World History

mopinko

(71,870 posts)

12. well, evolutionary psychology posits

Tue Mar 21, 2023, 09:28 AM

Mar 2023

that when men moved from just broadcasting their seed to settling in w 1 family, it was a great risk. an enormous leap. everything about us is aimed at delivering our packet of dna to the next gen. it’s more effective to guide a small number of offspring, but if they arent yours, it’s the genetic death penalty. it’s a male’s deepest fear.
it may be that a darker skin is 1 marker that was around forever. so it could be a bit of that.

i have a different theory about racism. i think it is the other side of the coin of inclusion, of extending tribe beyond clan. there is clan, and ‘good’ others. but you cant include others w/o rejecting the ‘bad’ others.
the basis of all prejudice, all isms, is this concept of other. skin color is so obvious, it makes it ‘easy’. but we find all kinds of ways to divide the world up into ‘us’ and ‘other’.
and that is the root of it all.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

34 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Where does the Heart of Darkness come from? [View all] Scrivener7 Mar 2023 OP

we are a violent species. mopinko Mar 2023 #1

Yes, Putin is not really an exception historically Walleye Mar 2023 #3

Do you think it was at some point a necessity for survival? Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #13

When people get the upper hand they need to push other people around Walleye Mar 2023 #2

it's like w dogs- mopinko Mar 2023 #4

I agree with you on both points there Walleye Mar 2023 #6

well, evolutionary psychology posits mopinko Mar 2023 #12

I never thought of that. Nice. Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #15

Evolutionary psychology debunked cbabe Mar 2023 #26

Great article! Thank you. Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #30

good article. mopinko Mar 2023 #34

But is that changing? I'm thinking of the women at Abu Ghraib. Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #10

yes it is. mopinko Mar 2023 #17

I'm trying to think if I, as a woman, would want to physically dominate people Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #5

I know, but as a rule we physically are superior to children and don't treat them badly Walleye Mar 2023 #7

True. For most of us. Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #8

Oh yes that's what makes it so fascinating and so frustrating,a giant moral spectrum good to evil Walleye Mar 2023 #9

And there are backslides. I think we are in a backslide in the US now. That's what prompted the Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #11

i've given it some thought from time to time. lol mopinko Mar 2023 #21

Europe DID go through dreadful suffering for centuries in the middle ages. raging moderate Mar 2023 #14

Everything about European psychology does hark back to Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #16

And re-reading your post, just as violence goes from parent Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #22

Interesting question-I would say it comes from what some call man's original sin - the ego. c-rational Mar 2023 #18

What do you think were the insults to the ego that caused the "othering?" Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #32

Not so much an insult per se, rather just the existence of an ego which fools you into believing c-rational Mar 2023 #33

Fear modrepub Mar 2023 #19

Of what, do you think? I know with Native Americans Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #20

My first known European American immigrant ancestor married an Algonquin lady in Quebec. raging moderate Mar 2023 #23

Of Something Different modrepub Mar 2023 #24

Fear of being absorbed is definitely in there, and we are seeing that surging today. Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #31

Conrad believed the origin and true nature of the heart of darkness could never be clearly Martin68 Mar 2023 #25

I did not know this. And he certainly made a study of it. Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #27

Pretty simple orthoclad Mar 2023 #28

I see your point. I'm thinking of, for example, the Sierra Leone civil war or the Scrivener7 Mar 2023 #29