From 61fe8e9b0e883fc3dad6cfa68530ef8d591a9ceb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kurets Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2023 16:51:55 +0300 Subject: [PATCH] update the truth about primitive uncle ted --- ...e-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism.md | 33 ++++++---- new-site/public/blog/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- new-site/public/categories/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- new-site/public/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- new-site/public/library/hackbook/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- new-site/public/library/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- .../public/library/ted-kaczynski/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- .../index.html | 64 ++++++++++++++----- new-site/public/tags/blog/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- new-site/public/tags/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- new-site/public/tags/updates/index.xml | 46 +++++++++---- 11 files changed, 368 insertions(+), 143 deletions(-) diff --git a/new-site/content/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism.md b/new-site/content/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism.md index 43b8b919..ce824537 100644 --- a/new-site/content/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism.md +++ b/new-site/content/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism.md @@ -7,13 +7,15 @@ toc: true ## The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism -1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games ... one could go on and on. +### 1. +As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games ... one could go on and on. The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation. Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality. -2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day ... the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). [^1] People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life. +### 2. +Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day ... the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). [^1] People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life. Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society [^2]), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence [^3]). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” [^4] For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. [^5] Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. [^6] @@ -47,7 +49,8 @@ But leisure is a modern concept, and the emphasis that anarchoprimitivists put o This despite the fact that, as we saw earlier, the Siriono’s hunting and collecting activities were exceedingly time-consuming, fatiguing, strenuous, and physically demanding. -3 Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive [^45] and elsewhere. [^46] Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; [^47] they didn’t even all speak the same language. [^48] At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” [^49] and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” [^50] So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right? +### 3. +Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive [^45] and elsewhere. [^46] Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; [^47] they didn’t even all speak the same language. [^48] At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” [^49] and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” [^50] So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right? Well, maybe not. Look at some of the facts that Bonvillain herself offers in the same book: “Most leaders and camp spokespersons are men. Although women and men participate in group discussions and decision making, ...men’s talk in discussions involving both genders amounts to about two-thirds of the total.” [^51] @@ -63,7 +66,8 @@ The Tasmanians also were nomadic hunter-gatherers (though some were “relativel Here I should make clear that it is not my intention to argue against gender equality. I myself am enough a product of modern industrial society to feel that women and men should have equal status. My purpose at this point is simply to exhibit the facts concerning the relations between the sexes in hunting-and-gathering societies. -4 There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, [^109] describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” [^110] “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” [^111] According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” [^112] Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, [^113] or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. [^114] Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. [^115] In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. [^116] The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, [^117] and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. [^118] Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” [^119] Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, [^120] when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s [^121] when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” [^122] Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. [^123] And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. [^124] As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” [^125] Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” [^126] +### 4. +There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, [^109] describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” [^110] “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” [^111] According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” [^112] Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, [^113] or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. [^114] Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. [^115] In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. [^116] The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, [^117] and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. [^118] Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” [^119] Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, [^120] when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s [^121] when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” [^122] Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. [^123] And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. [^124] As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” [^125] Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” [^126] Though some of Gontran de Poncins’s Eskimos were “purer” than others, [^127] it appears that all of them had at least some trade goods from the whites. If any reader cares to take the trouble to track down the earliest primary sources — perhaps some of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s work — so as to approach as closely as possible to an original and “pure” Eskimo culture, I would be interested to hear of his or her findings. But it is possible that even long before European contact the Eskimos’ culture may have been affected by something that they received from a non-hunting society; for their sled dogs may not have originated with hunter-gatherers. [^128] @@ -71,7 +75,8 @@ With the Siriono we come closer to purity than we do with the Bushmen, the Mbuti Probably the Australian Aborigines and the Tasmanians were the hunter-gatherers who were purest when Europeans first found them. Australia was the only continent that was inhabited exclusively by hunter-gatherers until the white man’s arrival, and Tasmania, an island just to the south of Australia, was even more isolated. But Tasmania may have been visited by Polynesians, and in the north of Australia there was some limited contact with people from Indonesia and New Guinea prior to the arrival of Europeans. [^140] Still earlier contact with outsiders, who mayor may not have been hunter-gatherers, is probable. [^141] Thus we have no conclusive proof that hunter-gatherer cultures that survived into recent times had not been seriously affected by contact with non-hunter-gatherers by the time the first descriptions of them were written. Consequently, more or less uncertainty is involved in using reports on recent hunter-gatherer societies to draw conclusions about gender relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. And any conclusions drawn from archaeological remains about the social relationships between men and women can only be highly speculative. So, if you like, you can reject all evidence from descriptions of recent hunter-gatherer cultures, and in that case we know almost nothing about the gender relations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Or (with the necessary reservations) you can accept the evidence from recent hunter-gatherer societies, and in that case the evidence clearly points to a significant degree of male dominance. In either case, there is no evidence to support the anarchoprimitivists’ belief that all or most human societies had full gender equality prior to the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some ten thousand years ago. -5 Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists. +### 5. +Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists. The anarchoprimitivists, and many politically-correct anthropologists, cite any evidence they can find that hunter-gatherers had gender equality, while systematically ignoring the abundant evidence of gender inequality found in eyewitness reports of hunter-gatherer cultures. For example, the anthropologist Haviland, in his textbook Cultural Anthropology, states that an “important characteristic of the food-foraging [hunther-gatherer] society is its egalitarianism.” [^142] He acknowledges that the two sexes may have had different status in such societies, but claims that “status differences by themselves do not imply any necessary inequality”, and that in “traditional food-foraging societies, nothing necessitated special deference of women to men.” [^143] If you check the pages listed in Haviland’s index for the entries “Bushmen”, “Ju/’hoansi” (another name for the Dobe Bushmen), “Eskimo”, “Inuit” (another name for Eskimos), “Mbuti”, “Tasma-nian”, “Australian”, and “Aborigine” (the Siriono are not listed in the index), you will find no mention of wife-beating, forced marriage, forced sexual intercourse, or any of the other indications of male dominance that I’ve cited above. Haviland does not deny that these things occurred. He does not claim, for example, that Turnbull merely invented his stories of wife-beating among the Mbuti, or that such-and-such evidence shows that Australian Aboriginal women were not subjected to involuntary sex before the arrival of Europeans. He simply ignores these issues, as if they didn’t exist. And it’s not that Haviland isn’t aware of the issues. For example, he quotes from A. P. Elkin’s book, The Australian Aborigines, [^144] an indication that he not only is familiar with the book but considers it a reliable source of information. Yet Elkin’s book, which I cited earlier, provides ample evidence of Australian Aboriginal men’s tyranny over their women [^145] — evidence that Haviland fails to mention. It’s pretty clear what is going on: Equality of the sexes is a fundamental tenet of the mainstream ideology of modern society. As highly-socialized members of that society, politically-correct anthropologists believe in the principle of gender equality with something akin to religious conviction, and they feel a need to give us little moral lessons by holding up for our admiration examples of the gender equality that supposedly prevailed when the human race was in a pristine and unspoiled state. This portrayal of primitive cultures is driven by the anthropologists’ own need to reaffirm their faith, and has nothing to do with an honest search for truth. @@ -95,7 +100,8 @@ After citing to Zerzan some of the examples of gender inequality that I’ve dis One does not necessarily have to assume any conscious dishonesty on Zerzan’s part. As Nietzsche said, “The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.” [^167] In other words, self-deception often precedes deception of others. An important factor here may be one that is well known to professional propagandists: people tend to block out — to fail to perceive or to remember — information that they find uncongenial[^168]. Since information that discredits one’s ideology is highly uncongenial, it follows that people will tend to block out such information. A young anarchoprimitivist with whom I’ve corresponded has provided me with an amazing example of this phenomenon. He wrote to me: “there is no question about the persistence [sic] of patriarchy in all other oceanic societies, but none seems apparent in the [Australian] Aborigines — According to A. P. Elkin’s The Australian Aborigines wives were not held in a restrictive marriage at all.” [^169] It was apparent that my anarchoprimitivist friend had read Elkin’s discussion of women’s position in Australian Aboriginal society. I’ve cited above some of the relevant pages of Elkin’s book, such as those on which he states that Australian Aboriginal women sometimes lived in terror of the compulsory sex to which they were subjected at some ceremonial times. Any reasonably rational person who will take the trouble to read those pages [^170] will find himself hard-pressed to explain how my anarchoprimitivist friend could have read that material and then claimed in all seriousness that no patriarchy seemed apparent in Australian Aboriginal society — unless my friend simply blocked out of his mind the information that he found ideologically unacceptable. My friend did not question the accuracy of Elkin I s information; in fact, he was relying on Elkin as an authority. He simply remained oblivious to the information that indicated patriarchy among the Australian Aborigines. But this time it should be sufficiently clear to the reader that what the anarchoprimitivists (and many anthropologists) are up to has nothing to do with a rational search for the truth about primitive cultures. Instead, they have been developing a myth. -6 I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” [^171] The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths...the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” [^172] Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them...”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” [^173] +### 6. +I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” [^171] The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths...the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” [^172] Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them...”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” [^173] Among at least some groups of Australian Aborigines, women at times would provoke their menfolk to deadly violence against other men. [^174] Among the Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived, there was “a good deal of killing”, and it was sometimes a woman who persuaded a man to kill another man. [^175] Paintings made in rock shelters by prehistoric hunter-gatherers of eastern Spain show groups of men fighting each other with bows and arrows. [^176] @@ -107,7 +113,8 @@ But, as Haviland certainly ought to know, many or most predatory animals engage I do want to make clear that it is by no means my intention to exalt violence. I prefer to see people (and animals) get along smoothly with one another. My purpose is only to expose the irrationality of the politically-correct image of primitive peoples and of wild nature. -7 An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. [^192] Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, [^193] and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” [^194] he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community ...rather than on self...” [^195] +### 7. +An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. [^192] Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, [^193] and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” [^194] he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community ...rather than on self...” [^195] But according to Turnbull’s own earlier work, physical fighting was commonplace among the Mbuti. [^196] If a physical fight isn’t a form of competition, then what is? It’s clear in fact that the Mbuti were a very quarrelsome people, and, in addition to physical fights, there were many verbal disputes among them. [^197] Generally speaking, any dispute, whether it is settled physically or verbally; is a form of competition: the interests of one person conflict with those of another, and their quarreling is an effort by each to promote his own interests at the other’s expense. The Mbuti’s jealousies also were evidence of competitive impulses. [^198] @@ -147,7 +154,8 @@ It is routinely taken for granted that words like “community,” “cooperatio There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand fully the psychology of these people. It seems obvious, for example, that the politically-correct portrayal of hunter-gatherers is motivated in part by an impulse to construct an image of a pure and innocent world existing at the dawn of time, analogous to the Garden of Eden, but the basis of this impulse is not clear to me. -8 What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” [^253] It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” [^254] Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. [^255] On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. [^256] This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. [^257] Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.[^258] The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. [^259] Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. [^260] The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” [^261] This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported: +### 8. +What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” [^253] It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” [^254] Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. [^255] On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. [^256] This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. [^257] Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.[^258] The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. [^259] Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. [^260] The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” [^261] This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported: “The youngster had speared [the sindula] with his first thrust, pinning the animal to the ground through the fleshy part of the stomach. But the animal was still very much alive, fighting for freedom. Maipe put another spear into its neck, but it still writhed and fought. Not until a third spear pierced its heart did it give up the struggle... @@ -157,7 +165,8 @@ There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand ful A few years later, in Wayward Servants, Turnbull wrote: “The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence. The fun that is sometimes subsequently made of the dead animal, particularly by the youths, appears to be almost a nervous reaction, and there is an element of fear in their behavior. On the other hand, a bird caught alive may deliberately be toyed with, its feathers singed off over the fire while it is still fluttering and squawking until it is finally burned or suffocated to death. This again is usually done by the youths who take the same nervous pleasure in the act; very rarely a young hunter may absent-mindedly [^!?] do the same thing. Older hunters and elders generally disapprove, but do not interfere.”; “The respect seems to be not for animal life but for the game as a gift of the forest...” [^263] This does not seem entirely consistent with what Turnbull reported earlier in The Forest People. Maybe Turnbull was already beginning to swing toward political correctness when he wrote Wayward Servants. But even if we take the statements of Wayward Servants at face value, the fact remains that the Mbuti did treat animals with unnecessary cruelty, whether or not they felt “compassion and reverence” for them. If the Mbuti did have compassion for animals, they were probably exceptional in that regard. Hunter-gatherers seem typically to be callous toward animals. The Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived kicked and beat their dogs brutally. [^264] The Siriono sometimes captured young animals alive and brought them back to camp, but they gave them nothing to eat, and the animals were treated so roughly by the children that they soon died. [^265] It should be noted that many hunting-and-gathering peoples did have a sense of reverence for or closeness to wild animals. I’ve already quoted Colin Turnbull’s statement to that effect in the case of the Mbuti. Coon states that “it is virtually a standard rule among hunters that they should never mock or otherwise insult any wild creature whose life they have brought to an end.” [^266] (As the passages I’ve quoted from Turnbull show, there were exceptions to this “standard rule”.) Venturing into speculation, Coon adds that “hunters sense the unity of nature and the combination of humility and responsibility of their role in it.” [^267] Wissler describes the closeness to and reverence toward nature (including wild animals) of the North American Indians. [^268] Holmberg mentions the Siriono’s “bonds” and “kinship” with the animal world. [^269] But, as we’ve already seen, these “bonds” and this “kinship” did not prevent physical cruelty to animals. Clearly, animal-rights activists would be horrified at the way hunter-gatherers often treated animals. For people who look to hunting and gathering cultures as their social ideal, it therefore makes no sense to maintain alliances with the animal-rights movement. -9 To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. [^270] The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. [^271] The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. [^272] It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. [^273] First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. [^274] (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” [^275] Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” [^276] This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. [^277] How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew [^278] (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” [^279] +### 9. +To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. [^270] The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. [^271] The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. [^272] It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. [^273] First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. [^274] (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” [^275] Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” [^276] This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. [^277] How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew [^278] (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” [^279] The publisher of the anarchoprimitivist “zine” Species Traitor stated in a letter to me that in hunter-gatherer cultures “people had no property.” [^280] This is not true. Various forms of private property did exist among hunter-gatherers — and not only among sedentary ones like the Northwest Coast Indians. It is well known that most hunting-and-gathering peoples had collective property in land. That is, each band of 30 to 130 people owned the territory in which it lived. Coon provides an extended discussion of this. [^281] It is less well known that hunter-gatherers, even nomadic ones, could also hold rights to natural resources as individual property, and in some cases such rights could even be inherited. [^282] For example, among Mrs. Thomas’s Bushmen: “Each group has a very specific territory which that group alone may use, and they respect their boundaries rigidly. If a person is born in a certain area he or she has a right to eat the melons that grow there and all the veld food. A man may eat the melons wherever his wife can and wherever his father and mother could, so that every Bushman has in this way some kind of rights in many places. Gai, for example, ate melons at Ai a ha’o because his wife’s mother was born there, as well as at his own birthplace, the Okwa Omaramba.” [^283] @@ -183,13 +192,15 @@ As soon as they acquired steel axes, the Siriono began destroying the wild fruit It is well known that some hunter-gatherers intentionally set wildfires because they knew that burned-over land would produce more of the edible plants that they favored. [^311] I consider this practice recklessly destructive. It is believed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers, through over-hunting, caused or at least contributed to the extinction of some species of large mammals, [^312] though as far as I know this has never been definitely proved. The foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the question of conservation versus environmental recklessness on the part of hunter-gatherers. It’s a question that deserves thorough investigation. -10 I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth. +### 10. +I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth. One is reminded of the response of fundamentalist Christians to any rational attack on their beliefs. Whatever facts one may point out, the fundamentalist will always find some argument, however far-fetched, to explain them away and justify his belief in the literal, word-for-word truth of the Bible. Actually, there is about anarchoprimitivism a distinct flavor of early Christianity. The anarchoprimitivists’ hunting-and-gathering utopia corresponds to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived in ease and without sin (Genesis 2). The invention of agriculture and civilization corresponds to the Fall: Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:6), were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), and thereafter had to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow by tilling the soil (Genesis 3: 19,23). They moreover lost gender equality, since Eve became subordinate to her husband (Genesis 3:16). The revolution that anarchoprimitivists hope will overthrow civilization corresponds to the Day of Judgment, the day of destruction on which Babylon will fall (Revelation 18:2). The return to primitive utopia corresponds to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, wherein “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be.any more pain” (Revelation 21:4). Today’s activists who risk their bodies by engaging in masochistic resistance tactics, such as chaining themselves across roads to prevent the passage of logging trucks, correspond to the Christian martyrs-the true believers who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4). Veganism corresponds to the dietary restrictions of many religions, such as the Christian fast during Lent. Like anarchoprimitivists, the early Christians emphasized egalitarianism (“whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased”, Matthew 23:12) and sharing (“distribution was made unto every man according as he had need”, Acts 4:35). The psychological affinity between anarchoprimitivism and early Christianity does not augur well. As soon as the emperor Constantine gave the Christians an opportunity to become powerful they sold out, and ever since then Christianity, more often than not, has served as a prop for the established powers. -11. In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his. +### 11. +In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his. Why does this matter? Because it shows that chronic stress, anxiety and frustration, depression, and so forth, are not inevitable parts of the human condition, but are disorders brought on by modern civilization. Nor is servitude an inevitable part of the human condition: The example of at least some nomadic hunter-gatherer shows that true freedom is possible. Even more important: Regardless of whether they were good conservationists or poor ones, primitive peoples were incapable of damaging their environment to anything remotely approaching the extent to which modern man is damaging his. Primitives simply didn’t have the power to do that much damage. They may have used fire recklessly and they may have exterminated some species through overhunting, but they had no way to dam large rivers, to cover thousands of square miles of the Earth’s surface with cities and pavement, or to produce the vast quantities of toxic chemicals and radioactive waste with which modern civilization threatens to ruin the world for good and all. Nor did primitives have any means of releasing the deadly-dangerous forces represented by genetic engineering and by the super-intelligent computers that may soon be developed. These are dangers that scare even the technophiles themselves. [^313] So I agree with the anarchoprimitivists that the advent of civilization was a great disaster and that the Industrial Revolution was an even greater one. I further agree that a revolution against modernity, and against civilization in general, is necessary. But you can’t build an effective revolutionary movement out of soft-headed dreamers, lazies, and charlatans. You have to have tough-minded, realistic, practical people, and people of that kind don’t need the anarchoprimitivists’ mushy utopian myth. diff --git a/new-site/public/blog/index.xml b/new-site/public/blog/index.xml index 5d23fe8b..846bca41 100644 --- a/new-site/public/blog/index.xml +++ b/new-site/public/blog/index.xml @@ -200,10 +200,14 @@ https://vodoraslo.xyz/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/ <h2 id="the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism">The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism <a class="anchor" href="#the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> -</a></h2><p>1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> +</a></h2><h3 id="1">1. <a class="anchor" href="#1"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> <p>The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation.</p> <p>Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality.</p> -<p>2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> +<h3 id="2">2. <a class="anchor" href="#2"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> <p>Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society <sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup>), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence <sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">3</a></sup>). