The animal cruelty issue is connected to a larger epidemic involving pathology-induced cruelty and inhumanity. I often look at society (and the political climate) through the lens of anthropology and evolutionary biology because at our core we’re still animals…1/
…it’s just that some people behave in a more animalistic way than others. Although there are numerous exceptions, many animal species engage in behavior that if applied to a human context, would be viewed as sociopathic. 2/
For example, in at least 119 animal species, males will engage in infanticide (killing the babies of their own species). 3/ smithsonianmag.com/science-nature…
By killing the babies, the mother’s reproductive cycle is reset, which increases the male’s chances to mate with the female, and increase the male’s chances of passing on his genes. 4/
Now imagine if the animal species that was engaging in this behavior was human. Imagine if some guy wanted to have sex with a woman, but since her kids were inhibiting that from happening, he decided to murder her babies so he could “free up her schedule”. 5/
Not only would society view that behavior with extreme disgust,….society would view that behavior as sociopathic.
But in the context of those specific animal species’ behavior, that cruel behavior is viewed through the lens of a naturally occurring competitive instinct. 6/
But in the context of those specific animal species’ behavior, that cruel behavior is viewed through the lens of a naturally occurring competitive instinct. 6/
Unfortunately, society seems to have reached a point where “dysfunctional competitiveness” is often accepted as a naturally occurring…. and in many cases, a celebrated instinct…..even when that instinct is the by-product of pathology. 7/
I’ve previously written threads/articles about the effect that Cluster B Personality Disorder-induced dysfunctional competitiveness has on society and politics…..8/
….and…..9/
…..and have also explained how dysfunctional competitiveness can be fueled by a pathological sense of inadequacy….. 10/
…which is constantly on display during the Trump era….11/
……12/…..
If “competitiveness” is viewed on a spectrum, “healthy competition” eventually gives way or cedes to pathology, where the need to avoid “losing” is so extreme that people justify sociopathic inhumanity as the acceptable collateral damage of “winning”. 13/
Circling back to animals/infanticide, logic would suggest that what separates humans/animals is an evolved sense of consciousness, reason, and empathy….which have a moderating effect on an otherwise animalistic, Darwinistic, law-of-the-jungle, dysfunctional competitiveness. 14/
Viewed through this lens, pathological/dysfunctional competitiveness (inhumanity) can theoretically be viewed as the by-product of less-evolved, less-human…...humans. 15/
In the case of the infanticide-committing animals, their instinctive competitive drive to “compete” for mating opportunities results in behavior that would be considered pathologically inhumane in a human context…16/
…b/c the by-product of that dysfunctional/pathological competitive drive results in the hyper-prioritization of individual desires/interests…to the detriment of the rest of the species. And yet, that’s exactly what occurs on the political Right (climate change/health care). 17/
One particular example of this dynamic is the dangerous “Gated-Community Mentality” that has contributed to the decline of the country. 18/
Taking all this into account, it’s difficult not to view certain political philosophies/ideologies as nothing more than a transparently-masked justification for “less-evolved”, pathologically-disordered humans to support/engage in dysfunctionally-competitive, inhumane acts. 19/
For example, Libertarianism is a political philosophy that believes in minimal state intervention into the lives of citizens. Essentially, libertarianism is a political philosophy constructed to shield people from government intrusion. 20/
But over time, similar to conservatism, Libertarianism has been perverted and weaponized to justify the implementation of policies that accept, if not endorse or create human suffering. Essentially, instead of Libertarianism being used as a shield,…21/
….Libertarianism is increasingly being used as the tip of the pathologically inhumane spear…..with its disciples weakly/cowardly claiming to “stand on principle” when what they’re actually doing is embracing sociopathic inhumanity that’s masquerading as political ideology. 22/
In this context, it’s difficult not to view Libertarianism as a thinly-veiled attempt to justify dysfunctional competitiveness….except that instead of competing for mates/gene reproduction, it’s a pathological/sociopathic competition for money/power.
23/patreon.com/posts/30899396
23/patreon.com/posts/30899396
Obviously, there has to be tough choices made with regards to the structuring of society and the division and allocation of resources. Although it varies among people,….24/
….every member of society possesses a threshold level of willingness to accept a certain level of inhumanity/cruelty in order to ensure their own survival or, more frequently, to ensure their lifestyle. 25/
Even highly empathic/generous people have a limit to which they will sacrifice before that limit encroaches on their survival/lifestyle threshold (People will give the homeless money, but not so much of their money that it results in them becoming homeless). 26/
Basically, everyone has a tolerance for “acceptable” levels of cruelty to others that exists in alignment with each individuals “competitive drive” to survive.
Bringing this back to the question about animal cruelty,….27/
Bringing this back to the question about animal cruelty,….27/
…people have disassociated themself from the cruelty to such an extent that a pound of ground beef in a grocery store doesn’t register as a pound of flesh from an animal whose life was taken for the purpose of consumption or maintaining a lifestyle (enjoyment of eating beef).28/
…because in many cases, people have been conditioned to view that ground beef simply as a pound of a *food product* that is generically referred to as “meat”.
Not an animal, but just “meat”.
29/
Not an animal, but just “meat”.
29/
Similar to varying levels of “accepted” cruelty to humans, each individual has a threshold of acceptable levels of cruelty to animals that is in alignment with their “competitive drive” to survive or maintain their lifestyle. 30/
And similar to the example above about “competing” against other humans, often, the more dysfunctional the competitiveness, the greater the sense of inadequacy in the individual’s need to “win”, to dominate, or to kill animals for “sport”. 31/
Sports are fundamentally about competition. And as pointed out above, often a situation exists where the greater the level of inadequacy, the greater the level of competitiveness, and the greater the likelihood that level of competitiveness veers towards dysfunction/pathology.32/
This doesn’t mean all hunters are sociopathic because a distinction can be made between population control, putting food on the table, etc.,….33/
….and killing large, exotic, endangered animals simply because it fills the psychologically-inadequate void of an entitled, sociopathic narcissist.
34/
34/
Speaking of Libertarianism:
