Orgy of Violence

When is it okay to stop hating? I mean when is it really okay?

Just when I think I have found that point, something small in someone reminds me that there is a reason for them being where they are in my life and why I put them there. As much as I’d like to let go and move on as an individual, they seem to want to prevent that.

I know this might sound like my disowning responsibility, which in a way it feels like I am. But when you find yourself physically tied to a person even after the emotional ties are gone, you come to see them for as they truly were.

I loathe such feelings.

It’s sickening what emotions do too us. Emotions are probably the greatest motivator in us all though. They can be good; they can drive us too succeed and make you be the best you you’ve ever wanted to be. On the other side they can be bad; they can take us too war and kill one another in the name of something that isn’t really there.

Emotions are supposed to be what separates us from the animals. I’ve been told time and again that animals don’t experience emotion, just conditioned response. Isn’t that what an emotion is. . . a conditioned response? We are little different than the pets we keep and they can be acutely aware of the way we feel. Maybe it can be better said that we are no better than the animals with which we share this world. In some ways it could be argued that animals have emotions under better control than we as humans do.

In other ways it could be argued that they don’t. Animals have a habit of killing for necessity; we have a habit of doing it for fun and profit. This was all true until in the 1980’s when Jane Goodall witnessed what came to be known as “The Chimp Wars.”

In Africa there is a lake. On that lake is and island. On that island existed a small group of chimpanzees. There they lived and cohabitated for who knows how long. How they got there was anyone’s guess. Dr. Goodall observed this group at a time that its size was exceeding the islands ability to support them.

Subsequently the group split; by what manner of diplomacy this was decision was made is anyone’s guess. If I recall, what were perceived as the less dominant males were expelled and made to fend for themselves. The two groups became violent with solidarity going to their own faction. Roving patrols came about that sought out, stalked and killed members of the other group. Eventually this came to a head in what Dr. Goodall described as an “orgy of violence” and the expelled faction took the females as their own.

Yes “Orgy of Violence” sounds like a good name for a fun party, but stay with me here. . . pervert.

I don’t know why I brought that up other than it’s interesting to see that animals can be reduced to our level. I was thinking that it would be nice to go live among the Yanomamo Tribe in Venezuela; one of the last surviving rain forest tribes.

In 1971 Napoleon Chagnon with Timothy Asch went to observe this tribe in the village of Mishimishimabowei-teri. There they witnessed something similar to what Goodall had seen. Their documentary is called “The Axe Fight.”

Chagnon and Asch knew none of the native language, they only had their 8 mm camera so they observed and recorded what happened. Shortly after they arrived was a surprise to say the least. At first there was much confusion as to who did what or what had happened when it started. Chagnon and Asch assumed it was to do with incest. It took them weeks to find out what caused the events they saw.

A former tribesman who had been expelled came begging for food from a women who had been in the garden gathering plantains. Because he had been expelled for not doing his part to contribute to the tribe, she refused. He attacked her and into the village she came running; bloody and beaten, screaming for help.

It came to a matter of kinship; families went to war with each other. Fights erupted, crude axes were drawn and people died. It’s like the Chaos Theory explaining the creation of the Universe; random events come together and something comes of it. Who knew that in exiling Mohesiwa (the attacker), that much blood would be shed.

Some exist because humans subvert natural selection.

What you did yesterday affects me today. What I do today will affect you tomorrow. How about you and I make this a positive experience?