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” <sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">4</a></sup> For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. <sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">5</a></sup> Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. <sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">6</a></sup></p> <p>In a part of his essay that many anarchoprimitivists have found convenient to overlook, Bob Black acknowledges the forty-hour work-week and explains the foregoing contradiction: Sahlins followed early work of Lee that considered only time spent in hunting and foraging. When all necessary work was considered, the work-week was more than doubled. <sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">7</a></sup> The work omitted from consideration by Sahlins and the anarchoprimitivists was probably the most disagreeable part of the Bushmen’s work-week, too, since it consisted largely of food-preparation and firewood collection. <sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">8</a></sup> I speak from extensive personal experience with wild foods: Preparing such foods for use is very often a pain in the neck. It is far more pleasant to gather nuts, dig roots, or hunt game than it is to crack nuts, clean roots, or skin and butcher game — or to collect firewood and cook over an open fire.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists also err in assuming that Lee’s findings can be applied to hunter-gatherers generally. It’s not even clear that those findings are applicable on a year-round basis to the Bushmen studied by Lee. Cashdan cites evidence that Lee’s research may have been done at the time of year when his Bushmen worked least. <sup id="fnref:9"><a href="#fn:9" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">9</a></sup> She also mentions two other hunting-and-gathering peoples who have been shown quantitatively to spend far more time in hunting and foraging than Lee’s Bushmen did, <sup id="fnref:10"><a href="#fn:10" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">10</a></sup> and she points out that Lee may have seriously underestimated women’s working time because he failed to include time spent on childcare. <sup id="fnref:11"><a href="#fn:11" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">11</a></sup></p> @@ -220,7 +224,9 @@ <p>However, I have not been trying to prove that primitive man was less fortunate in his working life than modern man is. In my opinion the contrary was true. Probably at least some nomadic hunter-gatherers had more leisure time than modern employed Americans do. It’s true that the roughly forty-hour work-week of Richard Lee’s Bushmen was about equal to the standard American work-week. But modern Americans are burdened with many demands on their time outside their hours of employment. I myself, when working at a forty-hour job, have generally felt busy: I’ve had to shop for groceries, go to the bank, do the laundry, fill out income-tax forms, take the car in for maintenance, get a haircut, go to the dentist &hellip;there was always something that needed to be done. Many of the people I now correspond with likewise complain of being busy. In contrast, the male Bushman’s time was genuinely his own outside of his working hours; he could spend his non-working time as he pleased. Bushman women of reproductive age may have had much less leisure time because, like women of all societies, they were burdened with the care of small children.</p> <p>But leisure is a modern concept, and the emphasis that anarchoprimitivists put on it is evidence of their servitude to the values of the civilization that they claim to reject. The amount of time expended in work is not what matters. Many authors have discussed what is wrong with work in modern society, and I see no reason to go over that ground again. What does matter is that, apart from monotony, what is wrong with work in modern society is not wrong with the work of nomadic hunter-gatherers. The hunter-gatherer’s work is challenging, both in terms of physical effort and in terms of the level of skill required. <sup id="fnref:40"><a href="#fn:40" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">40</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer’s work is purposeful, and its purpose is not abstract, remote, or artificial but concrete, very real, and directly important to the worker: He works to satisfy the physical needs of himself, his family, and other people to whom he is personally close. Above all, the nomadic hunter-gatherer is a free worker: He is not exploited, he is subservient to no boss, no one gives him orders; <sup id="fnref:41"><a href="#fn:41" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">41</a></sup> he designs is own work-day, if not as an individual then as a member of a group that is small enough so that every individual can participate meaningfully in the decisions that are made <sup id="fnref:42"><a href="#fn:42" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">42</a></sup>. Modern jobs tend to be psychologically stressful, but there are reasons to believe that primitive people’s work typically involved little psychological stress. <sup id="fnref:43"><a href="#fn:43" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">43</a></sup> Hunter-gatherers’ work often monotonous, but it is my view that monotony generally causes primitive people relatively little discomfort. Boredom, I think, is largely a civilized phenomenon and is a product of psychological stresses that are characteristic of civilized life. This admittedly is a matter of personal opinion, I can ‘t prove it, and a discussion of it would take us beyond the scope of this article. Here I will only say that my opinion is based largely on my own experience of living outside the technoindustrial system. How hunter-gatherers felt about their own work is difficult to say, since anthropologists and others who visited primitive peoples (at least those whose reports I’ve read) usually do not seem to have asked such questions. But the following from Holmberg’s worth noting: “They are relatively apathetic to work (taba taba), which includes such distasteful tasks as housebuilding, gathering firewood, clearing, planting, and tilling of fields. In quite a different class, however, are such pleasant occupations as hunting (gwata gwata) and collecting (deka deka, ‘to look for’), which are regarded more as diversions than as work.” <sup id="fnref:44"><a href="#fn:44" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">44</a></sup></p> <p>This despite the fact that, as we saw earlier, the Siriono’s hunting and collecting activities were exceedingly time-consuming, fatiguing, strenuous, and physically demanding.</p> -<p>3 Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> +<h3 id="3">3. <a class="anchor" href="#3"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> <p>Well, maybe not. Look at some of the facts that Bonvillain herself offers in the same book: “Most leaders and camp spokespersons are men. Although women and men participate in group discussions and decision making, &hellip;men’s talk in discussions involving both genders amounts to about two-thirds of the total.” <sup id="fnref:51"><a href="#fn:51" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">51</a></sup></p> <p>Much worse are the forced marriages of girls in their early teens to men much older than themselves. <sup id="fnref:52"><a href="#fn:52" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">52</a></sup> It’s true that practices that seem cruel to us may not be experienced as cruel by people of other cultures on whom they are imposed. But Bonvillain quotes words of a Bushman woman that show that at least some girls did experience their forced marriages as cruel: “I cried and cried”; <sup id="fnref:53"><a href="#fn:53" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">53</a></sup> “I ran away again and again. A part of my heart kept thinking: ‘how come I’m a child and have taken a husband?’” <sup id="fnref:54"><a href="#fn:54" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">54</a></sup> Moreover, “because seniority confers prestige&hellip;, the greater age, experience, and maturity of husbands may make wives socially, if not personally, subordinate.” <sup id="fnref:55"><a href="#fn:55" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">55</a></sup> Thus, while the Dobe Bushmen no doubt had some of the elements of gender equality, one would have to stretch a point pretty far to claim that they had full gender equality. On the basis of his personal experience, Colin Turnbull stated that among the Mbuti pygmies of Africa, a “woman is in no way the social inferior of a man,” <sup id="fnref:56"><a href="#fn:56" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">56</a></sup> and that “the woman is not discriminated against. <sup id="fnref:57"><a href="#fn:57" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">57</a></sup> That sounds like gender equality &hellip;until you look at the concrete facts that Turnbull himself offers in the very same books: “ A certain amount of wife-beating is considered good, and the wife is expected to fight back; <sup id="fnref:58"><a href="#fn:58" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">58</a></sup> “He said that he was very content with his wife, and he had not found it necessary to beat her at all often,” <sup id="fnref:59"><a href="#fn:59" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">59</a></sup>; Man throws wife to the ground and slaps her; <sup id="fnref:60"><a href="#fn:60" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">60</a></sup> Husband beats wife; <sup id="fnref:61"><a href="#fn:61" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">61</a></sup> Man beats sister; <sup id="fnref:62"><a href="#fn:62" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">62</a></sup> Kenge beats his sister; <sup id="fnref:63"><a href="#fn:63" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">63</a></sup> “Perhaps he should have beaten her harder, Tungana [an old man] said, for some girls like being beaten,” <sup id="fnref:64"><a href="#fn:64" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">64</a></sup>; “Amabosu countered by smacking her firmly across the face. Normally Ekianga would have approved of such manly assertion of authority over a disloyal wife.” <sup id="fnref:65"><a href="#fn:65" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">65</a></sup> Turnbull mentions two instances of men giving orders to their wives. <sup id="fnref:66"><a href="#fn:66" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">66</a></sup> I have not found any instance in Turnbull’ s books of wives giving orders to their husbands. Pipestem obtained by wife is referred to as husband’s property. <sup id="fnref:67"><a href="#fn:67" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">67</a></sup> “[A boy] has to have [a girl’s] permission before intercourse can take place. The men say that once they lie down with a girl, however, if they want her they take her by surprise, when petting her, and force her to their will.” <sup id="fnref:68"><a href="#fn:68" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">68</a></sup> Nowadays we would call that “date rape”, and the young man involved would risk a long prison sentence.</p> <p>For the sake of balance, let’s note that Turnbull found among the Mbuti no instance of what we would call “street rape” as opposed to “date rape”; <sup id="fnref:69"><a href="#fn:69" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">69</a></sup> husbands were not supposed to hit their wives on the head or in the face; <sup id="fnref:70"><a href="#fn:70" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">70</a></sup> and in at least one case in which a man took to beating his wife too frequently and severly, his campmates eventually found means to end the abuse without the use of force and without overt interference. <sup id="fnref:71"><a href="#fn:71" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">71</a></sup> It should also be borne in mind that the significance of a beating depends on the cultural context. In our society it is a great humiliation to be struck by another person, especially by one who is bigger and stronger than oneself. But since blows were commonplace among the Mbuti, <sup id="fnref:72"><a href="#fn:72" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">72</a></sup> it is probably safe to assume that they were not felt as particularly humiliating . Nevertheless it is quite clear that some degree of male dominance was present among the Mbuti. Among the Siriono: “A woman is subservient to her husband”; <sup id="fnref:73"><a href="#fn:73" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">73</a></sup> “The extended family is generally dominated by the oldest active male”; <sup id="fnref:74"><a href="#fn:74" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">74</a></sup> “[Women] are dominated by the men”; <sup id="fnref:75"><a href="#fn:75" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">75</a></sup> “If a man is out in the forest alone with a woman, &hellip;he may throw her to the ground roughly and take his prize [sex] without so much as saying a word”; <sup id="fnref:76"><a href="#fn:76" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">76</a></sup> Parents definitely preferred to have male children; <sup id="fnref:77"><a href="#fn:77" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">77</a></sup> “Although the title ererekwa is reserved by the men for a chief, it one asks a woman: ‘who is your ererekwa?’ she will invariably reply: ‘my husband’.” <sup id="fnref:78"><a href="#fn:78" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">78</a></sup> On the other hand, the Siriono never beat their wives, <sup id="fnref:79"><a href="#fn:79" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">79</a></sup> and “Women enjoy about the same privileges as men. They get as much or more food to eat, and they enjoy the same sexual freedom.” <sup id="fnref:80"><a href="#fn:80" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">80</a></sup> According to Bonvillain, Eskimo men “dominate their wives and daughters. Men’s dominance is not total, however&hellip;&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:81"><a href="#fn:81" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">81</a></sup> She describes gender relations among the Eskimos in some detail, <sup id="fnref:82"><a href="#fn:82" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">82</a></sup> which may or may not be slanted to reflect her feminist ideology.</p> @@ -228,11 +234,15 @@ <p>Although there was “real harmony and mutual understanding in most Aboriginal families”, wife-beating was practiced. <sup id="fnref:95"><a href="#fn:95" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">95</a></sup> According to A. P. Elkin, under some circumstances-for example, on certain ceremonial occasions-women had to submit to compulsory sex, which “implies that woman is but an object to be used in certain socially established ways.” <sup id="fnref:96"><a href="#fn:96" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">96</a></sup> The women, says Elkin, “may often not object,” <sup id="fnref:97"><a href="#fn:97" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">97</a></sup> but: “They sometimes live in terror of the use which is made of them at some ceremonial times.” <sup id="fnref:98"><a href="#fn:98" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">98</a></sup> Of course, no claim is made here that all of the foregoing conditions prevailed in all parts of aboriginal Australia. Culture was not uniform across the continent. Coon says that the Australians were nomadic, but he also states that in parts of southeastern Australia, namely “The better-watered parts, particularly Victoria and the Murray River country”, the aborigines were “relatively sedentary.” <sup id="fnref:99"><a href="#fn:99" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">99</a></sup> According to Massola, in the drier parts of southeastern Australia the aborigines had to cover long distances between fast-drying wells in times of drought. <sup id="fnref:100"><a href="#fn:100" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">100</a></sup> This corresponds with the high degree of nomadism described for other arid parts of Australia, where “Aboigines moved from waterhole to waterhole along well-defined tracks in small family groups. The whole camp moved and rarely established bases.” <sup id="fnref:101"><a href="#fn:101" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">101</a></sup> In stating that in “the better-watered parts” the aborigines were “relatively sedentary”, Coon doubtless means that “in fertile regions there were well-established camping areas, close to water, where people always camped at certain times of year. Camps were bases from which people made forays into the surrounding bush for food, returning in the late afternoon or spending a few days away.” <sup id="fnref:102"><a href="#fn:102" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">102</a></sup> Coon says that in part of the well-watered Murray River country each territorial clan had a headman and a council consisting mainly of men, though in a few cases women were also elected to the council; whereas, farther to the north and west, there was little formal leadership and “control over the women and younger males was shared between” the men aged from thirty to fifty. <sup id="fnref:103"><a href="#fn:103" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">103</a></sup> Thus Australian women had very little overt political power. Yet, as among Poncins’s Eskimos, certainly in our society, and probably in every society, the women often exercised great influence their menfolk <sup id="fnref:104"><a href="#fn:104" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">104</a></sup>.</p> <p>The Tasmanians also were nomadic hunter-gatherers (though some were “relatively sedentary”), <sup id="fnref:105"><a href="#fn:105" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">105</a></sup> and it’s not clear that they treated women any better than the Australians did. “In one account we are told that a band living near Hobart Town before the colonists’ arrival was raided by neighbors who killed the men who tried to stop them and took away their women. And there are other accounts of individual cases of marriage by capture. Sometimes when a man from a neighboring band had the right to marry a girl, but neither she nor her parents liked him, it is said that they killed the girl rather than give her up”; <sup id="fnref:106"><a href="#fn:106" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">106</a></sup> “The other tribes considered [a certain tribe] cowards, and raided them to steal their women”; <sup id="fnref:107"><a href="#fn:107" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">107</a></sup> “Woorrady raped and killed a sister-in-law.” <sup id="fnref:108"><a href="#fn:108" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">108</a></sup></p> <p>Here I should make clear that it is not my intention to argue against gender equality. I myself am enough a product of modern industrial society to feel that women and men should have equal status. My purpose at this point is simply to exhibit the facts concerning the relations between the sexes in hunting-and-gathering societies.</p> -<p>4 There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="4">4. <a class="anchor" href="#4"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> <p>Though some of Gontran de Poncins’s Eskimos were “purer” than others, <sup id="fnref:127"><a href="#fn:127" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">127</a></sup> it appears that all of them had at least some trade goods from the whites. If any reader cares to take the trouble to track down the earliest primary sources — perhaps some of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s work — so as to approach as closely as possible to an original and “pure” Eskimo culture, I would be interested to hear of his or her findings. But it is possible that even long before European contact the Eskimos’ culture may have been affected by something that they received from a non-hunting society; for their sled dogs may not have originated with hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:128"><a href="#fn:128" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">128</a></sup></p> <p>With the Siriono we come closer to purity than we do with the Bushmen, the Mbuti, or Poncins’s Eskimos. The Siriono did not even have dogs, <sup id="fnref:129"><a href="#fn:129" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">129</a></sup> and even though they cultivated crops to a limited extent anthropologists regarded their culture as Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). <sup id="fnref:130"><a href="#fn:130" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">130</a></sup> Some of the Siriono studied by Holmberg had had little or no contact with whites prior to Holmberg’s arrival <sup id="fnref:131"><a href="#fn:131" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">131</a></sup> and, among those Siriono, European tools were rarely encountered <sup id="fnref:132"><a href="#fn:132" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">132</a></sup> until Holmberg himself introduced them. <sup id="fnref:133"><a href="#fn:133" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">133</a></sup> Instead, the Siriono made their tools of naturally-occurring local materials.<sup id="fnref:134"><a href="#fn:134" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">134</a></sup> The Siriono moreover were so primitive that they could not count beyond three. <sup id="fnref:135"><a href="#fn:135" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">135</a></sup> Nevertheless, Siriono culture might have been affected by contact with more “advanced” societies, since Holmberg thought the Siriono were “probably a remnant of an ancient population that was exterminated, absorbed, or engulfed by more civilized invaders.” <sup id="fnref:136"><a href="#fn:136" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">136</a></sup> Lauriston Sharp even suggested that the Siriono might have “degenerated” [sic] “from a more advanced technical condition,” though Holmberg rejected this view and Sharp himself considered it “irrelevant.” <sup id="fnref:137"><a href="#fn:137" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">137</a></sup> In addition, the Siriono might have been affected indirectly by European civilization, since probably at least some of the diseases from which they suffered, e.g., malaria, had been brought to the Americas by Europeans. <sup id="fnref:138"><a href="#fn:138" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">138</a></sup> It’s not surprising that most of the hunter-gatherers I’ve mentioned here — like those cited by the anarchoprimitivists and the politically-correct anthropologists — were affected by direct or indirect contact with agricultural or pastoral peoples even long before their first contact with Europeans, because outside of Australia, Tasmania, and the far west and north of North America “populations which remained faithful to the old hunter-gatherer way of live were small and scattered.” <sup id="fnref:139"><a href="#fn:139" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">139</a></sup> Consequently, with the possible exception of some who lived on small islands, they necessarily had some form of contact with surrounding non-hunter-gatherer populations.</p> <p>Probably the Australian Aborigines and the Tasmanians were the hunter-gatherers who were purest when Europeans first found them. Australia was the only continent that was inhabited exclusively by hunter-gatherers until the white man’s arrival, and Tasmania, an island just to the south of Australia, was even more isolated. But Tasmania may have been visited by Polynesians, and in the north of Australia there was some limited contact with people from Indonesia and New Guinea prior to the arrival of Europeans. <sup id="fnref:140"><a href="#fn:140" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">140</a></sup> Still earlier contact with outsiders, who mayor may not have been hunter-gatherers, is probable. <sup id="fnref:141"><a href="#fn:141" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">141</a></sup> Thus we have no conclusive proof that hunter-gatherer cultures that survived into recent times had not been seriously affected by contact with non-hunter-gatherers by the time the first descriptions of them were written. Consequently, more or less uncertainty is involved in using reports on recent hunter-gatherer societies to draw conclusions about gender relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. And any conclusions drawn from archaeological remains about the social relationships between men and women can only be highly speculative. So, if you like, you can reject all evidence from descriptions of recent hunter-gatherer cultures, and in that case we know almost nothing about the gender relations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Or (with the necessary reservations) you can accept the evidence from recent hunter-gatherer societies, and in that case the evidence clearly points to a significant degree of male dominance. In either case, there is no evidence to support the anarchoprimitivists’ belief that all or most human societies had full gender equality prior to the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some ten thousand years ago.</p> -<p>5 Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> +<h3 id="5">5. <a class="anchor" href="#5"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists, and many politically-correct anthropologists, cite any evidence they can find that hunter-gatherers had gender equality, while systematically ignoring the abundant evidence of gender inequality found in eyewitness reports of hunter-gatherer cultures. For example, the anthropologist Haviland, in his textbook Cultural Anthropology, states that an “important characteristic of the food-foraging [hunther-gatherer] society is its egalitarianism.” <sup id="fnref:142"><a href="#fn:142" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">142</a></sup> He acknowledges that the two sexes may have had different status in such societies, but claims that “status differences by themselves do not imply any necessary inequality”, and that in “traditional food-foraging societies, nothing necessitated special deference of women to men.” <sup id="fnref:143"><a href="#fn:143" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">143</a></sup> If you check the pages listed in Haviland’s index for the entries “Bushmen”, “Ju/’hoansi” (another name for the Dobe Bushmen), “Eskimo”, “Inuit” (another name for Eskimos), “Mbuti”, “Tasma-nian”, “Australian”, and “Aborigine” (the Siriono are not listed in the index), you will find no mention of wife-beating, forced marriage, forced sexual intercourse, or any of the other indications of male dominance that I’ve cited above. Haviland does not deny that these things occurred. He does not claim, for example, that Turnbull merely invented his stories of wife-beating among the Mbuti, or that such-and-such evidence shows that Australian Aboriginal women were not subjected to involuntary sex before the arrival of Europeans. He simply ignores these issues, as if they didn’t exist. And it’s not that Haviland isn’t aware of the issues. For example, he quotes from A. P. Elkin’s book, The Australian Aborigines, <sup id="fnref:144"><a href="#fn:144" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">144</a></sup> an indication that he not only is familiar with the book but considers it a reliable source of information. Yet Elkin’s book, which I cited earlier, provides ample evidence of Australian Aboriginal men’s tyranny over their women <sup id="fnref:145"><a href="#fn:145" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">145</a></sup> — evidence that Haviland fails to mention. It’s pretty clear what is going on: Equality of the sexes is a fundamental tenet of the mainstream ideology of modern society. As highly-socialized members of that society, politically-correct anthropologists believe in the principle of gender equality with something akin to religious conviction, and they feel a need to give us little moral lessons by holding up for our admiration examples of the gender equality that supposedly prevailed when the human race was in a pristine and unspoiled state. This portrayal of primitive cultures is driven by the anthropologists’ own need to reaffirm their faith, and has nothing to do with an honest search for truth.</p> <p>To take another example, I’ve written to John Zerzan four times inviting him to back up his claims about gender equality among hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:146"><a href="#fn:146" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">146</a></sup> The answers he gave me were vague and evasive. <sup id="fnref:147"><a href="#fn:147" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">147</a></sup> I would gladly publish here Zerzan’s letters to me on this subject so that the reader could judge them for himself. However, I wrote to Zerzan requesting permission to publish his letters, and he denied me that permission. <sup id="fnref:148"><a href="#fn:148" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">148</a></sup> With his letters he sent me photocopies of pages from a few books that contained vague, general statements ostensibly supporting his claims about gender equality; for instance, this statement by John E Pfeiffer, who is neither a specialist nor an eyewitness of primitive behavior, but a popularizer: “For reasons unknown sexism arrived with settling and farming, with the emergence of complex society.” <sup id="fnref:149"><a href="#fn:149" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">149</a></sup></p> <p>Zerzan also sent me a photocopy of a page from Bonvillain’s book containing the following statement: “In foraging band [hunter-gatherer] societies, the potential for gender equality is perhaps the greatest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:150"><a href="#fn:150" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">150</a></sup> But Zerzan did not include copies of the pages on which Bonvillain said that male dominance was evident in some hunter-gatherer societies such as that of the Eskimos, or the pages on which she gave information that cast gave doubt on her own claim of gender equality among the Dobe Bushmen, as I discussed above.</p> @@ -244,13 +254,17 @@ <p>It’s worth noting that Zerzan apparently believes that our ancestors were capable of mental telepathy. <sup id="fnref:162"><a href="#fn:162" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">162</a></sup> But particularly revealing is Zerzan’ s quotation of “Shanks and Tilley”: “The point of archaeology is not merely to interpret the past but to change the manner in which the past is interpreted in the service of social reconstruction in the present.” <sup id="fnref:163"><a href="#fn:163" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">163</a></sup> This is virtually open advocacy of the proposition that archaeologists should slant their findings for political purposes. What better evidence could there be of the massive politicization that has taken place in American anthropology over the last 35 or 40 years? In view of this politicization, anything in recent anthropological literature that portrays primitive peoples’ behavior as politically correct must be viewed with the utmost skepticism.