PhD Thesis on DU and Free Republic

[RainDog]

86. Dunbar's Number?

Some folks who look at this stuff say that humans have a limit for their awareness beyond more than 150-290 other lives - as far as stable social interactions.

Beyond that number, the need for laws and enforced social justice/kindnesses increases with the increase in number. So, it's easy to see how people become stereotypes - we can't see others beyond our own small circles, unless we make the effort.

When we lived in smaller communities, sharing was the norm, and those who didn't were ostracized. We have a long, long past of living harmoniously within communities. War isn't a given for human society - war-like societies get traumatized by their own warring actions by bringing that back into their communities. When I say a long, long history of harmonious living - I mean in the tens of thousands of years. When populations were so much smaller, maintaining our community was a matter of survival.

It still is.

We're just a lot bigger, as a community, than 290 people. But we're also not isolated - so our 290 and intersecting others' 290s eventually make up the whole world.

We have a lot of different ways, as humans, to live in this world, and the one that focuses on building community seems, to me, to be the exact reason we have govt. in the first place. That's what democracy, or more exactly, a Democratic Republic is - declaring ourselves a community.

I also have seen that, many times in history, when vast economic inequity in a society exists, people will create scapegoats to blame for their own frustration at their worsening situation (like the Jews in Germany.) The early twentieth century was the final gasp of European empire, and look how many people the rich took down with them...from Western Europe and Russia. Seems like empires, over and over, overextend themselves making war. The rich expect the poor and middle-class to pay for this, and are surprised when people revolt. But sometimes those revolts first take the form of kicking the person nearest to you.

I don't think the current hate-fest among white conservatives is new. The difference is they have an entire news network, plus radio stations, dedicated to repeating this sort of hate speech toward the American community. Even so - Father Coughlin was spouting hate on the radio in the 1930s. He supported fascism (after initially supporting the New Deal.) And the KKK existed, strongly, into the 20th century. I don't know what it is that makes people hate, other than fear. Maybe that's the only way they know to create a community, by creating an enemy to oppose. But who, really, created those ideological 20th c. wars? The powerful who chose to exercise power poorly, and greedily.

I think the internet makes it possible to see the hate more easily, if you're not the target for that particular hate. Ever read comments on news sites? I quit doing that, for the most part, because I didn't want to give up on this nation. I have to remind myself that most people aren't represented in the hate we see online.

I think it's really, really important for Americans to remember, or to learn, that there were many people opposed to the New Deal back in the day. These people were, however, wealthy, not working people - and that's what's so idiotic about today's republican party. That's why cultural issues are played up - the "us" that's versus "them" is limited to those the religious right hates in order to get them to vote against their self-interests. Cultural issues mean these conservatives are more interested in voting against someone else's rights, rather than their own self-interests. I'd say you have to have a pretty skewed view of the world to cut off your nose to spite your face - but, seems like that's where we are.

at least that's how I view it. how about you?