is because i was watching the twilight zone and the outer limits and my 1 day time seizure seemed to give me a ticket to a smaller dimension. tru story.
but we had disney movies, and musicals, and the bell telephone hour. ed sullivan. jazz greats. and baseball games.

i turned out ok. not great, but ok. my kids have had troubles w what my shitty genes have wrought, but my goal as a parent was to let their programming run, to feed it in all ways, and they are amazing ppl. social justice warriors, bright stars in school and on the job.

if only that could catch on.