</p> <p>After citing to Zerzan some of the examples of gender inequality that I’ve discussed above, I questioned his honesty on the ground that he had “systematically excluded nearly all of the evidence that undercuts the idealized picture of hunter-gatherer societies” that he wanted to present. <sup id="fnref:164"><a href="#fn:164" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">164</a></sup> Zerzan answered that he “did not find many credible sources that contradicted his outlook. <sup id="fnref:165"><a href="#fn:165" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">165</a></sup> This statement strains credulity. Some of the examples that I cited to Zerzan (and have discussed above) were from books on which he himself had relied-those of Bonvillain and Turnbull. <sup id="fnref:166"><a href="#fn:166" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">166</a></sup> Yet he somehow managed to overlook all of the evidence in those books that contradicted his claims. Since Zerzan has read widely about hunter-gatherer societies, and the Australian Aborigines are among the best-known hunter-gatherers, I find it very difficult to believe that he has never come across any accounts of the Australians’ mistreatment of women. Yet he never mentions such accounts-not even for the purpose of refuting them.</p> <p>One does not necessarily have to assume any conscious dishonesty on Zerzan’s part. As Nietzsche said, “The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.” <sup id="fnref:167"><a href="#fn:167" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">167</a></sup> In other words, self-deception often precedes deception of others. An important factor here may be one that is well known to professional propagandists: people tend to block out — to fail to perceive or to remember — information that they find uncongenial<sup id="fnref:168"><a href="#fn:168" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">168</a></sup>. Since information that discredits one’s ideology is highly uncongenial, it follows that people will tend to block out such information. A young anarchoprimitivist with whom I’ve corresponded has provided me with an amazing example of this phenomenon. He wrote to me: “there is no question about the persistence [sic] of patriarchy in all other oceanic societies, but none seems apparent in the [Australian] Aborigines — According to A. P. Elkin’s The Australian Aborigines wives were not held in a restrictive marriage at all.” <sup id="fnref:169"><a href="#fn:169" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">169</a></sup> It was apparent that my anarchoprimitivist friend had read Elkin’s discussion of women’s position in Australian Aboriginal society. I’ve cited above some of the relevant pages of Elkin’s book, such as those on which he states that Australian Aboriginal women sometimes lived in terror of the compulsory sex to which they were subjected at some ceremonial times. Any reasonably rational person who will take the trouble to read those pages <sup id="fnref:170"><a href="#fn:170" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">170</a></sup> will find himself hard-pressed to explain how my anarchoprimitivist friend could have read that material and then claimed in all seriousness that no patriarchy seemed apparent in Australian Aboriginal society — unless my friend simply blocked out of his mind the information that he found ideologically unacceptable. My friend did not question the accuracy of Elkin I s information; in fact, he was relying on Elkin as an authority. He simply remained oblivious to the information that indicated patriarchy among the Australian Aborigines. But this time it should be sufficiently clear to the reader that what the anarchoprimitivists (and many anthropologists) are up to has nothing to do with a rational search for the truth about primitive cultures. Instead, they have been developing a myth.</p> -<p>6 I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="6">6. <a class="anchor" href="#6"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> <p>Among at least some groups of Australian Aborigines, women at times would provoke their menfolk to deadly violence against other men. <sup id="fnref:174"><a href="#fn:174" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">174</a></sup> Among the Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived, there was “a good deal of killing”, and it was sometimes a woman who persuaded a man to kill another man. <sup id="fnref:175"><a href="#fn:175" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">175</a></sup> Paintings made in rock shelters by prehistoric hunter-gatherers of eastern Spain show groups of men fighting each other with bows and arrows. <sup id="fnref:176"><a href="#fn:176" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">176</a></sup></p> <p>One could go on and on. But I don’t want to give the impression that all hunter-gatherer were violent. Turnbull refers to numerous nonlethal fights and beatings among the Mbuti, but in those of his books that I’ve read he mentions not a single case of homicide. <sup id="fnref:177"><a href="#fn:177" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">177</a></sup> This suggests that deadly violence was rare among the Mbuti at the time when Turnbull knew them. Siriono women sometimes fought physically, striking each other with sticks, and there was a good deal of aggression among the children, even with sticks or burning brands used as weapons. <sup id="fnref:178"><a href="#fn:178" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">178</a></sup> But men rarely fought each other with weapons, <sup id="fnref:179"><a href="#fn:179" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">179</a></sup> and the Siriono were not warlike. <sup id="fnref:180"><a href="#fn:180" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">180</a></sup> Under extreme provocation they did kill certain whites and missionized Indians, <sup id="fnref:181"><a href="#fn:181" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">181</a></sup> but among the Siriono themselves intentional homicide was almost unknown. <sup id="fnref:182"><a href="#fn:182" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">182</a></sup> Among the Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew aggression of any kind was minimal, though she makes clear that this was not necessarily true of all Bushman groups. <sup id="fnref:183"><a href="#fn:183" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">183</a></sup></p> <p>It is important, too, to realize that deadly violence among primitives is not even remotely comparable to modern warfare. When primitives fight, two little bands of men shoot arrows or swing war-clubs at one another because they want to fight; or because they are defending themselves, their families, or their territory. In the modern world soldiers fight because they are forced to do so, or, at best, because they have been brainwashed into believing in some kook ideology such as that of Nazism, socialism, or what American politicians choose to call “freedom”. In any case the modern soldier is merely a pawn, a dupe who dies not for his family or his tribe but for the politicians who exploit him. If he’s unlucky, maybe he does not die but comes home horribly crippled in a way that would never result from an arrow- or a spear-wound. Meanwhile, thousands of non-combatants are killed or mutilated. The environment is ravaged, not only in the war zone, but also back home, due to the accelerated consumption of natural resources needed to feed the war machine. In comparison, the violence of primitive man is relatively innocuous. That, however, it isn’t good enough for the anarchoprimitivists or for today’s politically correct anthropologists. They can’t deny altogether the existence of violence among hunter-gatherers, since the evidence for it is incontrovertible. But they will stretch the truth as far as they think they can get away with in order to minimize the amount of violence in the human past. It’s worthwhile to give an example that illustrates the silliness of some of the reasoning that they use. In reference to Homo habilis, a physically primitive ancestor of modern man, the anthropologist Haviland writes: “They obtained their meat not by killing live animals but by scavenging Homo habilis got meat by scavenging from carcasses of dead animals, rather than hunting live ones. We know this because the marks of stone tools on the bones of butchered animals commonly overlie marks the teeth of carnivores made. Clearly, Homo habilis did not get to the prey first.” <sup id="fnref:184"><a href="#fn:184" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">184</a></sup></p> <p>But, as Haviland certainly ought to know, many or most predatory animals engage both in hunting and in scavenging. For example, bears, African lions, martens, wolverines, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, hyenas, the raccoon dog of Asia, the Komodo dragon, and some vultures both hunt and scavenge. <sup id="fnref:185"><a href="#fn:185" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">185</a></sup> Thus, the fact that Homo habilis engaged in scavenging provides no evidence whatsoever that he did not also hunt. I emphasize that I do not know or care whether Homo habilis hunted. I see no reason why it should be important for us to know whether our half-human ancestors two million years ago were bloodthirsty killers, peaceful vegetarians, or something in between. The point here is simply to show what kind of reasoning some anthropologists will resort to in their effort to make the human past look as politically correct as possible. Since political correctness has warped the portrayal not only of the human past but of wild nature generally, it should be pointed out that deadly violence among wild animals is not confined to predation of one species upon another. Killing of one member of a species by another member of the same species does occur. For example, it is well known that wild chimpanzees often kill other chimpanzees. <sup id="fnref:186"><a href="#fn:186" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">186</a></sup> Elephants sometimes kill one another in fights, and the same is true of wild pigs. <sup id="fnref:187"><a href="#fn:187" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">187</a></sup> Among the sea birds called brown boobies, two eggs are laid in each nest. After the eggs are hatched, one of the chicks attacks the other and forces it out of the nest, so that it dies. <sup id="fnref:188"><a href="#fn:188" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">188</a></sup> Komodo dragons sometimes eat one another, <sup id="fnref:189"><a href="#fn:189" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">189</a></sup> and there is evidence that cannibalism occurred among some dinosaurs. <sup id="fnref:190"><a href="#fn:190" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">190</a></sup> (Evidence of cannibalism among prehistoric humans is controversial.) <sup id="fnref:191"><a href="#fn:191" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">191</a></sup></p> <p>I do want to make clear that it is by no means my intention to exalt violence. I prefer to see people (and animals) get along smoothly with one another. My purpose is only to expose the irrationality of the politically-correct image of primitive peoples and of wild nature.</p> -<p>7 An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="7">7. <a class="anchor" href="#7"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> <p>But according to Turnbull’s own earlier work, physical fighting was commonplace among the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:196"><a href="#fn:196" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">196</a></sup> If a physical fight isn’t a form of competition, then what is? It’s clear in fact that the Mbuti were a very quarrelsome people, and, in addition to physical fights, there were many verbal disputes among them. <sup id="fnref:197"><a href="#fn:197" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">197</a></sup> Generally speaking, any dispute, whether it is settled physically or verbally; is a form of competition: the interests of one person conflict with those of another, and their quarreling is an effort by each to promote his own interests at the other’s expense. The Mbuti’s jealousies also were evidence of competitive impulses. <sup id="fnref:198"><a href="#fn:198" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">198</a></sup></p> <p>Two things for which the Mbuti competed were mates and food. I’ve already mentioned a case of two women who fought over a man, <sup id="fnref:199"><a href="#fn:199" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">199</a></sup> and quarreling over food apparently was common. <sup id="fnref:200"><a href="#fn:200" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">200</a></sup> It’s worth noting that Turnbull, in his early work, described the Mbuti as “individualists.” <sup id="fnref:201"><a href="#fn:201" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">201</a></sup> There is abundant evidence of competitiveness and/or individualism among other primitive peoples. The Nuer (African pastoralists), the pagan Germanic tribes, the Carib Indians, the Siriono (who lived mainly by hunting and gathering), the Navajo, the Apaches, the Plains Indians, and North American Indians generally have all been described explicitly as “individualistic.” <sup id="fnref:202"><a href="#fn:202" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">202</a></sup> But “individualism” is a vague word that may mean different things to different people, so it’s more helpful to look at definite facts that have been reported. Some of the works that I cite in Note 202 do back up with facts their application of the term “individualistic” to the peoples mentioned. Holmberg writes:</p> <p>“When an Indian [Siriono] has reached adulthood he displays an individualism and apathy toward his fellows that is remarkable. The apparent unconcern of one individual for another-even within the family-never ceased to amaze me while I was living with the Siriono. Frequently men would depart for the hunt alone-without so much as a goodbye-and remain away from the band for weeks at a time without any concern on the part of their fellow tribesmen or even their wives&hellip;.”. “Unconcern with one’s fellows is manifested on every hand. On one occasion Ekwataia went hunting. On his return darkness overcame him about five hundred yards from camp. The night was black as ink, and Ekwataia lost his way. He began to call for help-for someone to bring him fire or to guide him into camp by calls. No one paid heed to his request. After about half an hour, his cries ceased, and his sister Seaci, said: ‘A jaguar probably got him’. When Ekwataia returned the following morning, he told me that he had spent the night sitting on the branch of a tree to avoid being eaten by jaguars.” <sup id="fnref:203"><a href="#fn:203" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">203</a></sup> Holmberg repeatedly remarks on the uncooperative character of the Siriono, and says that those of them who became disabled by age or sickness were simply abandoned by the others. <sup id="fnref:204"><a href="#fn:204" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">204</a></sup> Among other primitive peoples, individualism takes other forms. For example, among most of the North American Indians, warfare was a decidedly individualistic enterprise. “The Indians, being highly individualistic and often fighting more for personal glory than group advantage, never developed a science of warfare.” <sup id="fnref:205"><a href="#fn:205" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">205</a></sup> According to the Cheyenne Indian Wooden Leg: “When any battle actually began it was a case of every man for himself. There were no ordered groupings, no systematic movements in concert, no compulsory goings and comings. Warriors mingled indiscriminately, every one looked out for himself only, or each helped a friend if such help were needed and if the able one’s personal inclination just then was toward friendly helpfulness. The Sioux tribes fought their battles as a band of individuals, the same as we fought ours, and the same as was the way of all Indians I ever knew.” <sup id="fnref:206"><a href="#fn:206" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">206</a></sup></p> @@ -270,12 +284,16 @@ <p>Why “community”? Because of course “community” was a goody-goody word, the kind of word that a kid would use to get brownie points with a teacher. Would any kid in a similar situation have answered “United States of Competition” or “United States of Individualism”? Not likely!</p> <p>It is routinely taken for granted that words like “community,” “cooperation,” “helping,” and “sharing” represent something positive, but “individualism” is seldom used in the mainstream media or in the educational system in an unequivocally positive sense. “Competition” is more often used in a positive sense, but typically it us used that way only in specific contexts in which competition is useful (or at least harmless) to the system. For example, competition is considered desirable in the business word because it weeds out inefficient companies, spurs other companies to become more efficient, and promotes economic and technological progress. But only leashed competition — that is, competition that abides by rules designed to make it harmless or useful — is commonly spoken of favorably. And, when treated in a positive sense, competition is always justified in terms of communitarian values. Thus, business competition is considered good because it promotes efficiency and progress, which supposedly are good for the community as a whole. “Independence,” too, is a “good” word only when used in certain ways. For example, when one speaks of making disabled people “independent” one never thinks of making them independent of the system. One means only that they are to be provided with gainful employment so that the community will not be burdened with the cost of supporting them. Once they have found a job they are every bit as dependent on the system as they were when they lived on welfare, and they have a great deal less freedom to decide how to spend their time. So why do politically-correct anthropologists and others like them contrast the supposedly primitive values of “community,” “cooperation,” “sharing,” and “interdependence” with what they claim are the modern values of “competition,” “individualism” and “independence”? Certainly an important part of the answer is that politically-correct people have absorbed too well the values that the system’s propaganda has taught them, including the values of “cooperation,” “community,” “helping,” and so forth. Another value they have absorbed from propaganda is that of “tolerance,” which in cross-cultural contexts tends to translate into condescending approval of non-Western cultures. A well-socialized modern anthropologist is therefore faced with a conflict: Since he is supposed to be tolerant, he finds it difficult to say anything bad about primitive cultures. But primitive cultures provide abundant examples of behavior that is decidedly bad from the point of view of modern Western values. So the anthropologist has to censor much of the “bad” behavior out of his descriptions of primitive cultures in order to avoid showing them in a negative light. In addition, due to his own excessively thorough socialization, the politically-correct anthropologist has a need to rebel. <sup id="fnref:252"><a href="#fn:252" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">252</a></sup> He is too well socialized to discard the fundamental values of modern society, so he expresses his hostility toward that society by distorting facts to make it seem that modern society deviates from its own stated values to a much greater extent than it actually does. Thus the anthropologist ends by magnifying the competitive and individualistic aspects of modern society while grossly understating these aspects of primitive societies.</p> <p>There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand fully the psychology of these people. It seems obvious, for example, that the politically-correct portrayal of hunter-gatherers is motivated in part by an impulse to construct an image of a pure and innocent world existing at the dawn of time, analogous to the Garden of Eden, but the basis of this impulse is not clear to me.</p> -<p>8 What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> +<h3 id="8">8. <a class="anchor" href="#8"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> <p>“The youngster had speared [the sindula] with his first thrust, pinning the animal to the ground through the fleshy part of the stomach. But the animal was still very much alive, fighting for freedom. Maipe put another spear into its neck, but it still writhed and fought. Not until a third spear pierced its heart did it give up the struggle&hellip;</p> <p>“The pygmies stood around in an excited group, pointing at the dying animal and laughing. One boy, about nine years old, threw himself on the ground and curled up in a grotesque heap and imitated the sindula’s last convulsions&hellip;</p> <p>“At other times I have seen Pygmies singeing feathers off birds that were still alive, explaining that the meat is more tender if death comes slowly. And the hunting dogs, valuable as they are, get kicked around mercilessly from the day they are born to the day they die.” <sup id="fnref:262"><a href="#fn:262" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">262</a></sup></p> <p>A few years later, in Wayward Servants, Turnbull wrote: “The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence. The fun that is sometimes subsequently made of the dead animal, particularly by the youths, appears to be almost a nervous reaction, and there is an element of fear in their behavior. On the other hand, a bird caught alive may deliberately be toyed with, its feathers singed off over the fire while it is still fluttering and squawking until it is finally burned or suffocated to death. This again is usually done by the youths who take the same nervous pleasure in the act; very rarely a young hunter may absent-mindedly [^!?] do the same thing. Older hunters and elders generally disapprove, but do not interfere.”; “The respect seems to be not for animal life but for the game as a gift of the forest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:263"><a href="#fn:263" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">263</a></sup> This does not seem entirely consistent with what Turnbull reported earlier in The Forest People. Maybe Turnbull was already beginning to swing toward political correctness when he wrote Wayward Servants. But even if we take the statements of Wayward Servants at face value, the fact remains that the Mbuti did treat animals with unnecessary cruelty, whether or not they felt “compassion and reverence” for them. If the Mbuti did have compassion for animals, they were probably exceptional in that regard. Hunter-gatherers seem typically to be callous toward animals. The Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived kicked and beat their dogs brutally. <sup id="fnref:264"><a href="#fn:264" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">264</a></sup> The Siriono sometimes captured young animals alive and brought them back to camp, but they gave them nothing to eat, and the animals were treated so roughly by the children that they soon died. <sup id="fnref:265"><a href="#fn:265" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">265</a></sup> It should be noted that many hunting-and-gathering peoples did have a sense of reverence for or closeness to wild animals. I’ve already quoted Colin Turnbull’s statement to that effect in the case of the Mbuti. Coon states that “it is virtually a standard rule among hunters that they should never mock or otherwise insult any wild creature whose life they have brought to an end.” <sup id="fnref:266"><a href="#fn:266" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">266</a></sup> (As the passages I’ve quoted from Turnbull show, there were exceptions to this “standard rule”.) Venturing into speculation, Coon adds that “hunters sense the unity of nature and the combination of humility and responsibility of their role in it.” <sup id="fnref:267"><a href="#fn:267" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">267</a></sup> Wissler describes the closeness to and reverence toward nature (including wild animals) of the North American Indians. <sup id="fnref:268"><a href="#fn:268" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">268</a></sup> Holmberg mentions the Siriono’s “bonds” and “kinship” with the animal world. <sup id="fnref:269"><a href="#fn:269" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">269</a></sup> But, as we’ve already seen, these “bonds” and this “kinship” did not prevent physical cruelty to animals. Clearly, animal-rights activists would be horrified at the way hunter-gatherers often treated animals. For people who look to hunting and gathering cultures as their social ideal, it therefore makes no sense to maintain alliances with the animal-rights movement.</p> -<p>9 To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="9">9. <a class="anchor" href="#9"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> <p>The publisher of the anarchoprimitivist “zine” Species Traitor stated in a letter to me that in hunter-gatherer cultures “people had no property.” <sup id="fnref:280"><a href="#fn:280" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">280</a></sup> This is not true. Various forms of private property did exist among hunter-gatherers — and not only among sedentary ones like the Northwest Coast Indians. It is well known that most hunting-and-gathering peoples had collective property in land. That is, each band of 30 to 130 people owned the territory in which it lived. Coon provides an extended discussion of this. <sup id="fnref:281"><a href="#fn:281" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">281</a></sup> It is less well known that hunter-gatherers, even nomadic ones, could also hold rights to natural resources as individual property, and in some cases such rights could even be inherited. <sup id="fnref:282"><a href="#fn:282" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">282</a></sup> For example, among Mrs. Thomas’s Bushmen: “Each group has a very specific territory which that group alone may use, and they respect their boundaries rigidly. If a person is born in a certain area he or she has a right to eat the melons that grow there and all the veld food. A man may eat the melons wherever his wife can and wherever his father and mother could, so that every Bushman has in this way some kind of rights in many places. Gai, for example, ate melons at Ai a ha’o because his wife’s mother was born there, as well as at his own birthplace, the Okwa Omaramba.” <sup id="fnref:283"><a href="#fn:283" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">283</a></sup></p> <p>Arnong the Veddas (hunter-gatherers of Ceylon), “the band territory was subdivided for individual band members, who could pass their property on to their children.” <sup id="fnref:284"><a href="#fn:284" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">284</a></sup> Arnong certain Australian Aborigines there existed a system of inherited rights to goods obtained in trade for stones extracted from a quarry. <sup id="fnref:285"><a href="#fn:285" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">285</a></sup> Among some other Australian Aborigines, certain fruit trees were privately owned. <sup id="fnref:286"><a href="#fn:286" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">286</a></sup> The Mbuti used termites as food, and among them termite hills could be owned by individuals. <sup id="fnref:287"><a href="#fn:287" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">287</a></sup> Portable items such as tools, clothing, and ornaments usually were owned by individual hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:288"><a href="#fn:288" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">288</a></sup></p> <p>Turnbull mentions the argument of one W. Nippold to the effect that hunter-gatherers, including the Mbuti, had a highly developed sense of private property. Turnbull counters that this is “debatable point, and largely a semantic problem.” <sup id="fnref:289"><a href="#fn:289" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">289</a></sup> Here there is is no need for us to split hairs about what does and what does not constitute private property, or what would be a “highly developed sense” of it. Suffice it to say that the unqualified belief that hunter-gatherers did not have private property is only another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth. It’s important to note, however, that nomadic hunter-gatherers did not accumulate property to the extent of being able to use their wealth to dominate other people. <sup id="fnref:290"><a href="#fn:290" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">290</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer ordinarily had to carry all of his property on his own back whenever he shifted camp, or at best he had to carry it in a canoe or on a dog-sled or travois. <sup id="fnref:291"><a href="#fn:291" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">291</a></sup> By any of these means only a limited amount of property can be transported, hence an upper bound is imposed on the amount of property that a nomad can usefully accumulate.</p> @@ -288,12 +306,14 @@ <p>Turnbull also states that “in the view of mammalogists such as Van Gelder the [Mbuti] hunters are indeed the finest conservationists any conservation-minded government could wish for.” <sup id="fnref:307"><a href="#fn:307" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">307</a></sup> On the other hand, when Turnbull took an Mbuti named Kenge to visit a game preserve out on the plains, Kenge was told “that he would see more game than he had ever seen in the forest, but he was not to try and hunt any. Kenge could not understand this, because to his mind game is meant to be hunted.” <sup id="fnref:308"><a href="#fn:308" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">308</a></sup>. According to Coon, the ethic of the Tikerarmiut Eskimos forbade them to trap more than four wolves, wolverines, foxes, or marmots on any one day. However, this ethic quickly broke down when white traders arrived and tempted the Tikerarmiut with trade goods that they could obtain in exchange for the pelts of the animals named. <sup id="fnref:309"><a href="#fn:309" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">309</a></sup></p> <p>As soon as they acquired steel axes, the Siriono began destroying the wild fruit trees of their region because it was easier to harvest the fruit by cutting the tree down than by climbing it. <sup id="fnref:310"><a href="#fn:310" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">310</a></sup></p> <p>It is well known that some hunter-gatherers intentionally set wildfires because they knew that burned-over land would produce more of the edible plants that they favored. <sup id="fnref:311"><a href="#fn:311" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">311</a></sup> I consider this practice recklessly destructive. It is believed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers, through over-hunting, caused or at least contributed to the extinction of some species of large mammals, <sup id="fnref:312"><a href="#fn:312" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">312</a></sup> though as far as I know this has never been definitely proved. The foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the question of conservation versus environmental recklessness on the part of hunter-gatherers. It’s a question that deserves thorough investigation.