|
|
Re: Modifying the Body
Ronald Kephart (rkephart@OSPREY.UNF.EDU)
Wed, 17 Jul 1996 11:52:31 -0400
In message <199607171500.PAA15296@mailhost.worldnet.att.net> Robert Snower
writes:
> All socialization is built on kinship. We are the only animal that has its
> society built on an imaginary kinship, and we thereby transcend family and
> band, or insect colony, to generate, first the totem based tribe, and
> ultimately the modern nation. But there is very much a dark side to this
> process: the ethnic connection as violent and threatening.
It seems to me that the "ethnic connection" represents conscious awareness of
the fact that some people share more of our culture and language with us than do
other people. People who are enculturated together and who interact with each
other (on a face-to-face basis) more than they interact with others will tend to
share culture and language and, because nature abhorrs uniformity, this shared
culture/language will tend to be different from other shared cultures/languages.
I don't think this in itself implies anything "violent and threatening."
Violence between ethnic groups is more often the result of external factors,
such as competition for access to dwindling resources in the face of increasing
population, or one group's trying to control or dominate or exploit another.
Much modern "violence" can be traced to overpopulation of the earth by Homo
sapiens, combined with hyper-capitalism visited by some groups upon others.
Ron Kephart
|