The Evolution of Bullying

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

In looking at the animal side of bullying (I know, many Objectivists don't like to admit that human beings are animals, but mammal is our biological classification for a reason), I came across an interesing story on RoR by a poster named Dale Reed. I see a striking similarity between the Dogg and human bullies.

"Dogg" was half German Shepard and half Doberman Pinscher. Dogg killed Raccoons with her bare teeth and Dogg loved to chase cats.

In the Good Old Days my family could take Dogg to the zoo with us and I would show my sons that when we were looking at the Tigers and Lions Dogg would *not* look at them. I would hold her head pointing at the cages but her eyes would glaze over.

Maybe Dogg was being reasonable? If she had acknowledged those Very Large Cats she would not be able to sleep at night?

Michael

[studiodekadent]

In looking at the animal side of bullying (I know, many Objectivists don't like to admit that human beings are animals, but mammal is our biological classification for a reason),

Part of the problem (I think) is that if you trace bullying back to something in our evolutionary programming, then you kind of diminish the responsibility of the bully (unless 'giving in' to programming is completely overrideable by free will).

I tend to agree with Barbara that bullies are psychological parasites, the type whose self-esteem is critically dependent on being 'superior' to others. Naturally, schools are the best environment for these depraved wretches, since (at least in my high school) the collectivist wolf-pack mentality was basically enforced upon us. It was only my atypical mental strength that stopped me from being enslaved but back then I had neither the philosophical knowlege nor confidence to be assured of the virtue of my resistance, as such I was truly suicidal because of my self-loathing. Thats fixed now, but I still have my issues owing to my past.

Regardless, the idea of an animal side to bullying is not totally worthless. Im inclined to think all bullying stems from an animal-level psyche. I never felt a biological urge to oppress, destroy and dominate others, so I would argue against a simple evolutionary reductionism. I think like most maladies of the human condition, bullying is a mixture of factors, and it can change from individual to individual. But the whole "prove myself the alpha-wolf" drive of bullies certainly seems to be the direct cause of bullying, but what is the root cause of that mentality? I think thats a multicausal.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Andrew,

This is only speculation, but I think we are in the middle of evolution right now, shedding poor traits and growing better ones. That would account for something like this to be common but not 100% universal.

When I see the history of our ancestors, I see tribes.

Michael

[studiodekadent]

Andrew,

This is only speculation, but I think we are in the middle of evolution right now, shedding poor traits and growing better ones. That would account for something like this to be common but not 100% universal.

When I see the history of our ancestors, I see tribes.

Yes, the past was terrible. I guess that most people are not as out of the caves as we are. But I still find that its hard looking upon my former tormentors and thinking they are but victims of maladaptive selection (although I pity them, I tend to do so for other reasons). But I certainly agree that biology may be part of it. Its certainly an interesting topic to think about.