</p> -<p>10 I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> +<h3 id="10">10. <a class="anchor" href="#10"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> <p>One is reminded of the response of fundamentalist Christians to any rational attack on their beliefs. Whatever facts one may point out, the fundamentalist will always find some argument, however far-fetched, to explain them away and justify his belief in the literal, word-for-word truth of the Bible. Actually, there is about anarchoprimitivism a distinct flavor of early Christianity. The anarchoprimitivists’ hunting-and-gathering utopia corresponds to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived in ease and without sin (Genesis 2). The invention of agriculture and civilization corresponds to the Fall: Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:6), were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), and thereafter had to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow by tilling the soil (Genesis 3: 19,23). They moreover lost gender equality, since Eve became subordinate to her husband (Genesis 3:16). The revolution that anarchoprimitivists hope will overthrow civilization corresponds to the Day of Judgment, the day of destruction on which Babylon will fall (Revelation 18:2). The return to primitive utopia corresponds to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, wherein “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be.any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).</p> <p>Today’s activists who risk their bodies by engaging in masochistic resistance tactics, such as chaining themselves across roads to prevent the passage of logging trucks, correspond to the Christian martyrs-the true believers who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4). Veganism corresponds to the dietary restrictions of many religions, such as the Christian fast during Lent. Like anarchoprimitivists, the early Christians emphasized egalitarianism (“whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased”, Matthew 23:12) and sharing (“distribution was made unto every man according as he had need”, Acts 4:35). The psychological affinity between anarchoprimitivism and early Christianity does not augur well. As soon as the emperor Constantine gave the Christians an opportunity to become powerful they sold out, and ever since then Christianity, more often than not, has served as a prop for the established powers.</p> -<ol start="11"> -<li>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</li> -</ol> +<h3 id="11">11. <a class="anchor" href="#11"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</p> <p>Why does this matter? Because it shows that chronic stress, anxiety and frustration, depression, and so forth, are not inevitable parts of the human condition, but are disorders brought on by modern civilization. Nor is servitude an inevitable part of the human condition: The example of at least some nomadic hunter-gatherer shows that true freedom is possible. Even more important: Regardless of whether they were good conservationists or poor ones, primitive peoples were incapable of damaging their environment to anything remotely approaching the extent to which modern man is damaging his. Primitives simply didn’t have the power to do that much damage. They may have used fire recklessly and they may have exterminated some species through overhunting, but they had no way to dam large rivers, to cover thousands of square miles of the Earth’s surface with cities and pavement, or to produce the vast quantities of toxic chemicals and radioactive waste with which modern civilization threatens to ruin the world for good and all. Nor did primitives have any means of releasing the deadly-dangerous forces represented by genetic engineering and by the super-intelligent computers that may soon be developed. These are dangers that scare even the technophiles themselves. <sup id="fnref:313"><a href="#fn:313" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">313</a></sup> So I agree with the anarchoprimitivists that the advent of civilization was a great disaster and that the Industrial Revolution was an even greater one. I further agree that a revolution against modernity, and against civilization in general, is necessary. But you can’t build an effective revolutionary movement out of soft-headed dreamers, lazies, and charlatans. You have to have tough-minded, realistic, practical people, and people of that kind don’t need the anarchoprimitivists’ mushy utopian myth.</p> <h2 id="concluding-note">Concluding Note <a class="anchor" href="#concluding-note"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> diff --git a/new-site/public/categories/index.xml b/new-site/public/categories/index.xml index 486a78f5..4ba2deb8 100644 --- a/new-site/public/categories/index.xml +++ b/new-site/public/categories/index.xml @@ -199,10 +199,14 @@ https://vodoraslo.xyz/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/ <h2 id="the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism">The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism <a class="anchor" href="#the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> -</a></h2><p>1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> +</a></h2><h3 id="1">1. <a class="anchor" href="#1"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> <p>The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation.</p> <p>Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality.</p> -<p>2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> +<h3 id="2">2. <a class="anchor" href="#2"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> <p>Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society <sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup>), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence <sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">3</a></sup>). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” <sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">4</a></sup> For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. <sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">5</a></sup> Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. <sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">6</a></sup></p> <p>In a part of his essay that many anarchoprimitivists have found convenient to overlook, Bob Black acknowledges the forty-hour work-week and explains the foregoing contradiction: Sahlins followed early work of Lee that considered only time spent in hunting and foraging. When all necessary work was considered, the work-week was more than doubled. <sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">7</a></sup> The work omitted from consideration by Sahlins and the anarchoprimitivists was probably the most disagreeable part of the Bushmen’s work-week, too, since it consisted largely of food-preparation and firewood collection. <sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">8</a></sup> I speak from extensive personal experience with wild foods: Preparing such foods for use is very often a pain in the neck. It is far more pleasant to gather nuts, dig roots, or hunt game than it is to crack nuts, clean roots, or skin and butcher game — or to collect firewood and cook over an open fire.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists also err in assuming that Lee’s findings can be applied to hunter-gatherers generally. It’s not even clear that those findings are applicable on a year-round basis to the Bushmen studied by Lee. Cashdan cites evidence that Lee’s research may have been done at the time of year when his Bushmen worked least. <sup id="fnref:9"><a href="#fn:9" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">9</a></sup> She also mentions two other hunting-and-gathering peoples who have been shown quantitatively to spend far more time in hunting and foraging than Lee’s Bushmen did, <sup id="fnref:10"><a href="#fn:10" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">10</a></sup> and she points out that Lee may have seriously underestimated women’s working time because he failed to include time spent on childcare. <sup id="fnref:11"><a href="#fn:11" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">11</a></sup></p> @@ -219,7 +223,9 @@ <p>However, I have not been trying to prove that primitive man was less fortunate in his working life than modern man is. In my opinion the contrary was true. Probably at least some nomadic hunter-gatherers had more leisure time than modern employed Americans do. It’s true that the roughly forty-hour work-week of Richard Lee’s Bushmen was about equal to the standard American work-week. But modern Americans are burdened with many demands on their time outside their hours of employment. I myself, when working at a forty-hour job, have generally felt busy: I’ve had to shop for groceries, go to the bank, do the laundry, fill out income-tax forms, take the car in for maintenance, get a haircut, go to the dentist &hellip;there was always something that needed to be done. Many of the people I now correspond with likewise complain of being busy. In contrast, the male Bushman’s time was genuinely his own outside of his working hours; he could spend his non-working time as he pleased. Bushman women of reproductive age may have had much less leisure time because, like women of all societies, they were burdened with the care of small children.</p> <p>But leisure is a modern concept, and the emphasis that anarchoprimitivists put on it is evidence of their servitude to the values of the civilization that they claim to reject. The amount of time expended in work is not what matters. Many authors have discussed what is wrong with work in modern society, and I see no reason to go over that ground again. What does matter is that, apart from monotony, what is wrong with work in modern society is not wrong with the work of nomadic hunter-gatherers. The hunter-gatherer’s work is challenging, both in terms of physical effort and in terms of the level of skill required. <sup id="fnref:40"><a href="#fn:40" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">40</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer’s work is purposeful, and its purpose is not abstract, remote, or artificial but concrete, very real, and directly important to the worker: He works to satisfy the physical needs of himself, his family, and other people to whom he is personally close. Above all, the nomadic hunter-gatherer is a free worker: He is not exploited, he is subservient to no boss, no one gives him orders; <sup id="fnref:41"><a href="#fn:41" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">41</a></sup> he designs is own work-day, if not as an individual then as a member of a group that is small enough so that every individual can participate meaningfully in the decisions that are made <sup id="fnref:42"><a href="#fn:42" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">42</a></sup>. Modern jobs tend to be psychologically stressful, but there are reasons to believe that primitive people’s work typically involved little psychological stress. <sup id="fnref:43"><a href="#fn:43" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">43</a></sup> Hunter-gatherers’ work often monotonous, but it is my view that monotony generally causes primitive people relatively little discomfort. Boredom, I think, is largely a civilized phenomenon and is a product of psychological stresses that are characteristic of civilized life. This admittedly is a matter of personal opinion, I can ‘t prove it, and a discussion of it would take us beyond the scope of this article. Here I will only say that my opinion is based largely on my own experience of living outside the technoindustrial system. How hunter-gatherers felt about their own work is difficult to say, since anthropologists and others who visited primitive peoples (at least those whose reports I’ve read) usually do not seem to have asked such questions. But the following from Holmberg’s worth noting: “They are relatively apathetic to work (taba taba), which includes such distasteful tasks as housebuilding, gathering firewood, clearing, planting, and tilling of fields. In quite a different class, however, are such pleasant occupations as hunting (gwata gwata) and collecting (deka deka, ‘to look for’), which are regarded more as diversions than as work.” <sup id="fnref:44"><a href="#fn:44" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">44</a></sup></p> <p>This despite the fact that, as we saw earlier, the Siriono’s hunting and collecting activities were exceedingly time-consuming, fatiguing, strenuous, and physically demanding.</p> -<p>3 Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> +<h3 id="3">3. <a class="anchor" href="#3"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> <p>Well, maybe not. Look at some of the facts that Bonvillain herself offers in the same book: “Most leaders and camp spokespersons are men. Although women and men participate in group discussions and decision making, &hellip;men’s talk in discussions involving both genders amounts to about two-thirds of the total.” <sup id="fnref:51"><a href="#fn:51" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">51</a></sup></p> <p>Much worse are the forced marriages of girls in their early teens to men much older than themselves. <sup id="fnref:52"><a href="#fn:52" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">52</a></sup> It’s true that practices that seem cruel to us may not be experienced as cruel by people of other cultures on whom they are imposed. But Bonvillain quotes words of a Bushman woman that show that at least some girls did experience their forced marriages as cruel: “I cried and cried”; <sup id="fnref:53"><a href="#fn:53" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">53</a></sup> “I ran away again and again. A part of my heart kept thinking: ‘how come I’m a child and have taken a husband?’” <sup id="fnref:54"><a href="#fn:54" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">54</a></sup> Moreover, “because seniority confers prestige&hellip;, the greater age, experience, and maturity of husbands may make wives socially, if not personally, subordinate.” <sup id="fnref:55"><a href="#fn:55" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">55</a></sup> Thus, while the Dobe Bushmen no doubt had some of the elements of gender equality, one would have to stretch a point pretty far to claim that they had full gender equality. On the basis of his personal experience, Colin Turnbull stated that among the Mbuti pygmies of Africa, a “woman is in no way the social inferior of a man,” <sup id="fnref:56"><a href="#fn:56" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">56</a></sup> and that “the woman is not discriminated against. <sup id="fnref:57"><a href="#fn:57" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">57</a></sup> That sounds like gender equality &hellip;until you look at the concrete facts that Turnbull himself offers in the very same books: “ A certain amount of wife-beating is considered good, and the wife is expected to fight back; <sup id="fnref:58"><a href="#fn:58" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">58</a></sup> “He said that he was very content with his wife, and he had not found it necessary to beat her at all often,” <sup id="fnref:59"><a href="#fn:59" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">59</a></sup>; Man throws wife to the ground and slaps her; <sup id="fnref:60"><a href="#fn:60" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">60</a></sup> Husband beats wife; <sup id="fnref:61"><a href="#fn:61" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">61</a></sup> Man beats sister; <sup id="fnref:62"><a href="#fn:62" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">62</a></sup> Kenge beats his sister; <sup id="fnref:63"><a href="#fn:63" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">63</a></sup> “Perhaps he should have beaten her harder, Tungana [an old man] said, for some girls like being beaten,” <sup id="fnref:64"><a href="#fn:64" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">64</a></sup>; “Amabosu countered by smacking her firmly across the face. Normally Ekianga would have approved of such manly assertion of authority over a disloyal wife.” <sup id="fnref:65"><a href="#fn:65" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">65</a></sup> Turnbull mentions two instances of men giving orders to their wives. <sup id="fnref:66"><a href="#fn:66" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">66</a></sup> I have not found any instance in Turnbull’ s books of wives giving orders to their husbands. Pipestem obtained by wife is referred to as husband’s property. <sup id="fnref:67"><a href="#fn:67" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">67</a></sup> “[A boy] has to have [a girl’s] permission before intercourse can take place. The men say that once they lie down with a girl, however, if they want her they take her by surprise, when petting her, and force her to their will.” <sup id="fnref:68"><a href="#fn:68" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">68</a></sup> Nowadays we would call that “date rape”, and the young man involved would risk a long prison sentence.</p> <p>For the sake of balance, let’s note that Turnbull found among the Mbuti no instance of what we would call “street rape” as opposed to “date rape”; <sup id="fnref:69"><a href="#fn:69" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">69</a></sup> husbands were not supposed to hit their wives on the head or in the face; <sup id="fnref:70"><a href="#fn:70" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">70</a></sup> and in at least one case in which a man took to beating his wife too frequently and severly, his campmates eventually found means to end the abuse without the use of force and without overt interference. <sup id="fnref:71"><a href="#fn:71" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">71</a></sup> It should also be borne in mind that the significance of a beating depends on the cultural context. In our society it is a great humiliation to be struck by another person, especially by one who is bigger and stronger than oneself. But since blows were commonplace among the Mbuti, <sup id="fnref:72"><a href="#fn:72" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">72</a></sup> it is probably safe to assume that they were not felt as particularly humiliating . Nevertheless it is quite clear that some degree of male dominance was present among the Mbuti. Among the Siriono: “A woman is subservient to her husband”; <sup id="fnref:73"><a href="#fn:73" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">73</a></sup> “The extended family is generally dominated by the oldest active male”; <sup id="fnref:74"><a href="#fn:74" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">74</a></sup> “[Women] are dominated by the men”; <sup id="fnref:75"><a href="#fn:75" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">75</a></sup> “If a man is out in the forest alone with a woman, &hellip;he may throw her to the ground roughly and take his prize [sex] without so much as saying a word”; <sup id="fnref:76"><a href="#fn:76" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">76</a></sup> Parents definitely preferred to have male children; <sup id="fnref:77"><a href="#fn:77" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">77</a></sup> “Although the title ererekwa is reserved by the men for a chief, it one asks a woman: ‘who is your ererekwa?’ she will invariably reply: ‘my husband’.” <sup id="fnref:78"><a href="#fn:78" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">78</a></sup> On the other hand, the Siriono never beat their wives, <sup id="fnref:79"><a href="#fn:79" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">79</a></sup> and “Women enjoy about the same privileges as men. They get as much or more food to eat, and they enjoy the same sexual freedom.” <sup id="fnref:80"><a href="#fn:80" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">80</a></sup> According to Bonvillain, Eskimo men “dominate their wives and daughters. Men’s dominance is not total, however&hellip;&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:81"><a href="#fn:81" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">81</a></sup> She describes gender relations among the Eskimos in some detail, <sup id="fnref:82"><a href="#fn:82" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">82</a></sup> which may or may not be slanted to reflect her feminist ideology.</p> @@ -227,11 +233,15 @@ <p>Although there was “real harmony and mutual understanding in most Aboriginal families”, wife-beating was practiced. <sup id="fnref:95"><a href="#fn:95" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">95</a></sup> According to A. P. Elkin, under some circumstances-for example, on certain ceremonial occasions-women had to submit to compulsory sex, which “implies that woman is but an object to be used in certain socially established ways.” <sup id="fnref:96"><a href="#fn:96" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">96</a></sup> The women, says Elkin, “may often not object,” <sup id="fnref:97"><a href="#fn:97" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">97</a></sup> but: “They sometimes live in terror of the use which is made of them at some ceremonial times.” <sup id="fnref:98"><a href="#fn:98" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">98</a></sup> Of course, no claim is made here that all of the foregoing conditions prevailed in all parts of aboriginal Australia. Culture was not uniform across the continent. Coon says that the Australians were nomadic, but he also states that in parts of southeastern Australia, namely “The better-watered parts, particularly Victoria and the Murray River country”, the aborigines were “relatively sedentary.” <sup id="fnref:99"><a href="#fn:99" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">99</a></sup> According to Massola, in the drier parts of southeastern Australia the aborigines had to cover long distances between fast-drying wells in times of drought. <sup id="fnref:100"><a href="#fn:100" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">100</a></sup> This corresponds with the high degree of nomadism described for other arid parts of Australia, where “Aboigines moved from waterhole to waterhole along well-defined tracks in small family groups. The whole camp moved and rarely established bases.” <sup id="fnref:101"><a href="#fn:101" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">101</a></sup> In stating that in “the better-watered parts” the aborigines were “relatively sedentary”, Coon doubtless means that “in fertile regions there were well-established camping areas, close to water, where people always camped at certain times of year. Camps were bases from which people made forays into the surrounding bush for food, returning in the late afternoon or spending a few days away.” <sup id="fnref:102"><a href="#fn:102" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">102</a></sup> Coon says that in part of the well-watered Murray River country each territorial clan had a headman and a council consisting mainly of men, though in a few cases women were also elected to the council; whereas, farther to the north and west, there was little formal leadership and “control over the women and younger males was shared between” the men aged from thirty to fifty. <sup id="fnref:103"><a href="#fn:103" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">103</a></sup> Thus Australian women had very little overt political power. Yet, as among Poncins’s Eskimos, certainly in our society, and probably in every society, the women often exercised great influence their menfolk <sup id="fnref:104"><a href="#fn:104" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">104</a></sup>.</p> <p>The Tasmanians also were nomadic hunter-gatherers (though some were “relatively sedentary”), <sup id="fnref:105"><a href="#fn:105" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">105</a></sup> and it’s not clear that they treated women any better than the Australians did. “In one account we are told that a band living near Hobart Town before the colonists’ arrival was raided by neighbors who killed the men who tried to stop them and took away their women. And there are other accounts of individual cases of marriage by capture. Sometimes when a man from a neighboring band had the right to marry a girl, but neither she nor her parents liked him, it is said that they killed the girl rather than give her up”; <sup id="fnref:106"><a href="#fn:106" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">106</a></sup> “The other tribes considered [a certain tribe] cowards, and raided them to steal their women”; <sup id="fnref:107"><a href="#fn:107" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">107</a></sup> “Woorrady raped and killed a sister-in-law.” <sup id="fnref:108"><a href="#fn:108" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">108</a></sup></p> <p>Here I should make clear that it is not my intention to argue against gender equality. I myself am enough a product of modern industrial society to feel that women and men should have equal status. My purpose at this point is simply to exhibit the facts concerning the relations between the sexes in hunting-and-gathering societies.</p> -<p>4 There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="4">4. <a class="anchor" href="#4"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> <p>Though some of Gontran de Poncins’s Eskimos were “purer” than others, <sup id="fnref:127"><a href="#fn:127" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">127</a></sup> it appears that all of them had at least some trade goods from the whites. If any reader cares to take the trouble to track down the earliest primary sources — perhaps some of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s work — so as to approach as closely as possible to an original and “pure” Eskimo culture, I would be interested to hear of his or her findings. But it is possible that even long before European contact the Eskimos’ culture may have been affected by something that they received from a non-hunting society; for their sled dogs may not have originated with hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:128"><a href="#fn:128" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">128</a></sup></p> <p>With the Siriono we come closer to purity than we do with the Bushmen, the Mbuti, or Poncins’s Eskimos. The Siriono did not even have dogs, <sup id="fnref:129"><a href="#fn:129" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">129</a></sup> and even though they cultivated crops to a limited extent anthropologists regarded their culture as Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). <sup id="fnref:130"><a href="#fn:130" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">130</a></sup> Some of the Siriono studied by Holmberg had had little or no contact with whites prior to Holmberg’s arrival <sup id="fnref:131"><a href="#fn:131" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">131</a></sup> and, among those Siriono, European tools were rarely encountered <sup id="fnref:132"><a href="#fn:132" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">132</a></sup> until Holmberg himself introduced them. <sup id="fnref:133"><a href="#fn:133" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">133</a></sup> Instead, the Siriono made their tools of naturally-occurring local materials.<sup id="fnref:134"><a href="#fn:134" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">134</a></sup> The Siriono moreover were so primitive that they could not count beyond three. <sup id="fnref:135"><a href="#fn:135" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">135</a></sup> Nevertheless, Siriono culture might have been affected by contact with more “advanced” societies, since Holmberg thought the Siriono were “probably a remnant of an ancient population that was exterminated, absorbed, or engulfed by more civilized invaders.” <sup id="fnref:136"><a href="#fn:136" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">136</a></sup> Lauriston Sharp even suggested that the Siriono might have “degenerated” [sic] “from a more advanced technical condition,” though Holmberg rejected this view and Sharp himself considered it “irrelevant.” <sup id="fnref:137"><a href="#fn:137" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">137</a></sup> In addition, the Siriono might have been affected indirectly by European civilization, since probably at least some of the diseases from which they suffered, e.g., malaria, had been brought to the Americas by Europeans. <sup id="fnref:138"><a href="#fn:138" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">138</a></sup> It’s not surprising that most of the hunter-gatherers I’ve mentioned here — like those cited by the anarchoprimitivists and the politically-correct anthropologists — were affected by direct or indirect contact with agricultural or pastoral peoples even long before their first contact with Europeans, because outside of Australia, Tasmania, and the far west and north of North America “populations which remained faithful to the old hunter-gatherer way of live were small and scattered.” <sup id="fnref:139"><a href="#fn:139" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">139</a></sup> Consequently, with the possible exception of some who lived on small islands, they necessarily had some form of contact with surrounding non-hunter-gatherer populations.</p> <p>Probably the Australian Aborigines and the Tasmanians were the hunter-gatherers who were purest when Europeans first found them. Australia was the only continent that was inhabited exclusively by hunter-gatherers until the white man’s arrival, and Tasmania, an island just to the south of Australia, was even more isolated. But Tasmania may have been visited by Polynesians, and in the north of Australia there was some limited contact with people from Indonesia and New Guinea prior to the arrival of Europeans. <sup id="fnref:140"><a href="#fn:140" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">140</a></sup> Still earlier contact with outsiders, who mayor may not have been hunter-gatherers, is probable. <sup id="fnref:141"><a href="#fn:141" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">141</a></sup> Thus we have no conclusive proof that hunter-gatherer cultures that survived into recent times had not been seriously affected by contact with non-hunter-gatherers by the time the first descriptions of them were written. Consequently, more or less uncertainty is involved in using reports on recent hunter-gatherer societies to draw conclusions about gender relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. And any conclusions drawn from archaeological remains about the social relationships between men and women can only be highly speculative. So, if you like, you can reject all evidence from descriptions of recent hunter-gatherer cultures, and in that case we know almost nothing about the gender relations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Or (with the necessary reservations) you can accept the evidence from recent hunter-gatherer societies, and in that case the evidence clearly points to a significant degree of male dominance. In either case, there is no evidence to support the anarchoprimitivists’ belief that all or most human societies had full gender equality prior to the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some ten thousand years ago.