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To:
polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk |
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Great stuff, Polly,
in today's comment ("Throw
open the books so that we can see what everyone earns")
but please allow me to give you a short but
necessary lesson in evolutionary anthropology.
Despite all the lip
service paid to Charles Darwin, we still implicitly assume
ourselves to be fallen angels, who succumb to
temptation and corruption, thus creating the absurd wealth and
income differentials characteristic of our society.
The truth is that we are
animals, Earth's Greatest (aspiring) Ape;
only far too many of us (pressed and cajoled by our
free-amoral market economy) are not aspiring to anything other
than what our primitive animal nature (which evolved over
millions of years) drives us to in the struggle for survival
and advantage in the socio-economic environment
(which for us has now replaced the natural environment
- a very important point that!). It used to be
brawn, bananas
or the like, but now it's MONEY,
which is by far the most important
and versatile form of power in the socio-economic
environment.
Like you, Polly, I too
want a more just, humane and above all - since everything else
depends on it - sustainable society, but in order to get there
we have to understand that the existing socio-economic order
is deeply rooted in our primitive animal nature. How could it
be otherwise, in view of our animal origins? But it is not
just Christian fundamentalists who are loath to face up to it.
This is where so-called "economic forces" are located, and
where we have to look in order to change them - which we must,
if your species is to survive.
Links:
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