View source for AntiSocial


The urge to engage in [[AntiSocial]] behaviour is human. Most all children go though it and there are times as adults we face it in ourselves.  Sometime we act on the urge, othertimes we appease it vicariously in our fantasy.

Antisocial urges:
* killing
* hurting
* stealing
* controlling

Unsocial behaviors
* being inconsiderate
* being deceitful

We tend to act out antisocial behaviours when we feel powerless. Often we employ religious or political rationalizations to cloak antisocial behaviours as being social.

WE need a [[PoliceForce]] to protect us from [[AntiSocial]] behaviours and enforce our
[[SocialContract]].  Yet is it not better to empower the powerless before they act?
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And why is it, that we do not empower everyone in our society? We have advanced beyond the basic tribe versus tribe behaviour, at least in the industrialized nations. If you collect a threshold amount of the [[Ultimate Tool]], then if I have twice that amount, it doesn't take away from your ability to provide for yourself and your family. That results in a simple thing... peaceful coexistance. ;)

But where those conditions do not hold true, we do not have peaceful coexistance. The Industrialized Nations consume all the worlds resources, leaving nothing for the other nations. While we could be living a sustainable lifestyle, we are not. And that's due to the [[HumanAnimal]]'s laziness. It's easier to not to, because we are not doing it now. Because not everyone has enough, or believe's that they do not have enough, we still have tribalism. And that causes the Industrialized Nations to respond to tribalism with tribalism.

Nations (and nationality) are nothing more then tribalism, after all. A way to distinguish US from THEM. The US team up and cooperate to win over the THEM. THEM lose resources, US gains. [[HumanNature]] sees the world's resources for what they are... a [[ZeroSumGame]]. Selfishness drives greed. Greed is the collecting and hoarding more then what you need. Greed inspires others to compete, to gain their fair share before their share has disappeared into another's hoard.

Selfishness is the base drive toward cooperation. It's the reason for evolution, the engine behind all forms of living change. Selfishness creates society. Through the force of a group of individuals working together to gain a resource, each gains more of the resource then they'd have gotten individually. So long as those individuals are satisfied with the portion of the spoils from that cooperation, their society remains stable.

But eventually, Selfishness will create 'anti-societal' forces. Whenever members of the group are no longer satisfied, for whatever reason, they will begin to strive to gain a greater/more portion then before. Whether through the active 'anti-societal' forms such as the destruction of the existing society, or through more passive means such as aggravating the other members of society, or through the most passive, laziness, in which they effectively increase their share by reducing the amount of work/effort it requires to gain their share.

Society isn't about reducing the work load so more civilized pursuits can be had. Society is about the group cooperating to get a better share of the resources then what they'd get individually. Each society states, formally or informally, exactly what that share is, per individual and their role in their society. This is required, for the continuality of the society/cooperative. [[AntiSocial]] behavior is only engaged by individuals trying to change their status (their share) in their society.

So, why aren't the powerless empowered? I see it as two reasons:
# ''WE'' are not yet truly one society. (see [[UsAndThem]]) Currently, the ''WE'' is still asleep, dreaming. we are overlapping societies, impacting each other, forming a very complex total society, but one in which the interfaces between the societies are very limited and narrow.
# Those with the power have bigger shares. And it's against their Selfishness to reduce their share. They do feel entitled to it, after all. Their societies generally agree with them, although some of those societies were built by the [[PowerHungry]] to make sure they got such a large share. And with resources being a [[ZeroSumGame]], the sharing of any more resources then absolutely necessary is counter to Selfishness, and therefore rare in History (of any form of Living).

[[PoliceForce]]: [[Peer Pressure]] is the natural [[PoliceForce]] of any Society, whether it is only 5 people or 5 million. It is a tool often used by various [[SocietalLeadDog]]s, although even the [[SocietalLeadDog]]s must bow to [[Peer Pressure]] if they wish to remain a member of good standing in Society. Any society requiring actual enforcers of the more powerful upon the other members is not a unified society; it is rather multiple societies interacting as a larger [[SocietalSystem]].

---StarPilot