</p> -<p>5 Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> +<h3 id="5">5. <a class="anchor" href="#5"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists, and many politically-correct anthropologists, cite any evidence they can find that hunter-gatherers had gender equality, while systematically ignoring the abundant evidence of gender inequality found in eyewitness reports of hunter-gatherer cultures. For example, the anthropologist Haviland, in his textbook Cultural Anthropology, states that an “important characteristic of the food-foraging [hunther-gatherer] society is its egalitarianism.” <sup id="fnref:142"><a href="#fn:142" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">142</a></sup> He acknowledges that the two sexes may have had different status in such societies, but claims that “status differences by themselves do not imply any necessary inequality”, and that in “traditional food-foraging societies, nothing necessitated special deference of women to men.” <sup id="fnref:143"><a href="#fn:143" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">143</a></sup> If you check the pages listed in Haviland’s index for the entries “Bushmen”, “Ju/’hoansi” (another name for the Dobe Bushmen), “Eskimo”, “Inuit” (another name for Eskimos), “Mbuti”, “Tasma-nian”, “Australian”, and “Aborigine” (the Siriono are not listed in the index), you will find no mention of wife-beating, forced marriage, forced sexual intercourse, or any of the other indications of male dominance that I’ve cited above. Haviland does not deny that these things occurred. He does not claim, for example, that Turnbull merely invented his stories of wife-beating among the Mbuti, or that such-and-such evidence shows that Australian Aboriginal women were not subjected to involuntary sex before the arrival of Europeans. He simply ignores these issues, as if they didn’t exist. And it’s not that Haviland isn’t aware of the issues. For example, he quotes from A. P. Elkin’s book, The Australian Aborigines, <sup id="fnref:144"><a href="#fn:144" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">144</a></sup> an indication that he not only is familiar with the book but considers it a reliable source of information. Yet Elkin’s book, which I cited earlier, provides ample evidence of Australian Aboriginal men’s tyranny over their women <sup id="fnref:145"><a href="#fn:145" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">145</a></sup> — evidence that Haviland fails to mention. It’s pretty clear what is going on: Equality of the sexes is a fundamental tenet of the mainstream ideology of modern society. As highly-socialized members of that society, politically-correct anthropologists believe in the principle of gender equality with something akin to religious conviction, and they feel a need to give us little moral lessons by holding up for our admiration examples of the gender equality that supposedly prevailed when the human race was in a pristine and unspoiled state. This portrayal of primitive cultures is driven by the anthropologists’ own need to reaffirm their faith, and has nothing to do with an honest search for truth.</p> <p>To take another example, I’ve written to John Zerzan four times inviting him to back up his claims about gender equality among hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:146"><a href="#fn:146" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">146</a></sup> The answers he gave me were vague and evasive. <sup id="fnref:147"><a href="#fn:147" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">147</a></sup> I would gladly publish here Zerzan’s letters to me on this subject so that the reader could judge them for himself. However, I wrote to Zerzan requesting permission to publish his letters, and he denied me that permission. <sup id="fnref:148"><a href="#fn:148" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">148</a></sup> With his letters he sent me photocopies of pages from a few books that contained vague, general statements ostensibly supporting his claims about gender equality; for instance, this statement by John E Pfeiffer, who is neither a specialist nor an eyewitness of primitive behavior, but a popularizer: “For reasons unknown sexism arrived with settling and farming, with the emergence of complex society.” <sup id="fnref:149"><a href="#fn:149" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">149</a></sup></p> <p>Zerzan also sent me a photocopy of a page from Bonvillain’s book containing the following statement: “In foraging band [hunter-gatherer] societies, the potential for gender equality is perhaps the greatest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:150"><a href="#fn:150" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">150</a></sup> But Zerzan did not include copies of the pages on which Bonvillain said that male dominance was evident in some hunter-gatherer societies such as that of the Eskimos, or the pages on which she gave information that cast gave doubt on her own claim of gender equality among the Dobe Bushmen, as I discussed above.</p> @@ -243,13 +253,17 @@ <p>It’s worth noting that Zerzan apparently believes that our ancestors were capable of mental telepathy. <sup id="fnref:162"><a href="#fn:162" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">162</a></sup> But particularly revealing is Zerzan’ s quotation of “Shanks and Tilley”: “The point of archaeology is not merely to interpret the past but to change the manner in which the past is interpreted in the service of social reconstruction in the present.” <sup id="fnref:163"><a href="#fn:163" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">163</a></sup> This is virtually open advocacy of the proposition that archaeologists should slant their findings for political purposes. What better evidence could there be of the massive politicization that has taken place in American anthropology over the last 35 or 40 years? In view of this politicization, anything in recent anthropological literature that portrays primitive peoples’ behavior as politically correct must be viewed with the utmost skepticism.</p> <p>After citing to Zerzan some of the examples of gender inequality that I’ve discussed above, I questioned his honesty on the ground that he had “systematically excluded nearly all of the evidence that undercuts the idealized picture of hunter-gatherer societies” that he wanted to present. <sup id="fnref:164"><a href="#fn:164" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">164</a></sup> Zerzan answered that he “did not find many credible sources that contradicted his outlook. <sup id="fnref:165"><a href="#fn:165" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">165</a></sup> This statement strains credulity. Some of the examples that I cited to Zerzan (and have discussed above) were from books on which he himself had relied-those of Bonvillain and Turnbull. <sup id="fnref:166"><a href="#fn:166" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">166</a></sup> Yet he somehow managed to overlook all of the evidence in those books that contradicted his claims. Since Zerzan has read widely about hunter-gatherer societies, and the Australian Aborigines are among the best-known hunter-gatherers, I find it very difficult to believe that he has never come across any accounts of the Australians’ mistreatment of women. Yet he never mentions such accounts-not even for the purpose of refuting them.</p> <p>One does not necessarily have to assume any conscious dishonesty on Zerzan’s part. As Nietzsche said, “The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.” <sup id="fnref:167"><a href="#fn:167" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">167</a></sup> In other words, self-deception often precedes deception of others. An important factor here may be one that is well known to professional propagandists: people tend to block out — to fail to perceive or to remember — information that they find uncongenial<sup id="fnref:168"><a href="#fn:168" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">168</a></sup>. Since information that discredits one’s ideology is highly uncongenial, it follows that people will tend to block out such information. A young anarchoprimitivist with whom I’ve corresponded has provided me with an amazing example of this phenomenon. He wrote to me: “there is no question about the persistence [sic] of patriarchy in all other oceanic societies, but none seems apparent in the [Australian] Aborigines — According to A. P. Elkin’s The Australian Aborigines wives were not held in a restrictive marriage at all.” <sup id="fnref:169"><a href="#fn:169" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">169</a></sup> It was apparent that my anarchoprimitivist friend had read Elkin’s discussion of women’s position in Australian Aboriginal society. I’ve cited above some of the relevant pages of Elkin’s book, such as those on which he states that Australian Aboriginal women sometimes lived in terror of the compulsory sex to which they were subjected at some ceremonial times. Any reasonably rational person who will take the trouble to read those pages <sup id="fnref:170"><a href="#fn:170" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">170</a></sup> will find himself hard-pressed to explain how my anarchoprimitivist friend could have read that material and then claimed in all seriousness that no patriarchy seemed apparent in Australian Aboriginal society — unless my friend simply blocked out of his mind the information that he found ideologically unacceptable. My friend did not question the accuracy of Elkin I s information; in fact, he was relying on Elkin as an authority. He simply remained oblivious to the information that indicated patriarchy among the Australian Aborigines. But this time it should be sufficiently clear to the reader that what the anarchoprimitivists (and many anthropologists) are up to has nothing to do with a rational search for the truth about primitive cultures. Instead, they have been developing a myth.</p> -<p>6 I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="6">6. <a class="anchor" href="#6"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> <p>Among at least some groups of Australian Aborigines, women at times would provoke their menfolk to deadly violence against other men. <sup id="fnref:174"><a href="#fn:174" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">174</a></sup> Among the Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived, there was “a good deal of killing”, and it was sometimes a woman who persuaded a man to kill another man. <sup id="fnref:175"><a href="#fn:175" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">175</a></sup> Paintings made in rock shelters by prehistoric hunter-gatherers of eastern Spain show groups of men fighting each other with bows and arrows. <sup id="fnref:176"><a href="#fn:176" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">176</a></sup></p> <p>One could go on and on. But I don’t want to give the impression that all hunter-gatherer were violent. Turnbull refers to numerous nonlethal fights and beatings among the Mbuti, but in those of his books that I’ve read he mentions not a single case of homicide. <sup id="fnref:177"><a href="#fn:177" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">177</a></sup> This suggests that deadly violence was rare among the Mbuti at the time when Turnbull knew them. Siriono women sometimes fought physically, striking each other with sticks, and there was a good deal of aggression among the children, even with sticks or burning brands used as weapons. <sup id="fnref:178"><a href="#fn:178" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">178</a></sup> But men rarely fought each other with weapons, <sup id="fnref:179"><a href="#fn:179" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">179</a></sup> and the Siriono were not warlike. <sup id="fnref:180"><a href="#fn:180" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">180</a></sup> Under extreme provocation they did kill certain whites and missionized Indians, <sup id="fnref:181"><a href="#fn:181" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">181</a></sup> but among the Siriono themselves intentional homicide was almost unknown. <sup id="fnref:182"><a href="#fn:182" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">182</a></sup> Among the Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew aggression of any kind was minimal, though she makes clear that this was not necessarily true of all Bushman groups. <sup id="fnref:183"><a href="#fn:183" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">183</a></sup></p> <p>It is important, too, to realize that deadly violence among primitives is not even remotely comparable to modern warfare. When primitives fight, two little bands of men shoot arrows or swing war-clubs at one another because they want to fight; or because they are defending themselves, their families, or their territory. In the modern world soldiers fight because they are forced to do so, or, at best, because they have been brainwashed into believing in some kook ideology such as that of Nazism, socialism, or what American politicians choose to call “freedom”. In any case the modern soldier is merely a pawn, a dupe who dies not for his family or his tribe but for the politicians who exploit him. If he’s unlucky, maybe he does not die but comes home horribly crippled in a way that would never result from an arrow- or a spear-wound. Meanwhile, thousands of non-combatants are killed or mutilated. The environment is ravaged, not only in the war zone, but also back home, due to the accelerated consumption of natural resources needed to feed the war machine. In comparison, the violence of primitive man is relatively innocuous. That, however, it isn’t good enough for the anarchoprimitivists or for today’s politically correct anthropologists. They can’t deny altogether the existence of violence among hunter-gatherers, since the evidence for it is incontrovertible. But they will stretch the truth as far as they think they can get away with in order to minimize the amount of violence in the human past. It’s worthwhile to give an example that illustrates the silliness of some of the reasoning that they use. In reference to Homo habilis, a physically primitive ancestor of modern man, the anthropologist Haviland writes: “They obtained their meat not by killing live animals but by scavenging Homo habilis got meat by scavenging from carcasses of dead animals, rather than hunting live ones. We know this because the marks of stone tools on the bones of butchered animals commonly overlie marks the teeth of carnivores made. Clearly, Homo habilis did not get to the prey first.” <sup id="fnref:184"><a href="#fn:184" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">184</a></sup></p> <p>But, as Haviland certainly ought to know, many or most predatory animals engage both in hunting and in scavenging. For example, bears, African lions, martens, wolverines, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, hyenas, the raccoon dog of Asia, the Komodo dragon, and some vultures both hunt and scavenge. <sup id="fnref:185"><a href="#fn:185" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">185</a></sup> Thus, the fact that Homo habilis engaged in scavenging provides no evidence whatsoever that he did not also hunt. I emphasize that I do not know or care whether Homo habilis hunted. I see no reason why it should be important for us to know whether our half-human ancestors two million years ago were bloodthirsty killers, peaceful vegetarians, or something in between. The point here is simply to show what kind of reasoning some anthropologists will resort to in their effort to make the human past look as politically correct as possible. Since political correctness has warped the portrayal not only of the human past but of wild nature generally, it should be pointed out that deadly violence among wild animals is not confined to predation of one species upon another. Killing of one member of a species by another member of the same species does occur. For example, it is well known that wild chimpanzees often kill other chimpanzees. <sup id="fnref:186"><a href="#fn:186" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">186</a></sup> Elephants sometimes kill one another in fights, and the same is true of wild pigs. <sup id="fnref:187"><a href="#fn:187" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">187</a></sup> Among the sea birds called brown boobies, two eggs are laid in each nest. After the eggs are hatched, one of the chicks attacks the other and forces it out of the nest, so that it dies. <sup id="fnref:188"><a href="#fn:188" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">188</a></sup> Komodo dragons sometimes eat one another, <sup id="fnref:189"><a href="#fn:189" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">189</a></sup> and there is evidence that cannibalism occurred among some dinosaurs. <sup id="fnref:190"><a href="#fn:190" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">190</a></sup> (Evidence of cannibalism among prehistoric humans is controversial.) <sup id="fnref:191"><a href="#fn:191" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">191</a></sup></p> <p>I do want to make clear that it is by no means my intention to exalt violence. I prefer to see people (and animals) get along smoothly with one another. My purpose is only to expose the irrationality of the politically-correct image of primitive peoples and of wild nature.</p> -<p>7 An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="7">7. <a class="anchor" href="#7"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> <p>But according to Turnbull’s own earlier work, physical fighting was commonplace among the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:196"><a href="#fn:196" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">196</a></sup> If a physical fight isn’t a form of competition, then what is? It’s clear in fact that the Mbuti were a very quarrelsome people, and, in addition to physical fights, there were many verbal disputes among them. <sup id="fnref:197"><a href="#fn:197" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">197</a></sup> Generally speaking, any dispute, whether it is settled physically or verbally; is a form of competition: the interests of one person conflict with those of another, and their quarreling is an effort by each to promote his own interests at the other’s expense. The Mbuti’s jealousies also were evidence of competitive impulses. <sup id="fnref:198"><a href="#fn:198" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">198</a></sup></p> <p>Two things for which the Mbuti competed were mates and food. I’ve already mentioned a case of two women who fought over a man, <sup id="fnref:199"><a href="#fn:199" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">199</a></sup> and quarreling over food apparently was common. <sup id="fnref:200"><a href="#fn:200" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">200</a></sup> It’s worth noting that Turnbull, in his early work, described the Mbuti as “individualists.” <sup id="fnref:201"><a href="#fn:201" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">201</a></sup> There is abundant evidence of competitiveness and/or individualism among other primitive peoples. The Nuer (African pastoralists), the pagan Germanic tribes, the Carib Indians, the Siriono (who lived mainly by hunting and gathering), the Navajo, the Apaches, the Plains Indians, and North American Indians generally have all been described explicitly as “individualistic.” <sup id="fnref:202"><a href="#fn:202" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">202</a></sup> But “individualism” is a vague word that may mean different things to different people, so it’s more helpful to look at definite facts that have been reported. Some of the works that I cite in Note 202 do back up with facts their application of the term “individualistic” to the peoples mentioned. Holmberg writes:</p> <p>“When an Indian [Siriono] has reached adulthood he displays an individualism and apathy toward his fellows that is remarkable. The apparent unconcern of one individual for another-even within the family-never ceased to amaze me while I was living with the Siriono. Frequently men would depart for the hunt alone-without so much as a goodbye-and remain away from the band for weeks at a time without any concern on the part of their fellow tribesmen or even their wives&hellip;.”. “Unconcern with one’s fellows is manifested on every hand. On one occasion Ekwataia went hunting. On his return darkness overcame him about five hundred yards from camp. The night was black as ink, and Ekwataia lost his way. He began to call for help-for someone to bring him fire or to guide him into camp by calls. No one paid heed to his request. After about half an hour, his cries ceased, and his sister Seaci, said: ‘A jaguar probably got him’. When Ekwataia returned the following morning, he told me that he had spent the night sitting on the branch of a tree to avoid being eaten by jaguars.” <sup id="fnref:203"><a href="#fn:203" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">203</a></sup> Holmberg repeatedly remarks on the uncooperative character of the Siriono, and says that those of them who became disabled by age or sickness were simply abandoned by the others. <sup id="fnref:204"><a href="#fn:204" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">204</a></sup> Among other primitive peoples, individualism takes other forms. For example, among most of the North American Indians, warfare was a decidedly individualistic enterprise. “The Indians, being highly individualistic and often fighting more for personal glory than group advantage, never developed a science of warfare.” <sup id="fnref:205"><a href="#fn:205" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">205</a></sup> According to the Cheyenne Indian Wooden Leg: “When any battle actually began it was a case of every man for himself. There were no ordered groupings, no systematic movements in concert, no compulsory goings and comings. Warriors mingled indiscriminately, every one looked out for himself only, or each helped a friend if such help were needed and if the able one’s personal inclination just then was toward friendly helpfulness. The Sioux tribes fought their battles as a band of individuals, the same as we fought ours, and the same as was the way of all Indians I ever knew.” <sup id="fnref:206"><a href="#fn:206" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">206</a></sup></p> @@ -269,12 +283,16 @@ <p>Why “community”? Because of course “community” was a goody-goody word, the kind of word that a kid would use to get brownie points with a teacher. Would any kid in a similar situation have answered “United States of Competition” or “United States of Individualism”? Not likely!</p> <p>It is routinely taken for granted that words like “community,” “cooperation,” “helping,” and “sharing” represent something positive, but “individualism” is seldom used in the mainstream media or in the educational system in an unequivocally positive sense. “Competition” is more often used in a positive sense, but typically it us used that way only in specific contexts in which competition is useful (or at least harmless) to the system. For example, competition is considered desirable in the business word because it weeds out inefficient companies, spurs other companies to become more efficient, and promotes economic and technological progress. But only leashed competition — that is, competition that abides by rules designed to make it harmless or useful — is commonly spoken of favorably. And, when treated in a positive sense, competition is always justified in terms of communitarian values. Thus, business competition is considered good because it promotes efficiency and progress, which supposedly are good for the community as a whole. “Independence,” too, is a “good” word only when used in certain ways. For example, when one speaks of making disabled people “independent” one never thinks of making them independent of the system. One means only that they are to be provided with gainful employment so that the community will not be burdened with the cost of supporting them. Once they have found a job they are every bit as dependent on the system as they were when they lived on welfare, and they have a great deal less freedom to decide how to spend their time. So why do politically-correct anthropologists and others like them contrast the supposedly primitive values of “community,” “cooperation,” “sharing,” and “interdependence” with what they claim are the modern values of “competition,” “individualism” and “independence”? Certainly an important part of the answer is that politically-correct people have absorbed too well the values that the system’s propaganda has taught them, including the values of “cooperation,” “community,” “helping,” and so forth. Another value they have absorbed from propaganda is that of “tolerance,” which in cross-cultural contexts tends to translate into condescending approval of non-Western cultures. A well-socialized modern anthropologist is therefore faced with a conflict: Since he is supposed to be tolerant, he finds it difficult to say anything bad about primitive cultures. But primitive cultures provide abundant examples of behavior that is decidedly bad from the point of view of modern Western values. So the anthropologist has to censor much of the “bad” behavior out of his descriptions of primitive cultures in order to avoid showing them in a negative light. In addition, due to his own excessively thorough socialization, the politically-correct anthropologist has a need to rebel. <sup id="fnref:252"><a href="#fn:252" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">252</a></sup> He is too well socialized to discard the fundamental values of modern society, so he expresses his hostility toward that society by distorting facts to make it seem that modern society deviates from its own stated values to a much greater extent than it actually does. Thus the anthropologist ends by magnifying the competitive and individualistic aspects of modern society while grossly understating these aspects of primitive societies.</p> <p>There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand fully the psychology of these people. It seems obvious, for example, that the politically-correct portrayal of hunter-gatherers is motivated in part by an impulse to construct an image of a pure and innocent world existing at the dawn of time, analogous to the Garden of Eden, but the basis of this impulse is not clear to me.</p> -<p>8 What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> +<h3 id="8">8. <a class="anchor" href="#8"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> <p>“The youngster had speared [the sindula] with his first thrust, pinning the animal to the ground through the fleshy part of the stomach. But the animal was still very much alive, fighting for freedom. Maipe put another spear into its neck, but it still writhed and fought. Not until a third spear pierced its heart did it give up the struggle&hellip;</p> <p>“The pygmies stood around in an excited group, pointing at the dying animal and laughing. One boy, about nine years old, threw himself on the ground and curled up in a grotesque heap and imitated the sindula’s last convulsions&hellip;</p> <p>“At other times I have seen Pygmies singeing feathers off birds that were still alive, explaining that the meat is more tender if death comes slowly. And the hunting dogs, valuable as they are, get kicked around mercilessly from the day they are born to the day they die.” <sup id="fnref:262"><a href="#fn:262" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">262</a></sup></p> <p>A few years later, in Wayward Servants, Turnbull wrote: “The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence. The fun that is sometimes subsequently made of the dead animal, particularly by the youths, appears to be almost a nervous reaction, and there is an element of fear in their behavior. On the other hand, a bird caught alive may deliberately be toyed with, its feathers singed off over the fire while it is still fluttering and squawking until it is finally burned or suffocated to death. This again is usually done by the youths who take the same nervous pleasure in the act; very rarely a young hunter may absent-mindedly [^!?] do the same thing. Older hunters and elders generally disapprove, but do not interfere.”; “The respect seems to be not for animal life but for the game as a gift of the forest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:263"><a href="#fn:263" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">263</a></sup> This does not seem entirely consistent with what Turnbull reported earlier in The Forest People. Maybe Turnbull was already beginning to swing toward political correctness when he wrote Wayward Servants. But even if we take the statements of Wayward Servants at face value, the fact remains that the Mbuti did treat animals with unnecessary cruelty, whether or not they felt “compassion and reverence” for them. If the Mbuti did have compassion for animals, they were probably exceptional in that regard. Hunter-gatherers seem typically to be callous toward animals. The Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived kicked and beat their dogs brutally. <sup id="fnref:264"><a href="#fn:264" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">264</a></sup> The Siriono sometimes captured young animals alive and brought them back to camp, but they gave them nothing to eat, and the animals were treated so roughly by the children that they soon died. <sup id="fnref:265"><a href="#fn:265" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">265</a></sup> It should be noted that many hunting-and-gathering peoples did have a sense of reverence for or closeness to wild animals. I’ve already quoted Colin Turnbull’s statement to that effect in the case of the Mbuti. Coon states that “it is virtually a standard rule among hunters that they should never mock or otherwise insult any wild creature whose life they have brought to an end.” <sup id="fnref:266"><a href="#fn:266" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">266</a></sup> (As the passages I’ve quoted from Turnbull show, there were exceptions to this “standard rule”.) Venturing into speculation, Coon adds that “hunters sense the unity of nature and the combination of humility and responsibility of their role in it.” <sup id="fnref:267"><a href="#fn:267" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">267</a></sup> Wissler describes the closeness to and reverence toward nature (including wild animals) of the North American Indians. <sup id="fnref:268"><a href="#fn:268" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">268</a></sup> Holmberg mentions the Siriono’s “bonds” and “kinship” with the animal world. <sup id="fnref:269"><a href="#fn:269" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">269</a></sup> But, as we’ve already seen, these “bonds” and this “kinship” did not prevent physical cruelty to animals. Clearly, animal-rights activists would be horrified at the way hunter-gatherers often treated animals. For people who look to hunting and gathering cultures as their social ideal, it therefore makes no sense to maintain alliances with the animal-rights movement.