Naga Sadhu
New Member
Sociologicly, it is said that humans are social creatures. When I hear that term social creature it implies socializing;getting together and hanging out to shoot the breeze so to speak. In observing people this is just what I see a getting together to hang out and shoot the breeze.
How is this different from the pack metality of animals? If you ask me there is a world of difference in a general sense and I'll explain why I say that. Looking first at people with their socializing, you have a group of people that gather together around shared ideas,beliefs,opinions and cohesion that borders on dress,culture and what have you. These people with their shared identity gather together in groups of like minded individuals for what pupose other than to feel connected to others in that group sharing the same tastes and likes as well as dislikes. This commonality tends to foster an us against them mentality in saying, if you dont like the same music, dress the same and have the same ideas and opinions you get singled out and excluded as something other and if you want to be a part of "something" you have to feel the same way about such things, thus, you have people classifing themselves as gangstas, which involves a liking of artists of a particular genre, dressing in sagging baggy pants and other similar fashions, smoking weed,doing dirt under the auspices of that's what's expected of you to do and so forth, then there's the juggalos and goths for another example, who 'bonds" under the same dynamics;similar dress,style of music etc. The same can be said about any other such grouping of individuals under the generalized term of friends. These friends have no other bond other than those superficial things what unites them. Sociology would call this type of behavior as surviving, but what are they surviving from? They are surviving from a feeling of lonliness plain and simple. It's common sense. Out of what I term a feeling of emptyness they gather in these groups to feel wanted,accepted,valued, appreciated,so they turn to the group to give them this feeling which they are unable to feel from within themselves. They seek these feelings from outside sources as they exist in an existential vacuum for lack of a better way of putting it. Meaning simply they lack self containment and seek validation and justification for their existence trying to find meaning and purpose. This lacking makes them feel they aren't worth a damn unless they belong,or someone loves them and accepts them sadly, this love and acceptance is only valid so long as they adhere to certain expectations and they follow the style and tastes of the group. It goes without saying that with out this sense of acceptance they feel isolated,rejected, even dejected, they feel less than a person like there life doesn't mean a thing unless they have this. Herein lies their validation for being. On the flip side of this illustration there are small groups like gangs and tribes who gather together for the purpose of surviving a very real threat of danger. With gangs it's surving attacks from those who wish to do them real harm, such as a group of mexicans clanning up, because they are always on an individual basis suffering attacks from a particular segment that dont like them just for being mexicans,as all gangs started in this way and the criminal activity they happen to do is also out of survival as the individuals that make up a gang tend to be disenfranchised and the only way they can assure their basic need of shelter and food is to partake in what is known as criminal behavior, thus assuring these needs are met as they generally have no chance of competing(I hate that word) in the mainstream world of economics where they are assured they will have food in their bellies and a roof over their heads, unlike the gangstas that tend to gravitate towards this behavior as I've said out of acceptance and a staus symbol scoring points in what they call street creds, well, life is not a board game
or more current it's not a video game. I digress. Getting back to the issue at hand there are tribal groupings who are formed because the members are out in Nature out in the wilds and they tend to hunt animals for food that are larger and stronger than just one individual can tend to handle, so in order to bag their food they put their heads and combined strength together in order to have supper for the evening. What this boils down to is strength in numbers.
The other thing about these gangs and tribes is that they are communal meaning they are basicly a single unit that cooperates with each other to get things done, they pool their resources to help eachother out and thus assuring that the tribe,or gang is well taking care of,instead of one person looking out for and taking care of themselves. What I am saying is they are essentially a family ensuring that each member and the unit as a whole is well taking care of they ease the burden,once again they put their heads and combined strength together to make sure that no one in the clan goes without they are once again providing and ensuring that the basic needs of the group are met and not their individual selves only. An example can be taking from something like a colony of ants,or a pride of lions. If you drop a small piece of food on the floor you will be garaunteed to see a group of ants gathered around that piece of food and that food is gathered and taking back to the colony so that everyone in the colony can eat and the same with the lions the pride as a whole is taking care of in the same way where no one goes hungry. No one is left to fend for themselves.
Without being too verbose, the point of this piece is to point out the difference of what sociology tends to call social animals and what in Nature can be called pack animals. To recapitulate, social animals are a group of people gathered to fulfill superficial needs, while pack animals(gangs,tribes,real families and those of the animal kingdom) are out for the survival and well being of the pack;the collectivized unit of members. Any thoughts?
