I have been loathe to comment on Israel's invasion of Gaza because, for now, both sides are getting what they want.
- Israeli extremists get to dehumanize Hamas, to kill Gazans by the hundreds and claim the high ground in American public opinion.
- Hamas extremists get Israeli boots on their ground, where they're easier to kill by the hundreds, and they claim the high ground in Arab public opinion.
Hard to discuss a war, or end one, where both sides think they are winning. (The picture is of a Liger, a cross between a lion and a tiger. It should not be yet, like so much of man's creation, there it is.)
In fact this has to end at some point. Reverse the situation, put Jews in Gaza and Arabs in the rest of what's now Israel, and I can't see the Jews acting any differently, only looking to an American lifeline instead of one on the Arab street.
All this points to what seems like an important fact.
Civilization puts evolution into reverse.
The link is to a story about how "big game" hunting has put evolution into reverse, eliminating natural predation and killing off the best specimens of every species.
But in the last century we have also done this to ourselves. We know that one of the biggest risk factors for early death is low birthweight. Yet we insist on "saving" these "miracle" babies. In every conflict the main targets are the young, the strong, the "leaders" without which the "followers" will "obey" whoever. This has been going on for over a century — take it out of the current context.
I'm not a eugenicist. I think it's clear that ethnic diversity and what folks a century ago called "miscegenation" are good things. Combining the strengths of different "blood" lines can deliver some incredible human specimens.
What is clear is that, biologically, our fetishes to kill the strong, protect the weak, and exalt the unborn are an assault upon nature, and a reversal of evolution.
I hope one of the great goals of my kids' generation is to restore some balance to nature, first in preserves and then expanded into wider-and-wider swathes of nature, so that we can learn from it.
And so that our grandchildren might apply it.
Your words suddenly reminded me of Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars. Everyone thought he would “bring balance to the Force”. He certainly did, but using a scorched-Earth approach that effectively wiped the slate clean, providing a clear object lesson in favor of balance.
Hopefully we won’t learn this balance you speak of by nearly killing off ourselves or the planet first. As a parent of four, though, I’ve observed that humans often learn things the hard way.
Your words suddenly reminded me of Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars. Everyone thought he would “bring balance to the Force”. He certainly did, but using a scorched-Earth approach that effectively wiped the slate clean, providing a clear object lesson in favor of balance.
Hopefully we won’t learn this balance you speak of by nearly killing off ourselves or the planet first. As a parent of four, though, I’ve observed that humans often learn things the hard way.
Combining my comment above and your thoughts on the end of the Nixon Thesis, I realize (and LOL) that Bush is really Anakin Skywalker, bringing consensus to the United States.
Combining my comment above and your thoughts on the end of the Nixon Thesis, I realize (and LOL) that Bush is really Anakin Skywalker, bringing consensus to the United States.