</p> -<p>9 To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="9">9. <a class="anchor" href="#9"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> <p>The publisher of the anarchoprimitivist “zine” Species Traitor stated in a letter to me that in hunter-gatherer cultures “people had no property.” <sup id="fnref:280"><a href="#fn:280" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">280</a></sup> This is not true. Various forms of private property did exist among hunter-gatherers — and not only among sedentary ones like the Northwest Coast Indians. It is well known that most hunting-and-gathering peoples had collective property in land. That is, each band of 30 to 130 people owned the territory in which it lived. Coon provides an extended discussion of this. <sup id="fnref:281"><a href="#fn:281" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">281</a></sup> It is less well known that hunter-gatherers, even nomadic ones, could also hold rights to natural resources as individual property, and in some cases such rights could even be inherited. <sup id="fnref:282"><a href="#fn:282" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">282</a></sup> For example, among Mrs. Thomas’s Bushmen: “Each group has a very specific territory which that group alone may use, and they respect their boundaries rigidly. If a person is born in a certain area he or she has a right to eat the melons that grow there and all the veld food. A man may eat the melons wherever his wife can and wherever his father and mother could, so that every Bushman has in this way some kind of rights in many places. Gai, for example, ate melons at Ai a ha’o because his wife’s mother was born there, as well as at his own birthplace, the Okwa Omaramba.” <sup id="fnref:283"><a href="#fn:283" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">283</a></sup></p> <p>Arnong the Veddas (hunter-gatherers of Ceylon), “the band territory was subdivided for individual band members, who could pass their property on to their children.” <sup id="fnref:284"><a href="#fn:284" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">284</a></sup> Arnong certain Australian Aborigines there existed a system of inherited rights to goods obtained in trade for stones extracted from a quarry. <sup id="fnref:285"><a href="#fn:285" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">285</a></sup> Among some other Australian Aborigines, certain fruit trees were privately owned. <sup id="fnref:286"><a href="#fn:286" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">286</a></sup> The Mbuti used termites as food, and among them termite hills could be owned by individuals. <sup id="fnref:287"><a href="#fn:287" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">287</a></sup> Portable items such as tools, clothing, and ornaments usually were owned by individual hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:288"><a href="#fn:288" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">288</a></sup></p> <p>Turnbull mentions the argument of one W. Nippold to the effect that hunter-gatherers, including the Mbuti, had a highly developed sense of private property. Turnbull counters that this is “debatable point, and largely a semantic problem.” <sup id="fnref:289"><a href="#fn:289" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">289</a></sup> Here there is is no need for us to split hairs about what does and what does not constitute private property, or what would be a “highly developed sense” of it. Suffice it to say that the unqualified belief that hunter-gatherers did not have private property is only another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth. It’s important to note, however, that nomadic hunter-gatherers did not accumulate property to the extent of being able to use their wealth to dominate other people. <sup id="fnref:290"><a href="#fn:290" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">290</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer ordinarily had to carry all of his property on his own back whenever he shifted camp, or at best he had to carry it in a canoe or on a dog-sled or travois. <sup id="fnref:291"><a href="#fn:291" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">291</a></sup> By any of these means only a limited amount of property can be transported, hence an upper bound is imposed on the amount of property that a nomad can usefully accumulate.</p> @@ -287,12 +305,14 @@ <p>Turnbull also states that “in the view of mammalogists such as Van Gelder the [Mbuti] hunters are indeed the finest conservationists any conservation-minded government could wish for.” <sup id="fnref:307"><a href="#fn:307" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">307</a></sup> On the other hand, when Turnbull took an Mbuti named Kenge to visit a game preserve out on the plains, Kenge was told “that he would see more game than he had ever seen in the forest, but he was not to try and hunt any. Kenge could not understand this, because to his mind game is meant to be hunted.” <sup id="fnref:308"><a href="#fn:308" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">308</a></sup>. According to Coon, the ethic of the Tikerarmiut Eskimos forbade them to trap more than four wolves, wolverines, foxes, or marmots on any one day. However, this ethic quickly broke down when white traders arrived and tempted the Tikerarmiut with trade goods that they could obtain in exchange for the pelts of the animals named. <sup id="fnref:309"><a href="#fn:309" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">309</a></sup></p> <p>As soon as they acquired steel axes, the Siriono began destroying the wild fruit trees of their region because it was easier to harvest the fruit by cutting the tree down than by climbing it. <sup id="fnref:310"><a href="#fn:310" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">310</a></sup></p> <p>It is well known that some hunter-gatherers intentionally set wildfires because they knew that burned-over land would produce more of the edible plants that they favored. <sup id="fnref:311"><a href="#fn:311" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">311</a></sup> I consider this practice recklessly destructive. It is believed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers, through over-hunting, caused or at least contributed to the extinction of some species of large mammals, <sup id="fnref:312"><a href="#fn:312" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">312</a></sup> though as far as I know this has never been definitely proved. The foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the question of conservation versus environmental recklessness on the part of hunter-gatherers. It’s a question that deserves thorough investigation.</p> -<p>10 I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> +<h3 id="10">10. <a class="anchor" href="#10"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> <p>One is reminded of the response of fundamentalist Christians to any rational attack on their beliefs. Whatever facts one may point out, the fundamentalist will always find some argument, however far-fetched, to explain them away and justify his belief in the literal, word-for-word truth of the Bible. Actually, there is about anarchoprimitivism a distinct flavor of early Christianity. The anarchoprimitivists’ hunting-and-gathering utopia corresponds to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived in ease and without sin (Genesis 2). The invention of agriculture and civilization corresponds to the Fall: Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:6), were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), and thereafter had to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow by tilling the soil (Genesis 3: 19,23). They moreover lost gender equality, since Eve became subordinate to her husband (Genesis 3:16). The revolution that anarchoprimitivists hope will overthrow civilization corresponds to the Day of Judgment, the day of destruction on which Babylon will fall (Revelation 18:2). The return to primitive utopia corresponds to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, wherein “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be.any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).</p> <p>Today’s activists who risk their bodies by engaging in masochistic resistance tactics, such as chaining themselves across roads to prevent the passage of logging trucks, correspond to the Christian martyrs-the true believers who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4). Veganism corresponds to the dietary restrictions of many religions, such as the Christian fast during Lent. Like anarchoprimitivists, the early Christians emphasized egalitarianism (“whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased”, Matthew 23:12) and sharing (“distribution was made unto every man according as he had need”, Acts 4:35). The psychological affinity between anarchoprimitivism and early Christianity does not augur well. As soon as the emperor Constantine gave the Christians an opportunity to become powerful they sold out, and ever since then Christianity, more often than not, has served as a prop for the established powers.</p> -<ol start="11"> -<li>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</li> -</ol> +<h3 id="11">11. <a class="anchor" href="#11"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</p> <p>Why does this matter? Because it shows that chronic stress, anxiety and frustration, depression, and so forth, are not inevitable parts of the human condition, but are disorders brought on by modern civilization. Nor is servitude an inevitable part of the human condition: The example of at least some nomadic hunter-gatherer shows that true freedom is possible. Even more important: Regardless of whether they were good conservationists or poor ones, primitive peoples were incapable of damaging their environment to anything remotely approaching the extent to which modern man is damaging his. Primitives simply didn’t have the power to do that much damage. They may have used fire recklessly and they may have exterminated some species through overhunting, but they had no way to dam large rivers, to cover thousands of square miles of the Earth’s surface with cities and pavement, or to produce the vast quantities of toxic chemicals and radioactive waste with which modern civilization threatens to ruin the world for good and all. Nor did primitives have any means of releasing the deadly-dangerous forces represented by genetic engineering and by the super-intelligent computers that may soon be developed. These are dangers that scare even the technophiles themselves. <sup id="fnref:313"><a href="#fn:313" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">313</a></sup> So I agree with the anarchoprimitivists that the advent of civilization was a great disaster and that the Industrial Revolution was an even greater one. I further agree that a revolution against modernity, and against civilization in general, is necessary. But you can’t build an effective revolutionary movement out of soft-headed dreamers, lazies, and charlatans. You have to have tough-minded, realistic, practical people, and people of that kind don’t need the anarchoprimitivists’ mushy utopian myth.</p> <h2 id="concluding-note">Concluding Note <a class="anchor" href="#concluding-note"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> diff --git a/new-site/public/index.xml b/new-site/public/index.xml index f1552daa..7d13efff 100644 --- a/new-site/public/index.xml +++ b/new-site/public/index.xml @@ -200,10 +200,14 @@ https://vodoraslo.xyz/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/ <h2 id="the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism">The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism <a class="anchor" href="#the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> -</a></h2><p>1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> +</a></h2><h3 id="1">1. <a class="anchor" href="#1"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> <p>The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation.</p> <p>Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality.</p> -<p>2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> +<h3 id="2">2. <a class="anchor" href="#2"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> <p>Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society <sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup>), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence <sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">3</a></sup>). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” <sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">4</a></sup> For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. <sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">5</a></sup> Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. <sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">6</a></sup></p> <p>In a part of his essay that many anarchoprimitivists have found convenient to overlook, Bob Black acknowledges the forty-hour work-week and explains the foregoing contradiction: Sahlins followed early work of Lee that considered only time spent in hunting and foraging. When all necessary work was considered, the work-week was more than doubled. <sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">7</a></sup> The work omitted from consideration by Sahlins and the anarchoprimitivists was probably the most disagreeable part of the Bushmen’s work-week, too, since it consisted largely of food-preparation and firewood collection. <sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">8</a></sup> I speak from extensive personal experience with wild foods: Preparing such foods for use is very often a pain in the neck. It is far more pleasant to gather nuts, dig roots, or hunt game than it is to crack nuts, clean roots, or skin and butcher game — or to collect firewood and cook over an open fire.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists also err in assuming that Lee’s findings can be applied to hunter-gatherers generally. It’s not even clear that those findings are applicable on a year-round basis to the Bushmen studied by Lee. Cashdan cites evidence that Lee’s research may have been done at the time of year when his Bushmen worked least. <sup id="fnref:9"><a href="#fn:9" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">9</a></sup> She also mentions two other hunting-and-gathering peoples who have been shown quantitatively to spend far more time in hunting and foraging than Lee’s Bushmen did, <sup id="fnref:10"><a href="#fn:10" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">10</a></sup> and she points out that Lee may have seriously underestimated women’s working time because he failed to include time spent on childcare. <sup id="fnref:11"><a href="#fn:11" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">11</a></sup></p> @@ -220,7 +224,9 @@ <p>However, I have not been trying to prove that primitive man was less fortunate in his working life than modern man is. In my opinion the contrary was true. Probably at least some nomadic hunter-gatherers had more leisure time than modern employed Americans do. It’s true that the roughly forty-hour work-week of Richard Lee’s Bushmen was about equal to the standard American work-week. But modern Americans are burdened with many demands on their time outside their hours of employment. I myself, when working at a forty-hour job, have generally felt busy: I’ve had to shop for groceries, go to the bank, do the laundry, fill out income-tax forms, take the car in for maintenance, get a haircut, go to the dentist &hellip;there was always something that needed to be done. Many of the people I now correspond with likewise complain of being busy. In contrast, the male Bushman’s time was genuinely his own outside of his working hours; he could spend his non-working time as he pleased. Bushman women of reproductive age may have had much less leisure time because, like women of all societies, they were burdened with the care of small children.</p> <p>But leisure is a modern concept, and the emphasis that anarchoprimitivists put on it is evidence of their servitude to the values of the civilization that they claim to reject. The amount of time expended in work is not what matters. Many authors have discussed what is wrong with work in modern society, and I see no reason to go over that ground again. What does matter is that, apart from monotony, what is wrong with work in modern society is not wrong with the work of nomadic hunter-gatherers. The hunter-gatherer’s work is challenging, both in terms of physical effort and in terms of the level of skill required. <sup id="fnref:40"><a href="#fn:40" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">40</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer’s work is purposeful, and its purpose is not abstract, remote, or artificial but concrete, very real, and directly important to the worker: He works to satisfy the physical needs of himself, his family, and other people to whom he is personally close. Above all, the nomadic hunter-gatherer is a free worker: He is not exploited, he is subservient to no boss, no one gives him orders; <sup id="fnref:41"><a href="#fn:41" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">41</a></sup> he designs is own work-day, if not as an individual then as a member of a group that is small enough so that every individual can participate meaningfully in the decisions that are made <sup id="fnref:42"><a href="#fn:42" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">42</a></sup>. Modern jobs tend to be psychologically stressful, but there are reasons to believe that primitive people’s work typically involved little psychological stress. <sup id="fnref:43"><a href="#fn:43" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">43</a></sup> Hunter-gatherers’ work often monotonous, but it is my view that monotony generally causes primitive people relatively little discomfort. Boredom, I think, is largely a civilized phenomenon and is a product of psychological stresses that are characteristic of civilized life. This admittedly is a matter of personal opinion, I can ‘t prove it, and a discussion of it would take us beyond the scope of this article. Here I will only say that my opinion is based largely on my own experience of living outside the technoindustrial system. How hunter-gatherers felt about their own work is difficult to say, since anthropologists and others who visited primitive peoples (at least those whose reports I’ve read) usually do not seem to have asked such questions. But the following from Holmberg’s worth noting: “They are relatively apathetic to work (taba taba), which includes such distasteful tasks as housebuilding, gathering firewood, clearing, planting, and tilling of fields. In quite a different class, however, are such pleasant occupations as hunting (gwata gwata) and collecting (deka deka, ‘to look for’), which are regarded more as diversions than as work.” <sup id="fnref:44"><a href="#fn:44" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">44</a></sup></p> <p>This despite the fact that, as we saw earlier, the Siriono’s hunting and collecting activities were exceedingly time-consuming, fatiguing, strenuous, and physically demanding.</p> -<p>3 Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> +<h3 id="3">3. <a class="anchor" href="#3"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> <p>Well, maybe not. Look at some of the facts that Bonvillain herself offers in the same book: “Most leaders and camp spokespersons are men. Although women and men participate in group discussions and decision making, &hellip;men’s talk in discussions involving both genders amounts to about two-thirds of the total.” <sup id="fnref:51"><a href="#fn:51" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">51</a></sup></p> <p>Much worse are the forced marriages of girls in their early teens to men much older than themselves. <sup id="fnref:52"><a href="#fn:52" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">52</a></sup> It’s true that practices that seem cruel to us may not be experienced as cruel by people of other cultures on whom they are imposed. But Bonvillain quotes words of a Bushman woman that show that at least some girls did experience their forced marriages as cruel: “I cried and cried”; <sup id="fnref:53"><a href="#fn:53" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">53</a></sup> “I ran away again and again. A part of my heart kept thinking: ‘how come I’m a child and have taken a husband?’” <sup id="fnref:54"><a href="#fn:54" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">54</a></sup> Moreover, “because seniority confers prestige&hellip;, the greater age, experience, and maturity of husbands may make wives socially, if not personally, subordinate.” <sup id="fnref:55"><a href="#fn:55" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">55</a></sup> Thus, while the Dobe Bushmen no doubt had some of the elements of gender equality, one would have to stretch a point pretty far to claim that they had full gender equality. On the basis of his personal experience, Colin Turnbull stated that among the Mbuti pygmies of Africa, a “woman is in no way the social inferior of a man,” <sup id="fnref:56"><a href="#fn:56" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">56</a></sup> and that “the woman is not discriminated against. <sup id="fnref:57"><a href="#fn:57" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">57</a></sup> That sounds like gender equality &hellip;until you look at the concrete facts that Turnbull himself offers in the very same books: “ A certain amount of wife-beating is considered good, and the wife is expected to fight back; <sup id="fnref:58"><a href="#fn:58" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">58</a></sup> “He said that he was very content with his wife, and he had not found it necessary to beat her at all often,” <sup id="fnref:59"><a href="#fn:59" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">59</a></sup>; Man throws wife to the ground and slaps her; <sup id="fnref:60"><a href="#fn:60" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">60</a></sup> Husband beats wife; <sup id="fnref:61"><a href="#fn:61" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">61</a></sup> Man beats sister; <sup id="fnref:62"><a href="#fn:62" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">62</a></sup> Kenge beats his sister; <sup id="fnref:63"><a href="#fn:63" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">63</a></sup> “Perhaps he should have beaten her harder, Tungana [an old man] said, for some girls like being beaten,” <sup id="fnref:64"><a href="#fn:64" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">64</a></sup>; “Amabosu countered by smacking her firmly across the face. Normally Ekianga would have approved of such manly assertion of authority over a disloyal wife.” <sup id="fnref:65"><a href="#fn:65" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">65</a></sup> Turnbull mentions two instances of men giving orders to their wives. <sup id="fnref:66"><a href="#fn:66" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">66</a></sup> I have not found any instance in Turnbull’ s books of wives giving orders to their husbands. Pipestem obtained by wife is referred to as husband’s property. <sup id="fnref:67"><a href="#fn:67" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">67</a></sup> “[A boy] has to have [a girl’s] permission before intercourse can take place. The men say that once they lie down with a girl, however, if they want her they take her by surprise, when petting her, and force her to their will.” <sup id="fnref:68"><a href="#fn:68" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">68</a></sup> Nowadays we would call that “date rape”, and the young man involved would risk a long prison sentence.</p> <p>For the sake of balance, let’s note that Turnbull found among the Mbuti no instance of what we would call “street rape” as opposed to “date rape”; <sup id="fnref:69"><a href="#fn:69" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">69</a></sup> husbands were not supposed to hit their wives on the head or in the face; <sup id="fnref:70"><a href="#fn:70" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">70</a></sup> and in at least one case in which a man took to beating his wife too frequently and severly, his campmates eventually found means to end the abuse without the use of force and without overt interference. <sup id="fnref:71"><a href="#fn:71" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">71</a></sup> It should also be borne in mind that the significance of a beating depends on the cultural context. In our society it is a great humiliation to be struck by another person, especially by one who is bigger and stronger than oneself. But since blows were commonplace among the Mbuti, <sup id="fnref:72"><a href="#fn:72" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">72</a></sup> it is probably safe to assume that they were not felt as particularly humiliating . Nevertheless it is quite clear that some degree of male dominance was present among the Mbuti. Among the Siriono: “A woman is subservient to her husband”; <sup id="fnref:73"><a href="#fn:73" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">73</a></sup> “The extended family is generally dominated by the oldest active male”; <sup id="fnref:74"><a href="#fn:74" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">74</a></sup> “[Women] are dominated by the men”; <sup id="fnref:75"><a href="#fn:75" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">75</a></sup> “If a man is out in the forest alone with a woman, &hellip;he may throw her to the ground roughly and take his prize [sex] without so much as saying a word”; <sup id="fnref:76"><a href="#fn:76" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">76</a></sup> Parents definitely preferred to have male children; <sup id="fnref:77"><a href="#fn:77" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">77</a></sup> “Although the title ererekwa is reserved by the men for a chief, it one asks a woman: ‘who is your ererekwa?’ she will invariably reply: ‘my husband’.” <sup id="fnref:78"><a href="#fn:78" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">78</a></sup> On the other hand, the Siriono never beat their wives, <sup id="fnref:79"><a href="#fn:79" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">79</a></sup> and “Women enjoy about the same privileges as men. They get as much or more food to eat, and they enjoy the same sexual freedom.” <sup id="fnref:80"><a href="#fn:80" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">80</a></sup> According to Bonvillain, Eskimo men “dominate their wives and daughters. Men’s dominance is not total, however&hellip;&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:81"><a href="#fn:81" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">81</a></sup> She describes gender relations among the Eskimos in some detail, <sup id="fnref:82"><a href="#fn:82" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">82</a></sup> which may or may not be slanted to reflect her feminist ideology.</p> @@ -228,11 +234,15 @@ <p>Although there was “real harmony and mutual understanding in most Aboriginal families”, wife-beating was practiced. <sup id="fnref:95"><a href="#fn:95" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">95</a></sup> According to A. P. Elkin, under some circumstances-for example, on certain ceremonial occasions-women had to submit to compulsory sex, which “implies that woman is but an object to be used in certain socially established ways.” <sup id="fnref:96"><a href="#fn:96" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">96</a></sup> The women, says Elkin, “may often not object,” <sup id="fnref:97"><a href="#fn:97" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">97</a></sup> but: “They sometimes live in terror of the use which is made of them at some ceremonial times.” <sup id="fnref:98"><a href="#fn:98" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">98</a></sup> Of course, no claim is made here that all of the foregoing conditions prevailed in all parts of aboriginal Australia. Culture was not uniform across the continent. Coon says that the Australians were nomadic, but he also states that in parts of southeastern Australia, namely “The better-watered parts, particularly Victoria and the Murray River country”, the aborigines were “relatively sedentary.” <sup id="fnref:99"><a href="#fn:99" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">99</a></sup> According to Massola, in the drier parts of southeastern Australia the aborigines had to cover long distances between fast-drying wells in times of drought. <sup id="fnref:100"><a href="#fn:100" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">100</a></sup> This corresponds with the high degree of nomadism described for other arid parts of Australia, where “Aboigines moved from waterhole to waterhole along well-defined tracks in small family groups. The whole camp moved and rarely established bases.” <sup id="fnref:101"><a href="#fn:101" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">101</a></sup> In stating that in “the better-watered parts” the aborigines were “relatively sedentary”, Coon doubtless means that “in fertile regions there were well-established camping areas, close to water, where people always camped at certain times of year. Camps were bases from which people made forays into the surrounding bush for food, returning in the late afternoon or spending a few days away.” <sup id="fnref:102"><a href="#fn:102" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">102</a></sup> Coon says that in part of the well-watered Murray River country each territorial clan had a headman and a council consisting mainly of men, though in a few cases women were also elected to the council; whereas, farther to the north and west, there was little formal leadership and “control over the women and younger males was shared between” the men aged from thirty to fifty. <sup id="fnref:103"><a href="#fn:103" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">103</a></sup> Thus Australian women had very little overt political power. Yet, as among Poncins’s Eskimos, certainly in our society, and probably in every society, the women often exercised great influence their menfolk <sup id="fnref:104"><a href="#fn:104" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">104</a></sup>.