An Ideal (socialist) Society

In an ideal socialist society we would treat each other like “royalty” (L. Rex = king, which has the same root as “kin“).

There is nothing wrong, it seems to me, with “socialist” ideas or ideals, which are a necessary and healthy response to (consumer) capitalism which treats people not as “kin” or even as human beings, but primarily as a “human resource” and market.

The problems arise – which have given socialism such a bad name – when the STATE, i.e. politicians, attempt to implement socialist ideas in a population they see as “clients” (a “market“, to be served for personal advantage and profit) rather than as kin (to be served forkinsake). It’s a view greatly facilitated by the creation of a multi-ethnic society . . .

On right-wing websites the words “socialist” and “socialism” are mainly used as terms of abuse, dismissal or belittlement, much as the words “capitalist” and “capitalism” are on left-wing sites.

Having evolved, long before the advent of civilisation, as a tribal animal, our brains are obviously hard-wired to see things in terms of “them and us” (my tribe and other tribes!). We often speak of “tribal behaviour” in respect to politics, but again, only to disparage it; never, that I’ve noticed, in a serious, non-judgemental, attempt to understand it.

You’d think that academics – evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and psychologists – would attempt to understand human society in the light of man’s deeply tribal nature, but they don’t, prevented, it seems, by the same taboos which cause politicians and the rest of us to trivialise or demonise it (especially as “racism“).

Government want's "Fairer Nation"

In an article published in today’s Telegraph, Nick Clegg and Iain Duncan Smith state:

“. . . our overriding ambition is to take real steps to build a fairer nation.”

Only you cannot “build a fairer nation” when there is no nation to start with.

A NATION, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is

“a large aggregate of people so closely associated with each other by factors such as COMMON DESCENT, language, CULTURE, HISTORY, and occupation of the same territory as to be identified as a DISTINCT PEOPLE” [my capitals].

The concept of belonging to a NATION is vitally important for an animal so inherently and intensely tribal as ourselves, and contrary to received wisdom and centuries-long indoctrination, the STATE is no equivalent to or substitute for it.

Our politicians, like generations of “leaders” before them, are determined to equate state and nation, because it is from this that governments derive their legitimacy, authority and POWER, which is what politicians are primarily interested in, of course, notwithstanding their – I’m sure, quite sincere but self-deluded – assurances of wanting to SERVE society.

I’m not reproaching our politicians, or anyone else, for this, because the pursuit and exercise of power (not just political power, but also other forms, especially its most versatile form of MONEY), is what Homo sapiens’ Darwinian drive for survival, advantage and (reproductive) “success” has been perverted and reduced to in the artificial environment of human “society”. All alpha human males and females amongst us are at it.

Instead of ignoring, denying and rationalising this, which is necessary in order to continue with it, we need to face up to the truth, to the perverted Darwinian nature of our so-called “society” – especially those alpha males and females who profit most (in perverted Darwinian fashion) from it, because they have an essential role to play in helping to get us out of this self-destructive evolutionary cul-de-sac we are in.

This requires a paradigm shift, the likes of which no human population has ever been through before, which is bound to provoke massive resistance from those blindly determined to defend their narrow and short-sighted self-interests in the status quo of the current paradigm. Thus, it is vital that those spearheading this paradigm change do so as gently and non-confrontationally as possible, with understanding for the fears and motivations of those resisting it, and above all, peacefully. This has to be a non-violent, grass-roots-democratic revolution, which will be won, not on the streets (or battlefields), but in our own hearts and minds. And it’s going to take a while: a few years, at least.

But first, we have to make a start by recognising and developing an understanding of the perverted Darwinian nature of our society, embodied in the conflation of STATE and NATION.

The fundamental difference between STATE and NATION, is that the former facilitates “society’s” self-exploitation, now with everyone (not just the ruling elite as in the past) in a position to exploit is as best they can, whatever their social status (think banker’s bonuses and benefit cheats), while putting as little as possible back – doing everything they possible can to avoid taxes.

A genuine NATION, on the other hand, facilitates a sense of common identity, purpose and destiny, with individuals WANTING to share with the PEOPLE and NATION they belong to, and deriving great pleasure from it, rather than thinking only of their individual selves and families.

A NATION also organises ITSELF, grass-roots-democractically, from the bottom up, while a STATE is organised by state institutions and capital from the top down.

STATES are for SHEEPLE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S…NATIONS for PEOPLE . . . !!

A Human-Evolutionary View of “Society”

From a human-evolutionary perspective it is clear that our democratic state and capitalist economy developed over the centuries to facilitate society’s self-exploitation, as a human environment, resource and market, to the advantage of those with the power to influence these developments – which is why there are such powerful taboos against taking a Darwinian (= evil) view of our own society, which would destroy the illusion (necessary for its smooth functioning) of it being our nation (the extension and modern equivalent of our original tribe).

Like all the great apes, Earth’s Greatest Ape, i.e. humans, evolved to exploit its natural environment in the primordial struggle for survival and reproductive success, not as an individual, but as a committed member of a tribe, making us inherently not just the most social of animals, but also the most tribal.

However, with the advent of civilisation, this environment was extended, perversely, to include human society itself, with state and economy developing to facilitate its exploitation, initially to the almost exclusive advantage of its ruling elites of aristocracy and clergy, but expanding and diversifying over the centuries to culminate in western democracy and capitalism, where everyone – in theory, at least – is “free” to exploit their human environment, while maintaining the necessary illusion and self-deception, initiated and cultivated by the original ruling elites and extended by “socialists” and “progressives”, of serving society as their nation (David Cameron’s Big Society).