How is this different from the pack metality of animals? If you ask me there is a world of difference in a general sense and I'll explain why I say that. Looking first at people with their socializing, you have a group of people that gather together around shared ideas,beliefs,opinions and cohesion that borders on dress,culture and what have you. These people with their shared identity gather together in groups of like minded individuals for what pupose other than to feel connected to others in that group sharing the same tastes and likes as well as dislikes. This commonality tends to foster an us against them mentality in saying, if you dont like the same music, dress the same and have the same ideas and opinions you get singled out and excluded as something other and if you want to be a part of "something" you have to feel the same way about such things, thus, you have people classifing themselves as gangstas, which involves a liking of artists of a particular genre, dressing in sagging baggy pants and other similar fashions, smoking weed,doing dirt under the auspices of that's what's expected of you to do and so forth, then there's the juggalos and goths for another example, who 'bonds" under the same dynamics;similar dress,style of music etc. The same can be said about any other such grouping of individuals under the generalized term of friends. These friends have no other bond other than those superficial things what unites them. Sociology would call this type of behavior as surviving, but what are they surviving from? They are surviving from a feeling of lonliness plain and simple. It's common sense. Out of what I term a feeling of emptyness they gather in these groups to feel wanted,accepted,valued, appreciated,so they turn to the group to give them this feeling which they are unable to feel from within themselves. They seek these feelings from outside sources as they exist in an existential vacuum for lack of a better way of putting it. Meaning simply they lack self containment and seek validation and justification for their existence trying to find meaning and purpose. This lacking makes them feel they aren't worth a damn unless they belong,or someone loves them and accepts them sadly, this love and acceptance is only valid so long as they adhere to certain expectations and they follow the style and tastes of the group. It goes without saying that with out this sense of acceptance they feel isolated,rejected, even dejected, they feel less than a person like there life doesn't mean a thing unless they have this. Herein lies their validation for being. On the flip side of this illustration there are small groups like gangs and tribes who gather together for the purpose of surviving a very real threat of danger. With gangs it's surving attacks from those who wish to do them real harm, such as a group of mexicans clanning up, because they are always on an individual basis suffering attacks from a particular segment that dont like them just for being mexicans,as all gangs started in this way and the criminal activity they happen to do is also out of survival as the individuals that make up a gang tend to be disenfranchised and the only way they can assure their basic need of shelter and food is to partake in what is known as criminal behavior, thus assuring these needs are met as they generally have no chance of competing(I hate that word) in the mainstream world of economics where they are assured they will have food in their bellies and a roof over their heads, unlike the gangstas that tend to gravitate towards this behavior as I've said out of acceptance and a staus symbol scoring points in what they call street creds, well, life is not a board game
or more current it's not a video game. I digress. Getting back to the issue at hand there are tribal groupings who are formed because the members are out in Nature out in the wilds and they tend to hunt animals for food that are larger and stronger than just one individual can tend to handle, so in order to bag their food they put their heads and combined strength together in order to have supper for the evening. What this boils down to is strength in numbers.The other thing about these gangs and tribes is that they are communal meaning they are basicly a single unit that cooperates with each other to get things done, they pool their resources to help eachother out and thus assuring that the tribe,or gang is well taking care of,instead of one person looking out for and taking care of themselves. What I am saying is they are essentially a family ensuring that each member and the unit as a whole is well taking care of they ease the burden,once again they put their heads and combined strength together to make sure that no one in the clan goes without they are once again providing and ensuring that the basic needs of the group are met and not their individual selves only. An example can be taking from something like a colony of ants,or a pride of lions. If you drop a small piece of food on the floor you will be garaunteed to see a group of ants gathered around that piece of food and that food is gathered and taking back to the colony so that everyone in the colony can eat and the same with the lions the pride as a whole is taking care of in the same way where no one goes hungry. No one is left to fend for themselves.
Without being too verbose, the point of this piece is to point out the difference of what sociology tends to call social animals and what in Nature can be called pack animals. To recapitulate, social animals are a group of people gathered to fulfill superficial needs, while pack animals(gangs,tribes,real families and those of the animal kingdom) are out for the survival and well being of the pack;the collectivized unit of members. Any thoughts?