</p> <p>The Tasmanians also were nomadic hunter-gatherers (though some were “relatively sedentary”), <sup id="fnref:105"><a href="#fn:105" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">105</a></sup> and it’s not clear that they treated women any better than the Australians did. “In one account we are told that a band living near Hobart Town before the colonists’ arrival was raided by neighbors who killed the men who tried to stop them and took away their women. And there are other accounts of individual cases of marriage by capture. Sometimes when a man from a neighboring band had the right to marry a girl, but neither she nor her parents liked him, it is said that they killed the girl rather than give her up”; <sup id="fnref:106"><a href="#fn:106" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">106</a></sup> “The other tribes considered [a certain tribe] cowards, and raided them to steal their women”; <sup id="fnref:107"><a href="#fn:107" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">107</a></sup> “Woorrady raped and killed a sister-in-law.” <sup id="fnref:108"><a href="#fn:108" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">108</a></sup></p> <p>Here I should make clear that it is not my intention to argue against gender equality. I myself am enough a product of modern industrial society to feel that women and men should have equal status. My purpose at this point is simply to exhibit the facts concerning the relations between the sexes in hunting-and-gathering societies.</p> -<p>4 There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="4">4. <a class="anchor" href="#4"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> <p>Though some of Gontran de Poncins’s Eskimos were “purer” than others, <sup id="fnref:127"><a href="#fn:127" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">127</a></sup> it appears that all of them had at least some trade goods from the whites. If any reader cares to take the trouble to track down the earliest primary sources — perhaps some of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s work — so as to approach as closely as possible to an original and “pure” Eskimo culture, I would be interested to hear of his or her findings. But it is possible that even long before European contact the Eskimos’ culture may have been affected by something that they received from a non-hunting society; for their sled dogs may not have originated with hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:128"><a href="#fn:128" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">128</a></sup></p> <p>With the Siriono we come closer to purity than we do with the Bushmen, the Mbuti, or Poncins’s Eskimos. The Siriono did not even have dogs, <sup id="fnref:129"><a href="#fn:129" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">129</a></sup> and even though they cultivated crops to a limited extent anthropologists regarded their culture as Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). <sup id="fnref:130"><a href="#fn:130" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">130</a></sup> Some of the Siriono studied by Holmberg had had little or no contact with whites prior to Holmberg’s arrival <sup id="fnref:131"><a href="#fn:131" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">131</a></sup> and, among those Siriono, European tools were rarely encountered <sup id="fnref:132"><a href="#fn:132" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">132</a></sup> until Holmberg himself introduced them. <sup id="fnref:133"><a href="#fn:133" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">133</a></sup> Instead, the Siriono made their tools of naturally-occurring local materials.<sup id="fnref:134"><a href="#fn:134" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">134</a></sup> The Siriono moreover were so primitive that they could not count beyond three. <sup id="fnref:135"><a href="#fn:135" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">135</a></sup> Nevertheless, Siriono culture might have been affected by contact with more “advanced” societies, since Holmberg thought the Siriono were “probably a remnant of an ancient population that was exterminated, absorbed, or engulfed by more civilized invaders.” <sup id="fnref:136"><a href="#fn:136" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">136</a></sup> Lauriston Sharp even suggested that the Siriono might have “degenerated” [sic] “from a more advanced technical condition,” though Holmberg rejected this view and Sharp himself considered it “irrelevant.” <sup id="fnref:137"><a href="#fn:137" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">137</a></sup> In addition, the Siriono might have been affected indirectly by European civilization, since probably at least some of the diseases from which they suffered, e.g., malaria, had been brought to the Americas by Europeans. <sup id="fnref:138"><a href="#fn:138" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">138</a></sup> It’s not surprising that most of the hunter-gatherers I’ve mentioned here — like those cited by the anarchoprimitivists and the politically-correct anthropologists — were affected by direct or indirect contact with agricultural or pastoral peoples even long before their first contact with Europeans, because outside of Australia, Tasmania, and the far west and north of North America “populations which remained faithful to the old hunter-gatherer way of live were small and scattered.” <sup id="fnref:139"><a href="#fn:139" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">139</a></sup> Consequently, with the possible exception of some who lived on small islands, they necessarily had some form of contact with surrounding non-hunter-gatherer populations.</p> <p>Probably the Australian Aborigines and the Tasmanians were the hunter-gatherers who were purest when Europeans first found them. Australia was the only continent that was inhabited exclusively by hunter-gatherers until the white man’s arrival, and Tasmania, an island just to the south of Australia, was even more isolated. But Tasmania may have been visited by Polynesians, and in the north of Australia there was some limited contact with people from Indonesia and New Guinea prior to the arrival of Europeans. <sup id="fnref:140"><a href="#fn:140" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">140</a></sup> Still earlier contact with outsiders, who mayor may not have been hunter-gatherers, is probable. <sup id="fnref:141"><a href="#fn:141" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">141</a></sup> Thus we have no conclusive proof that hunter-gatherer cultures that survived into recent times had not been seriously affected by contact with non-hunter-gatherers by the time the first descriptions of them were written. Consequently, more or less uncertainty is involved in using reports on recent hunter-gatherer societies to draw conclusions about gender relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. And any conclusions drawn from archaeological remains about the social relationships between men and women can only be highly speculative. So, if you like, you can reject all evidence from descriptions of recent hunter-gatherer cultures, and in that case we know almost nothing about the gender relations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Or (with the necessary reservations) you can accept the evidence from recent hunter-gatherer societies, and in that case the evidence clearly points to a significant degree of male dominance. In either case, there is no evidence to support the anarchoprimitivists’ belief that all or most human societies had full gender equality prior to the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some ten thousand years ago.</p> -<p>5 Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> +<h3 id="5">5. <a class="anchor" href="#5"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists, and many politically-correct anthropologists, cite any evidence they can find that hunter-gatherers had gender equality, while systematically ignoring the abundant evidence of gender inequality found in eyewitness reports of hunter-gatherer cultures. For example, the anthropologist Haviland, in his textbook Cultural Anthropology, states that an “important characteristic of the food-foraging [hunther-gatherer] society is its egalitarianism.” <sup id="fnref:142"><a href="#fn:142" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">142</a></sup> He acknowledges that the two sexes may have had different status in such societies, but claims that “status differences by themselves do not imply any necessary inequality”, and that in “traditional food-foraging societies, nothing necessitated special deference of women to men.” <sup id="fnref:143"><a href="#fn:143" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">143</a></sup> If you check the pages listed in Haviland’s index for the entries “Bushmen”, “Ju/’hoansi” (another name for the Dobe Bushmen), “Eskimo”, “Inuit” (another name for Eskimos), “Mbuti”, “Tasma-nian”, “Australian”, and “Aborigine” (the Siriono are not listed in the index), you will find no mention of wife-beating, forced marriage, forced sexual intercourse, or any of the other indications of male dominance that I’ve cited above. Haviland does not deny that these things occurred. He does not claim, for example, that Turnbull merely invented his stories of wife-beating among the Mbuti, or that such-and-such evidence shows that Australian Aboriginal women were not subjected to involuntary sex before the arrival of Europeans. He simply ignores these issues, as if they didn’t exist. And it’s not that Haviland isn’t aware of the issues. For example, he quotes from A. P. Elkin’s book, The Australian Aborigines, <sup id="fnref:144"><a href="#fn:144" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">144</a></sup> an indication that he not only is familiar with the book but considers it a reliable source of information. Yet Elkin’s book, which I cited earlier, provides ample evidence of Australian Aboriginal men’s tyranny over their women <sup id="fnref:145"><a href="#fn:145" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">145</a></sup> — evidence that Haviland fails to mention. It’s pretty clear what is going on: Equality of the sexes is a fundamental tenet of the mainstream ideology of modern society. As highly-socialized members of that society, politically-correct anthropologists believe in the principle of gender equality with something akin to religious conviction, and they feel a need to give us little moral lessons by holding up for our admiration examples of the gender equality that supposedly prevailed when the human race was in a pristine and unspoiled state. This portrayal of primitive cultures is driven by the anthropologists’ own need to reaffirm their faith, and has nothing to do with an honest search for truth.</p> <p>To take another example, I’ve written to John Zerzan four times inviting him to back up his claims about gender equality among hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:146"><a href="#fn:146" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">146</a></sup> The answers he gave me were vague and evasive. <sup id="fnref:147"><a href="#fn:147" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">147</a></sup> I would gladly publish here Zerzan’s letters to me on this subject so that the reader could judge them for himself. However, I wrote to Zerzan requesting permission to publish his letters, and he denied me that permission. <sup id="fnref:148"><a href="#fn:148" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">148</a></sup> With his letters he sent me photocopies of pages from a few books that contained vague, general statements ostensibly supporting his claims about gender equality; for instance, this statement by John E Pfeiffer, who is neither a specialist nor an eyewitness of primitive behavior, but a popularizer: “For reasons unknown sexism arrived with settling and farming, with the emergence of complex society.” <sup id="fnref:149"><a href="#fn:149" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">149</a></sup></p> <p>Zerzan also sent me a photocopy of a page from Bonvillain’s book containing the following statement: “In foraging band [hunter-gatherer] societies, the potential for gender equality is perhaps the greatest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:150"><a href="#fn:150" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">150</a></sup> But Zerzan did not include copies of the pages on which Bonvillain said that male dominance was evident in some hunter-gatherer societies such as that of the Eskimos, or the pages on which she gave information that cast gave doubt on her own claim of gender equality among the Dobe Bushmen, as I discussed above.</p> @@ -244,13 +254,17 @@ <p>It’s worth noting that Zerzan apparently believes that our ancestors were capable of mental telepathy. <sup id="fnref:162"><a href="#fn:162" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">162</a></sup> But particularly revealing is Zerzan’ s quotation of “Shanks and Tilley”: “The point of archaeology is not merely to interpret the past but to change the manner in which the past is interpreted in the service of social reconstruction in the present.” <sup id="fnref:163"><a href="#fn:163" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">163</a></sup> This is virtually open advocacy of the proposition that archaeologists should slant their findings for political purposes. What better evidence could there be of the massive politicization that has taken place in American anthropology over the last 35 or 40 years? In view of this politicization, anything in recent anthropological literature that portrays primitive peoples’ behavior as politically correct must be viewed with the utmost skepticism.</p> <p>After citing to Zerzan some of the examples of gender inequality that I’ve discussed above, I questioned his honesty on the ground that he had “systematically excluded nearly all of the evidence that undercuts the idealized picture of hunter-gatherer societies” that he wanted to present. <sup id="fnref:164"><a href="#fn:164" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">164</a></sup> Zerzan answered that he “did not find many credible sources that contradicted his outlook. <sup id="fnref:165"><a href="#fn:165" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">165</a></sup> This statement strains credulity. Some of the examples that I cited to Zerzan (and have discussed above) were from books on which he himself had relied-those of Bonvillain and Turnbull. <sup id="fnref:166"><a href="#fn:166" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">166</a></sup> Yet he somehow managed to overlook all of the evidence in those books that contradicted his claims. Since Zerzan has read widely about hunter-gatherer societies, and the Australian Aborigines are among the best-known hunter-gatherers, I find it very difficult to believe that he has never come across any accounts of the Australians’ mistreatment of women. Yet he never mentions such accounts-not even for the purpose of refuting them.</p> <p>One does not necessarily have to assume any conscious dishonesty on Zerzan’s part. As Nietzsche said, “The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.” <sup id="fnref:167"><a href="#fn:167" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">167</a></sup> In other words, self-deception often precedes deception of others. An important factor here may be one that is well known to professional propagandists: people tend to block out — to fail to perceive or to remember — information that they find uncongenial<sup id="fnref:168"><a href="#fn:168" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">168</a></sup>. Since information that discredits one’s ideology is highly uncongenial, it follows that people will tend to block out such information. A young anarchoprimitivist with whom I’ve corresponded has provided me with an amazing example of this phenomenon. He wrote to me: “there is no question about the persistence [sic] of patriarchy in all other oceanic societies, but none seems apparent in the [Australian] Aborigines — According to A. P. Elkin’s The Australian Aborigines wives were not held in a restrictive marriage at all.” <sup id="fnref:169"><a href="#fn:169" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">169</a></sup> It was apparent that my anarchoprimitivist friend had read Elkin’s discussion of women’s position in Australian Aboriginal society. I’ve cited above some of the relevant pages of Elkin’s book, such as those on which he states that Australian Aboriginal women sometimes lived in terror of the compulsory sex to which they were subjected at some ceremonial times. Any reasonably rational person who will take the trouble to read those pages <sup id="fnref:170"><a href="#fn:170" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">170</a></sup> will find himself hard-pressed to explain how my anarchoprimitivist friend could have read that material and then claimed in all seriousness that no patriarchy seemed apparent in Australian Aboriginal society — unless my friend simply blocked out of his mind the information that he found ideologically unacceptable. My friend did not question the accuracy of Elkin I s information; in fact, he was relying on Elkin as an authority. He simply remained oblivious to the information that indicated patriarchy among the Australian Aborigines. But this time it should be sufficiently clear to the reader that what the anarchoprimitivists (and many anthropologists) are up to has nothing to do with a rational search for the truth about primitive cultures. Instead, they have been developing a myth.</p> -<p>6 I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="6">6. <a class="anchor" href="#6"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> <p>Among at least some groups of Australian Aborigines, women at times would provoke their menfolk to deadly violence against other men. <sup id="fnref:174"><a href="#fn:174" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">174</a></sup> Among the Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived, there was “a good deal of killing”, and it was sometimes a woman who persuaded a man to kill another man. <sup id="fnref:175"><a href="#fn:175" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">175</a></sup> Paintings made in rock shelters by prehistoric hunter-gatherers of eastern Spain show groups of men fighting each other with bows and arrows. <sup id="fnref:176"><a href="#fn:176" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">176</a></sup></p> <p>One could go on and on. But I don’t want to give the impression that all hunter-gatherer were violent. Turnbull refers to numerous nonlethal fights and beatings among the Mbuti, but in those of his books that I’ve read he mentions not a single case of homicide. <sup id="fnref:177"><a href="#fn:177" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">177</a></sup> This suggests that deadly violence was rare among the Mbuti at the time when Turnbull knew them. Siriono women sometimes fought physically, striking each other with sticks, and there was a good deal of aggression among the children, even with sticks or burning brands used as weapons. <sup id="fnref:178"><a href="#fn:178" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">178</a></sup> But men rarely fought each other with weapons, <sup id="fnref:179"><a href="#fn:179" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">179</a></sup> and the Siriono were not warlike. <sup id="fnref:180"><a href="#fn:180" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">180</a></sup> Under extreme provocation they did kill certain whites and missionized Indians, <sup id="fnref:181"><a href="#fn:181" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">181</a></sup> but among the Siriono themselves intentional homicide was almost unknown. <sup id="fnref:182"><a href="#fn:182" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">182</a></sup> Among the Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew aggression of any kind was minimal, though she makes clear that this was not necessarily true of all Bushman groups. <sup id="fnref:183"><a href="#fn:183" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">183</a></sup></p> <p>It is important, too, to realize that deadly violence among primitives is not even remotely comparable to modern warfare. When primitives fight, two little bands of men shoot arrows or swing war-clubs at one another because they want to fight; or because they are defending themselves, their families, or their territory. In the modern world soldiers fight because they are forced to do so, or, at best, because they have been brainwashed into believing in some kook ideology such as that of Nazism, socialism, or what American politicians choose to call “freedom”. In any case the modern soldier is merely a pawn, a dupe who dies not for his family or his tribe but for the politicians who exploit him. If he’s unlucky, maybe he does not die but comes home horribly crippled in a way that would never result from an arrow- or a spear-wound. Meanwhile, thousands of non-combatants are killed or mutilated. The environment is ravaged, not only in the war zone, but also back home, due to the accelerated consumption of natural resources needed to feed the war machine. In comparison, the violence of primitive man is relatively innocuous. That, however, it isn’t good enough for the anarchoprimitivists or for today’s politically correct anthropologists. They can’t deny altogether the existence of violence among hunter-gatherers, since the evidence for it is incontrovertible. But they will stretch the truth as far as they think they can get away with in order to minimize the amount of violence in the human past. It’s worthwhile to give an example that illustrates the silliness of some of the reasoning that they use. In reference to Homo habilis, a physically primitive ancestor of modern man, the anthropologist Haviland writes: “They obtained their meat not by killing live animals but by scavenging Homo habilis got meat by scavenging from carcasses of dead animals, rather than hunting live ones. We know this because the marks of stone tools on the bones of butchered animals commonly overlie marks the teeth of carnivores made. Clearly, Homo habilis did not get to the prey first.” <sup id="fnref:184"><a href="#fn:184" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">184</a></sup></p> <p>But, as Haviland certainly ought to know, many or most predatory animals engage both in hunting and in scavenging. For example, bears, African lions, martens, wolverines, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, hyenas, the raccoon dog of Asia, the Komodo dragon, and some vultures both hunt and scavenge. <sup id="fnref:185"><a href="#fn:185" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">185</a></sup> Thus, the fact that Homo habilis engaged in scavenging provides no evidence whatsoever that he did not also hunt. I emphasize that I do not know or care whether Homo habilis hunted. I see no reason why it should be important for us to know whether our half-human ancestors two million years ago were bloodthirsty killers, peaceful vegetarians, or something in between. The point here is simply to show what kind of reasoning some anthropologists will resort to in their effort to make the human past look as politically correct as possible. Since political correctness has warped the portrayal not only of the human past but of wild nature generally, it should be pointed out that deadly violence among wild animals is not confined to predation of one species upon another. Killing of one member of a species by another member of the same species does occur. For example, it is well known that wild chimpanzees often kill other chimpanzees. <sup id="fnref:186"><a href="#fn:186" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">186</a></sup> Elephants sometimes kill one another in fights, and the same is true of wild pigs. <sup id="fnref:187"><a href="#fn:187" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">187</a></sup> Among the sea birds called brown boobies, two eggs are laid in each nest. After the eggs are hatched, one of the chicks attacks the other and forces it out of the nest, so that it dies. <sup id="fnref:188"><a href="#fn:188" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">188</a></sup> Komodo dragons sometimes eat one another, <sup id="fnref:189"><a href="#fn:189" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">189</a></sup> and there is evidence that cannibalism occurred among some dinosaurs. <sup id="fnref:190"><a href="#fn:190" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">190</a></sup> (Evidence of cannibalism among prehistoric humans is controversial.) <sup id="fnref:191"><a href="#fn:191" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">191</a></sup></p> <p>I do want to make clear that it is by no means my intention to exalt violence. I prefer to see people (and animals) get along smoothly with one another. My purpose is only to expose the irrationality of the politically-correct image of primitive peoples and of wild nature.</p> -<p>7 An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="7">7. <a class="anchor" href="#7"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> <p>But according to Turnbull’s own earlier work, physical fighting was commonplace among the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:196"><a href="#fn:196" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">196</a></sup> If a physical fight isn’t a form of competition, then what is? It’s clear in fact that the Mbuti were a very quarrelsome people, and, in addition to physical fights, there were many verbal disputes among them. <sup id="fnref:197"><a href="#fn:197" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">197</a></sup> Generally speaking, any dispute, whether it is settled physically or verbally; is a form of competition: the interests of one person conflict with those of another, and their quarreling is an effort by each to promote his own interests at the other’s expense. The Mbuti’s jealousies also were evidence of competitive impulses. <sup id="fnref:198"><a href="#fn:198" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">198</a></sup></p> <p>Two things for which the Mbuti competed were mates and food. I’ve already mentioned a case of two women who fought over a man, <sup id="fnref:199"><a href="#fn:199" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">199</a></sup> and quarreling over food apparently was common. <sup id="fnref:200"><a href="#fn:200" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">200</a></sup> It’s worth noting that Turnbull, in his early work, described the Mbuti as “individualists.” <sup id="fnref:201"><a href="#fn:201" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">201</a></sup> There is abundant evidence of competitiveness and/or individualism among other primitive peoples. The Nuer (African pastoralists), the pagan Germanic tribes, the Carib Indians, the Siriono (who lived mainly by hunting and gathering), the Navajo, the Apaches, the Plains Indians, and North American Indians generally have all been described explicitly as “individualistic.” <sup id="fnref:202"><a href="#fn:202" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">202</a></sup> But “individualism” is a vague word that may mean different things to different people, so it’s more helpful to look at definite facts that have been reported. Some of the works that I cite in Note 202 do back up with facts their application of the term “individualistic” to the peoples mentioned. Holmberg writes:</p> <p>“When an Indian [Siriono] has reached adulthood he displays an individualism and apathy toward his fellows that is remarkable. The apparent unconcern of one individual for another-even within the family-never ceased to amaze me while I was living with the Siriono. Frequently men would depart for the hunt alone-without so much as a goodbye-and remain away from the band for weeks at a time without any concern on the part of their fellow tribesmen or even their wives&hellip;.”. “Unconcern with one’s fellows is manifested on every hand. On one occasion Ekwataia went hunting. On his return darkness overcame him about five hundred yards from camp. The night was black as ink, and Ekwataia lost his way. He began to call for help-for someone to bring him fire or to guide him into camp by calls. No one paid heed to his request. After about half an hour, his cries ceased, and his sister Seaci, said: ‘A jaguar probably got him’. When Ekwataia returned the following morning, he told me that he had spent the night sitting on the branch of a tree to avoid being eaten by jaguars.” <sup id="fnref:203"><a href="#fn:203" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">203</a></sup> Holmberg repeatedly remarks on the uncooperative character of the Siriono, and says that those of them who became disabled by age or sickness were simply abandoned by the others. <sup id="fnref:204"><a href="#fn:204" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">204</a></sup> Among other primitive peoples, individualism takes other forms. For example, among most of the North American Indians, warfare was a decidedly individualistic enterprise. “The Indians, being highly individualistic and often fighting more for personal glory than group advantage, never developed a science of warfare.” <sup id="fnref:205"><a href="#fn:205" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">205</a></sup> According to the Cheyenne Indian Wooden Leg: “When any battle actually began it was a case of every man for himself. There were no ordered groupings, no systematic movements in concert, no compulsory goings and comings. Warriors mingled indiscriminately, every one looked out for himself only, or each helped a friend if such help were needed and if the able one’s personal inclination just then was toward friendly helpfulness. The Sioux tribes fought their battles as a band of individuals, the same as we fought ours, and the same as was the way of all Indians I ever knew.” <sup id="fnref:206"><a href="#fn:206" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">206</a></sup></p> @@ -270,12 +284,16 @@ <p>Why “community”? Because of course “community” was a goody-goody word, the kind of word that a kid would use to get brownie points with a teacher. Would any kid in a similar situation have answered “United States of Competition” or “United States of Individualism”? Not likely!