This page addresses the second of four fundamental
consciousness and cultural maladaptations hindering movement toward a
Fair Planet.
It is
interesting that whenever
horrors like war, crime are discussed, those who tend
to benefit from the continuation of the current cultural trends are
prone to pronouncements such
as "Let's face it: people are naturally warlike and also want to take
advantage of each other".
People? All people??? What is not said, is
that it is men specifically that exhibit these
qualities. Overwhelmingly, it is men who go to war to plunder and
exterminate, it is men who rob and steal. To
imply then that this is somehow the "nature" of the entire humanity is
devious and denies the true culprit - the freely-chosen
ethic of machismo.
That the culture of machismo is just about all-pervasive is
self-evident. It is not confined to "Latin"
nations. It skews all inter-personal relationships by adopting the
following behavioral traits:
- Tendency toward suppression of
feelings of sympathy and
empathy
- Tendency to polarize analysis and opinion of
important issues
so as to make certain
that only the extreme positions are viable
- Acknowledgement of fear as the only effective
motivator
- Self-limitation of world view through adaptation
of the
narrowest possible definition
of "Us".
- Cultivation of contempt for any perceived
"weakness" - thus
for women, children, elderly, ailing, compassionate, forgiving, etc.
- Pathologically exagerated sense of personal
integrity and
inviolability of "Self" - hypersensitivity to "disrespect" - in effect
positioning the macho man always one
self-interpreted "insult" away from a fight.
- Adherence
to biologically-atavistic reproduction-success strategy whereby brute
strength determined social position and/or access to the more fertile
females.
