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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Saturday, August 20, 2005 The Descent of Radical Fundamentalists (lightly edited to clarify a couple of points that got past me at 1:30 in the morning) All this debate over evolution (most of which doesn't begin to quality as debate) would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. The best evidence of human descent from earlier primate forms comes from the people who are most loudly denying it. Studies of primate behavior indicate that males are much concerned with who gets to have sex with whom (that is, whose genes get to be passed on), and that females are much concerned with attaching themselves to the most powerful males, to ensure that they and their offspring are provided for.Don't be deceived: religious fundamentalism (and note that I'm not picking on Christians) is very much about who gets to have sex with whom, and under what conditions. The wrong gender, the wrong skin color, the wrong familial relationship, the wrong time of the month, the wrong coital position, the wrong previous partner (willing on the woman's part or not)—every one of those prohibitions enhances the likelihood of one group passing on its genes at the expense of another. We're so used to hearing them called by different names—whatever those names might be in our particular cultures—that we let ourselves be blinded to their real purpose. Their real purpose among humans is exactly the same as the more obvious bash-your-competitor-over-the-head purpose in lower orders of primates—to ensure that the group in power is the one that produces the most offspring.The ancient Israelites killed the adult males they conquered, sold the boys into slavery, and took the girls and young virgins into captivity. Why? To ensure that those females' children were descended from the conquerors, not the conquered. Nowadays, the mechanism is seldom as blatant, or as well understood, except possibly in places like Bosnia, where conquering Serbs raped their Muslim victims. Islam condemns any woman who has sexual intercourse outside marriage, forced upon her or not; those women therefore became unavailable as wives, and breeders, for Muslim men.Where do today's women fit in? Any woman who supports "My husband (father, boss, Commander-in-Chief) right or wrong" has put the most powerful man in her life above her own common sense and intelligence. The next step is to denigrate and condemn any woman who is willing to think for herself. The denigration may be coarse and vulgar, like Ann Coulter's, or more sugar-coated. But what it boils down to is that over the eons of geological time, primate females, including humans, have tended to ally themselves with the most powerful male on their horizon, whether that male was part of their immediate family or a more distant figure of authority, and to get rid of competing or non-conforming females. There are different reasons for their reactions. Competing females obviously lessen each others' chances for survival. But non-conforming females challenge the very process itself, and the fundamental basis for the more traditional females' behavior, just as non-competing men challenge the alpha-male's basis for his behavior. Most people would rather be bested than be told that their underlying motives are fallacious.What is funny is watching religionists try to talk their way around their instinctive behavior. What's pathetic is our reluctance to label their behavior for what it is. posted by Liz @ 12:37 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
All this debate over evolution (most of which doesn't begin to quality as debate) would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. The best evidence of human descent from earlier primate forms comes from the people who are most loudly denying it. Studies of primate behavior indicate that males are much concerned with who gets to have sex with whom (that is, whose genes get to be passed on), and that females are much concerned with attaching themselves to the most powerful males, to ensure that they and their offspring are provided for.Don't be deceived: religious fundamentalism (and note that I'm not picking on Christians) is very much about who gets to have sex with whom, and under what conditions. The wrong gender, the wrong skin color, the wrong familial relationship, the wrong time of the month, the wrong coital position, the wrong previous partner (willing on the woman's part or not)—every one of those prohibitions enhances the likelihood of one group passing on its genes at the expense of another. We're so used to hearing them called by different names—whatever those names might be in our particular cultures—that we let ourselves be blinded to their real purpose. Their real purpose among humans is exactly the same as the more obvious bash-your-competitor-over-the-head purpose in lower orders of primates—to ensure that the group in power is the one that produces the most offspring.The ancient Israelites killed the adult males they conquered, sold the boys into slavery, and took the girls and young virgins into captivity. Why? To ensure that those females' children were descended from the conquerors, not the conquered. Nowadays, the mechanism is seldom as blatant, or as well understood, except possibly in places like Bosnia, where conquering Serbs raped their Muslim victims. Islam condemns any woman who has sexual intercourse outside marriage, forced upon her or not; those women therefore became unavailable as wives, and breeders, for Muslim men.Where do today's women fit in? Any woman who supports "My husband (father, boss, Commander-in-Chief) right or wrong" has put the most powerful man in her life above her own common sense and intelligence. The next step is to denigrate and condemn any woman who is willing to think for herself. The denigration may be coarse and vulgar, like Ann Coulter's, or more sugar-coated. But what it boils down to is that over the eons of geological time, primate females, including humans, have tended to ally themselves with the most powerful male on their horizon, whether that male was part of their immediate family or a more distant figure of authority, and to get rid of competing or non-conforming females. There are different reasons for their reactions. Competing females obviously lessen each others' chances for survival. But non-conforming females challenge the very process itself, and the fundamental basis for the more traditional females' behavior, just as non-competing men challenge the alpha-male's basis for his behavior. Most people would rather be bested than be told that their underlying motives are fallacious.What is funny is watching religionists try to talk their way around their instinctive behavior. What's pathetic is our reluctance to label their behavior for what it is.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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