On Humans As Animals, Attempt #4
Our Problems Began With The Assignment Of Roles Based On Hierarchy
Disclaimer: What follows is in no way a defense of patriarchy. It is a critique of hierarchy, the original sin of so-called ‘Civilization.’ To avoid constant digressions, we will focus on the USA, the place I know best.
Apparently, the third time was not the proverbial charm, but my editor-in-chief, my wife Jean, may have provided the input necessary to finally wrap this up.
Our species has been around for a long time, for over 200 thousand years at a bare minimum; many would argue for over 3 million years. While either is a nanosecond in the history of all life on Earth, given our adaptability we seemed destined for a long existence. That was until the infamous ‘Dawn of Civilization,’ somewhere between an estimated 10,000-20,000 years ago.
Civilization brought a new phenomenon to our species, hierarchy, and in most cases hierarchy took the form of patriarchy. The combination has proven to be devastating. Particularly damaging was hierarchy’s introduction of ‘roles,’ which have become increasingly alienating, often poorly ‘assigned,’ and wrapped in a totally unnatural mode of thinking about the world and our place in it. While this process has been a long one, spanning those 10-20 K years, let’s focus on today.
The goal of ‘civilization’ has always been to ‘overcome’ the animal in us, to leave behind all ‘primitive’ behaviors. Even the concept of ‘instincts’ has been manipulated to fit into its narrative. Mostly, they are thought to be ‘bad,’ i.e. ‘uncivilized.’
Now, as countless millions of us are desperately yearning to reconnect with those instincts, most without realizing it, the conversations about what we ‘should’ be doing have turned truly ugly and hateful. That anger, hate and frustration are all built upon the toxic goals of modern life.
For the curious among you, you can choose almost any of my previous essays for a look at what I see wrong with those goals, but in the interests of brevity and the desire to not have to write attempt #5, I will focus on those relevant to the topic at hand. So, let’s talk about roles.
As with any universal topic, there are exceptions. Not all cultures became patriarchal, many were/are matriarchal. The Diné (Navajo) people are a contemporary example, but there are many others. But back to roles.
Turns out, until that ill-fated ‘Dawn,’ there really weren’t any, at least not any based on the prejudices of patriarchy. Here’s but a small sampling of results from a Google search for ‘ ancient tribes with female hunters.’*
*https://archaeologymag.com/2023/06/women-were-hunters-in-most-foraging-societies/
I especially like the last one; grandmas as the most skilled hunters? 🙂
Regardless of who did the hunting or who did the foraging, in both cases nobody left the community for most of every day in order to get to their ‘job.’ In fact, there were no jobs as we understand the term; a task unrelated to directly meeting our survival needs. No auto worker takes home one of the cars they helped assemble at the end of the day.
There was simply ‘work’ to be done in order to maintain the tribe, and when both males and females were present, each tended to ‘traditional’ tasks for that tribe, but those tasks varied, depending on the tribe’s history. And since most tribes acknowledged what we would today call ‘gender fluidity,’ there were always exceptions to whatever ‘rule’ they followed.
The point, however, is that no matter what roles there were or how it was decided who would perform them, before there was hierarchy, there was never any judgment about their relative importance. Everything we did had its importance, from child-rearing to ensuring that those too old to contribute in the usual ways were still seen as important members of the community, many (most?) becoming respected elders. It took a village from birth until death.
As someone who believes everyone should have the same rights and opportunities, ideas like these mean my head occupies two worlds simultaneously, or at least tries to. Short-term social activist; “to be or not to be, that is the question.” As with so many questions, there is no ‘correct’ answer.
The undeniable truth is that a world without hierarchy isn’t even on the most distant, visible horizon. In fact, ‘soon’ the inevitable collapse of industrial civilization may well make the question moot. If we go extinct, poof, the problem disappears.
Since I am 75 and have little in the way of basic survival skills, I will not be organizing a ‘purposeful community’ off in the woods, trying to create a tiny piece of that ideal world.
As regular readers of this space will recall, I will spend my remaining years trying to be kind, helpful, loving and present to all who cross my path, human and otherwise. Peace.