</p> <p>It is routinely taken for granted that words like “community,” “cooperation,” “helping,” and “sharing” represent something positive, but “individualism” is seldom used in the mainstream media or in the educational system in an unequivocally positive sense. “Competition” is more often used in a positive sense, but typically it us used that way only in specific contexts in which competition is useful (or at least harmless) to the system. For example, competition is considered desirable in the business word because it weeds out inefficient companies, spurs other companies to become more efficient, and promotes economic and technological progress. But only leashed competition — that is, competition that abides by rules designed to make it harmless or useful — is commonly spoken of favorably. And, when treated in a positive sense, competition is always justified in terms of communitarian values. Thus, business competition is considered good because it promotes efficiency and progress, which supposedly are good for the community as a whole. “Independence,” too, is a “good” word only when used in certain ways. For example, when one speaks of making disabled people “independent” one never thinks of making them independent of the system. One means only that they are to be provided with gainful employment so that the community will not be burdened with the cost of supporting them. Once they have found a job they are every bit as dependent on the system as they were when they lived on welfare, and they have a great deal less freedom to decide how to spend their time. So why do politically-correct anthropologists and others like them contrast the supposedly primitive values of “community,” “cooperation,” “sharing,” and “interdependence” with what they claim are the modern values of “competition,” “individualism” and “independence”? Certainly an important part of the answer is that politically-correct people have absorbed too well the values that the system’s propaganda has taught them, including the values of “cooperation,” “community,” “helping,” and so forth. Another value they have absorbed from propaganda is that of “tolerance,” which in cross-cultural contexts tends to translate into condescending approval of non-Western cultures. A well-socialized modern anthropologist is therefore faced with a conflict: Since he is supposed to be tolerant, he finds it difficult to say anything bad about primitive cultures. But primitive cultures provide abundant examples of behavior that is decidedly bad from the point of view of modern Western values. So the anthropologist has to censor much of the “bad” behavior out of his descriptions of primitive cultures in order to avoid showing them in a negative light. In addition, due to his own excessively thorough socialization, the politically-correct anthropologist has a need to rebel. <sup id="fnref:252"><a href="#fn:252" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">252</a></sup> He is too well socialized to discard the fundamental values of modern society, so he expresses his hostility toward that society by distorting facts to make it seem that modern society deviates from its own stated values to a much greater extent than it actually does. Thus the anthropologist ends by magnifying the competitive and individualistic aspects of modern society while grossly understating these aspects of primitive societies.</p> <p>There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand fully the psychology of these people. It seems obvious, for example, that the politically-correct portrayal of hunter-gatherers is motivated in part by an impulse to construct an image of a pure and innocent world existing at the dawn of time, analogous to the Garden of Eden, but the basis of this impulse is not clear to me.</p> -<p>8 What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> +<h3 id="8">8. <a class="anchor" href="#8"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> <p>“The youngster had speared [the sindula] with his first thrust, pinning the animal to the ground through the fleshy part of the stomach. But the animal was still very much alive, fighting for freedom. Maipe put another spear into its neck, but it still writhed and fought. Not until a third spear pierced its heart did it give up the struggle&hellip;</p> <p>“The pygmies stood around in an excited group, pointing at the dying animal and laughing. One boy, about nine years old, threw himself on the ground and curled up in a grotesque heap and imitated the sindula’s last convulsions&hellip;</p> <p>“At other times I have seen Pygmies singeing feathers off birds that were still alive, explaining that the meat is more tender if death comes slowly. And the hunting dogs, valuable as they are, get kicked around mercilessly from the day they are born to the day they die.” <sup id="fnref:262"><a href="#fn:262" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">262</a></sup></p> <p>A few years later, in Wayward Servants, Turnbull wrote: “The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence. The fun that is sometimes subsequently made of the dead animal, particularly by the youths, appears to be almost a nervous reaction, and there is an element of fear in their behavior. On the other hand, a bird caught alive may deliberately be toyed with, its feathers singed off over the fire while it is still fluttering and squawking until it is finally burned or suffocated to death. This again is usually done by the youths who take the same nervous pleasure in the act; very rarely a young hunter may absent-mindedly [^!?] do the same thing. Older hunters and elders generally disapprove, but do not interfere.”; “The respect seems to be not for animal life but for the game as a gift of the forest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:263"><a href="#fn:263" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">263</a></sup> This does not seem entirely consistent with what Turnbull reported earlier in The Forest People. Maybe Turnbull was already beginning to swing toward political correctness when he wrote Wayward Servants. But even if we take the statements of Wayward Servants at face value, the fact remains that the Mbuti did treat animals with unnecessary cruelty, whether or not they felt “compassion and reverence” for them. If the Mbuti did have compassion for animals, they were probably exceptional in that regard. Hunter-gatherers seem typically to be callous toward animals. The Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived kicked and beat their dogs brutally. <sup id="fnref:264"><a href="#fn:264" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">264</a></sup> The Siriono sometimes captured young animals alive and brought them back to camp, but they gave them nothing to eat, and the animals were treated so roughly by the children that they soon died. <sup id="fnref:265"><a href="#fn:265" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">265</a></sup> It should be noted that many hunting-and-gathering peoples did have a sense of reverence for or closeness to wild animals. I’ve already quoted Colin Turnbull’s statement to that effect in the case of the Mbuti. Coon states that “it is virtually a standard rule among hunters that they should never mock or otherwise insult any wild creature whose life they have brought to an end.” <sup id="fnref:266"><a href="#fn:266" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">266</a></sup> (As the passages I’ve quoted from Turnbull show, there were exceptions to this “standard rule”.) Venturing into speculation, Coon adds that “hunters sense the unity of nature and the combination of humility and responsibility of their role in it.” <sup id="fnref:267"><a href="#fn:267" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">267</a></sup> Wissler describes the closeness to and reverence toward nature (including wild animals) of the North American Indians. <sup id="fnref:268"><a href="#fn:268" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">268</a></sup> Holmberg mentions the Siriono’s “bonds” and “kinship” with the animal world. <sup id="fnref:269"><a href="#fn:269" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">269</a></sup> But, as we’ve already seen, these “bonds” and this “kinship” did not prevent physical cruelty to animals. Clearly, animal-rights activists would be horrified at the way hunter-gatherers often treated animals. For people who look to hunting and gathering cultures as their social ideal, it therefore makes no sense to maintain alliances with the animal-rights movement.</p> -<p>9 To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="9">9. <a class="anchor" href="#9"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> <p>The publisher of the anarchoprimitivist “zine” Species Traitor stated in a letter to me that in hunter-gatherer cultures “people had no property.” <sup id="fnref:280"><a href="#fn:280" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">280</a></sup> This is not true. Various forms of private property did exist among hunter-gatherers — and not only among sedentary ones like the Northwest Coast Indians. It is well known that most hunting-and-gathering peoples had collective property in land. That is, each band of 30 to 130 people owned the territory in which it lived. Coon provides an extended discussion of this. <sup id="fnref:281"><a href="#fn:281" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">281</a></sup> It is less well known that hunter-gatherers, even nomadic ones, could also hold rights to natural resources as individual property, and in some cases such rights could even be inherited. <sup id="fnref:282"><a href="#fn:282" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">282</a></sup> For example, among Mrs. Thomas’s Bushmen: “Each group has a very specific territory which that group alone may use, and they respect their boundaries rigidly. If a person is born in a certain area he or she has a right to eat the melons that grow there and all the veld food. A man may eat the melons wherever his wife can and wherever his father and mother could, so that every Bushman has in this way some kind of rights in many places. Gai, for example, ate melons at Ai a ha’o because his wife’s mother was born there, as well as at his own birthplace, the Okwa Omaramba.” <sup id="fnref:283"><a href="#fn:283" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">283</a></sup></p> <p>Arnong the Veddas (hunter-gatherers of Ceylon), “the band territory was subdivided for individual band members, who could pass their property on to their children.” <sup id="fnref:284"><a href="#fn:284" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">284</a></sup> Arnong certain Australian Aborigines there existed a system of inherited rights to goods obtained in trade for stones extracted from a quarry. <sup id="fnref:285"><a href="#fn:285" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">285</a></sup> Among some other Australian Aborigines, certain fruit trees were privately owned. <sup id="fnref:286"><a href="#fn:286" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">286</a></sup> The Mbuti used termites as food, and among them termite hills could be owned by individuals. <sup id="fnref:287"><a href="#fn:287" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">287</a></sup> Portable items such as tools, clothing, and ornaments usually were owned by individual hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:288"><a href="#fn:288" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">288</a></sup></p> <p>Turnbull mentions the argument of one W. Nippold to the effect that hunter-gatherers, including the Mbuti, had a highly developed sense of private property. Turnbull counters that this is “debatable point, and largely a semantic problem.” <sup id="fnref:289"><a href="#fn:289" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">289</a></sup> Here there is is no need for us to split hairs about what does and what does not constitute private property, or what would be a “highly developed sense” of it. Suffice it to say that the unqualified belief that hunter-gatherers did not have private property is only another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth. It’s important to note, however, that nomadic hunter-gatherers did not accumulate property to the extent of being able to use their wealth to dominate other people. <sup id="fnref:290"><a href="#fn:290" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">290</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer ordinarily had to carry all of his property on his own back whenever he shifted camp, or at best he had to carry it in a canoe or on a dog-sled or travois. <sup id="fnref:291"><a href="#fn:291" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">291</a></sup> By any of these means only a limited amount of property can be transported, hence an upper bound is imposed on the amount of property that a nomad can usefully accumulate.</p> @@ -288,12 +306,14 @@ <p>Turnbull also states that “in the view of mammalogists such as Van Gelder the [Mbuti] hunters are indeed the finest conservationists any conservation-minded government could wish for.” <sup id="fnref:307"><a href="#fn:307" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">307</a></sup> On the other hand, when Turnbull took an Mbuti named Kenge to visit a game preserve out on the plains, Kenge was told “that he would see more game than he had ever seen in the forest, but he was not to try and hunt any. Kenge could not understand this, because to his mind game is meant to be hunted.” <sup id="fnref:308"><a href="#fn:308" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">308</a></sup>. According to Coon, the ethic of the Tikerarmiut Eskimos forbade them to trap more than four wolves, wolverines, foxes, or marmots on any one day. However, this ethic quickly broke down when white traders arrived and tempted the Tikerarmiut with trade goods that they could obtain in exchange for the pelts of the animals named. <sup id="fnref:309"><a href="#fn:309" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">309</a></sup></p> <p>As soon as they acquired steel axes, the Siriono began destroying the wild fruit trees of their region because it was easier to harvest the fruit by cutting the tree down than by climbing it. <sup id="fnref:310"><a href="#fn:310" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">310</a></sup></p> <p>It is well known that some hunter-gatherers intentionally set wildfires because they knew that burned-over land would produce more of the edible plants that they favored. <sup id="fnref:311"><a href="#fn:311" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">311</a></sup> I consider this practice recklessly destructive. It is believed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers, through over-hunting, caused or at least contributed to the extinction of some species of large mammals, <sup id="fnref:312"><a href="#fn:312" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">312</a></sup> though as far as I know this has never been definitely proved. The foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the question of conservation versus environmental recklessness on the part of hunter-gatherers. It’s a question that deserves thorough investigation.</p> -<p>10 I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> +<h3 id="10">10. <a class="anchor" href="#10"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> <p>One is reminded of the response of fundamentalist Christians to any rational attack on their beliefs. Whatever facts one may point out, the fundamentalist will always find some argument, however far-fetched, to explain them away and justify his belief in the literal, word-for-word truth of the Bible. Actually, there is about anarchoprimitivism a distinct flavor of early Christianity. The anarchoprimitivists’ hunting-and-gathering utopia corresponds to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived in ease and without sin (Genesis 2). The invention of agriculture and civilization corresponds to the Fall: Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:6), were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), and thereafter had to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow by tilling the soil (Genesis 3: 19,23). They moreover lost gender equality, since Eve became subordinate to her husband (Genesis 3:16). The revolution that anarchoprimitivists hope will overthrow civilization corresponds to the Day of Judgment, the day of destruction on which Babylon will fall (Revelation 18:2). The return to primitive utopia corresponds to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, wherein “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be.any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).</p> <p>Today’s activists who risk their bodies by engaging in masochistic resistance tactics, such as chaining themselves across roads to prevent the passage of logging trucks, correspond to the Christian martyrs-the true believers who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4). Veganism corresponds to the dietary restrictions of many religions, such as the Christian fast during Lent. Like anarchoprimitivists, the early Christians emphasized egalitarianism (“whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased”, Matthew 23:12) and sharing (“distribution was made unto every man according as he had need”, Acts 4:35). The psychological affinity between anarchoprimitivism and early Christianity does not augur well. As soon as the emperor Constantine gave the Christians an opportunity to become powerful they sold out, and ever since then Christianity, more often than not, has served as a prop for the established powers.</p> -<ol start="11"> -<li>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</li> -</ol> +<h3 id="11">11. <a class="anchor" href="#11"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</p> <p>Why does this matter? Because it shows that chronic stress, anxiety and frustration, depression, and so forth, are not inevitable parts of the human condition, but are disorders brought on by modern civilization. Nor is servitude an inevitable part of the human condition: The example of at least some nomadic hunter-gatherer shows that true freedom is possible. Even more important: Regardless of whether they were good conservationists or poor ones, primitive peoples were incapable of damaging their environment to anything remotely approaching the extent to which modern man is damaging his. Primitives simply didn’t have the power to do that much damage. They may have used fire recklessly and they may have exterminated some species through overhunting, but they had no way to dam large rivers, to cover thousands of square miles of the Earth’s surface with cities and pavement, or to produce the vast quantities of toxic chemicals and radioactive waste with which modern civilization threatens to ruin the world for good and all. Nor did primitives have any means of releasing the deadly-dangerous forces represented by genetic engineering and by the super-intelligent computers that may soon be developed. These are dangers that scare even the technophiles themselves. <sup id="fnref:313"><a href="#fn:313" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">313</a></sup> So I agree with the anarchoprimitivists that the advent of civilization was a great disaster and that the Industrial Revolution was an even greater one. I further agree that a revolution against modernity, and against civilization in general, is necessary. But you can’t build an effective revolutionary movement out of soft-headed dreamers, lazies, and charlatans. You have to have tough-minded, realistic, practical people, and people of that kind don’t need the anarchoprimitivists’ mushy utopian myth.</p> <h2 id="concluding-note">Concluding Note <a class="anchor" href="#concluding-note"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> diff --git a/new-site/public/library/hackbook/index.xml b/new-site/public/library/hackbook/index.xml index 80e2a686..94e6d09d 100644 --- a/new-site/public/library/hackbook/index.xml +++ b/new-site/public/library/hackbook/index.xml @@ -200,10 +200,14 @@ https://vodoraslo.xyz/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/ <h2 id="the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism">The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism <a class="anchor" href="#the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> -</a></h2><p>1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> +</a></h2><h3 id="1">1. <a class="anchor" href="#1"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> <p>The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation.</p> <p>Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality.</p> -<p>2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> +<h3 id="2">2. <a class="anchor" href="#2"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> <p>Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society <sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup>), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence <sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">3</a></sup>). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” <sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">4</a></sup> For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. <sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">5</a></sup> Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. <sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">6</a></sup></p> <p>In a part of his essay that many anarchoprimitivists have found convenient to overlook, Bob Black acknowledges the forty-hour work-week and explains the foregoing contradiction: Sahlins followed early work of Lee that considered only time spent in hunting and foraging. When all necessary work was considered, the work-week was more than doubled. <sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">7</a></sup> The work omitted from consideration by Sahlins and the anarchoprimitivists was probably the most disagreeable part of the Bushmen’s work-week, too, since it consisted largely of food-preparation and firewood collection. <sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">8</a></sup> I speak from extensive personal experience with wild foods: Preparing such foods for use is very often a pain in the neck. It is far more pleasant to gather nuts, dig roots, or hunt game than it is to crack nuts, clean roots, or skin and butcher game — or to collect firewood and cook over an open fire.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists also err in assuming that Lee’s findings can be applied to hunter-gatherers generally. It’s not even clear that those findings are applicable on a year-round basis to the Bushmen studied by Lee. Cashdan cites evidence that Lee’s research may have been done at the time of year when his Bushmen worked least. <sup id="fnref:9"><a href="#fn:9" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">9</a></sup> She also mentions two other hunting-and-gathering peoples who have been shown quantitatively to spend far more time in hunting and foraging than Lee’s Bushmen did, <sup id="fnref:10"><a href="#fn:10" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">10</a></sup> and she points out that Lee may have seriously underestimated women’s working time because he failed to include time spent on childcare. <sup id="fnref:11"><a href="#fn:11" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">11</a></sup></p> @@ -220,7 +224,9 @@ <p>However, I have not been trying to prove that primitive man was less fortunate in his working life than modern man is. In my opinion the contrary was true. Probably at least some nomadic hunter-gatherers had more leisure time than modern employed Americans do. It’s true that the roughly forty-hour work-week of Richard Lee’s Bushmen was about equal to the standard American work-week. But modern Americans are burdened with many demands on their time outside their hours of employment. I myself, when working at a forty-hour job, have generally felt busy: I’ve had to shop for groceries, go to the bank, do the laundry, fill out income-tax forms, take the car in for maintenance, get a haircut, go to the dentist &hellip;there was always something that needed to be done. Many of the people I now correspond with likewise complain of being busy. In contrast, the male Bushman’s time was genuinely his own outside of his working hours; he could spend his non-working time as he pleased. Bushman women of reproductive age may have had much less leisure time because, like women of all societies, they were burdened with the care of small children.</p> <p>But leisure is a modern concept, and the emphasis that anarchoprimitivists put on it is evidence of their servitude to the values of the civilization that they claim to reject. The amount of time expended in work is not what matters. Many authors have discussed what is wrong with work in modern society, and I see no reason to go over that ground again. What does matter is that, apart from monotony, what is wrong with work in modern society is not wrong with the work of nomadic hunter-gatherers. The hunter-gatherer’s work is challenging, both in terms of physical effort and in terms of the level of skill required. <sup id="fnref:40"><a href="#fn:40" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">40</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer’s work is purposeful, and its purpose is not abstract, remote, or artificial but concrete, very real, and directly important to the worker: He works to satisfy the physical needs of himself, his family, and other people to whom he is personally close. Above all, the nomadic hunter-gatherer is a free worker: He is not exploited, he is subservient to no boss, no one gives him orders; <sup id="fnref:41"><a href="#fn:41" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">41</a></sup> he designs is own work-day, if not as an individual then as a member of a group that is small enough so that every individual can participate meaningfully in the decisions that are made <sup id="fnref:42"><a href="#fn:42" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">42</a></sup>. Modern jobs tend to be psychologically stressful, but there are reasons to believe that primitive people’s work typically involved little psychological stress. <sup id="fnref:43"><a href="#fn:43" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">43</a></sup> Hunter-gatherers’ work often monotonous, but it is my view that monotony generally causes primitive people relatively little discomfort. Boredom, I think, is largely a civilized phenomenon and is a product of psychological stresses that are characteristic of civilized life. This admittedly is a matter of personal opinion, I can ‘t prove it, and a discussion of it would take us beyond the scope of this article. Here I will only say that my opinion is based largely on my own experience of living outside the technoindustrial system. How hunter-gatherers felt about their own work is difficult to say, since anthropologists and others who visited primitive peoples (at least those whose reports I’ve read) usually do not seem to have asked such questions. But the following from Holmberg’s worth noting: “They are relatively apathetic to work (taba taba), which includes such distasteful tasks as housebuilding, gathering firewood, clearing, planting, and tilling of fields. In quite a different class, however, are such pleasant occupations as hunting (gwata gwata) and collecting (deka deka, ‘to look for’), which are regarded more as diversions than as work.” <sup id="fnref:44"><a href="#fn:44" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">44</a></sup></p> <p>This despite the fact that, as we saw earlier, the Siriono’s hunting and collecting activities were exceedingly time-consuming, fatiguing, strenuous, and physically demanding.</p> -<p>3 Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> +<h3 id="3">3. <a class="anchor" href="#3"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> <p>Well, maybe not. Look at some of the facts that Bonvillain herself offers in the same book: “Most leaders and camp spokespersons are men. Although women and men participate in group discussions and decision making, &hellip;men’s talk in discussions involving both genders amounts to about two-thirds of the total.” <sup id="fnref:51"><a href="#fn:51" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">51</a></sup></p> <p>Much worse are the forced marriages of girls in their early teens to men much older than themselves. <sup id="fnref:52"><a href="#fn:52" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">52</a></sup> It’s true that practices that seem cruel to us may not be experienced as cruel by people of other cultures on whom they are imposed. But Bonvillain quotes words of a Bushman woman that show that at least some girls did experience their forced marriages as cruel: “I cried and cried”; <sup id="fnref:53"><a href="#fn:53" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">53</a></sup> “I ran away again and again. A part of my heart kept thinking: ‘how come I’m a child and have taken a husband?’” <sup id="fnref:54"><a href="#fn:54" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">54</a></sup> Moreover, “because seniority confers prestige&hellip;, the greater age, experience, and maturity of husbands may make wives socially, if not personally, subordinate.” <sup id="fnref:55"><a href="#fn:55" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">55</a></sup> Thus, while the Dobe Bushmen no doubt had some of the elements of gender equality, one would have to stretch a point pretty far to claim that they had full gender equality. On the basis of his personal experience, Colin Turnbull stated that among the Mbuti pygmies of Africa, a “woman is in no way the social inferior of a man,” <sup id="fnref:56"><a href="#fn:56" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">56</a></sup> and that “the woman is not discriminated against. <sup id="fnref:57"><a href="#fn:57" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">57</a></sup> That sounds like gender equality &hellip;until you look at the concrete facts that Turnbull himself offers in the very same books: “ A certain amount of wife-beating is considered good, and the wife is expected to fight back; <sup id="fnref:58"><a href="#fn:58" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">58</a></sup> “He said that he was very content with his wife, and he had not found it necessary to beat her at all often,” <sup id="fnref:59"><a href="#fn:59" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">59</a></sup>; Man throws wife to the ground and slaps her; <sup id="fnref:60"><a href="#fn:60" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">60</a></sup> Husband beats wife; <sup id="fnref:61"><a href="#fn:61" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">61</a></sup> Man beats sister; <sup id="fnref:62"><a href="#fn:62" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">62</a></sup> Kenge beats his sister; <sup id="fnref:63"><a href="#fn:63" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">63</a></sup> “Perhaps he should have beaten her harder, Tungana [an old man] said, for some girls like being beaten,” <sup id="fnref:64"><a href="#fn:64" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">64</a></sup>; “Amabosu countered by smacking her firmly across the face. Normally Ekianga would have approved of such manly assertion of authority over a disloyal wife.” <sup id="fnref:65"><a href="#fn:65" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">65</a></sup> Turnbull mentions two instances of men giving orders to their wives. <sup id="fnref:66"><a href="#fn:66" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">66</a></sup> I have not found any instance in Turnbull’ s books of wives giving orders to their husbands. Pipestem obtained by wife is referred to as husband’s property. <sup id="fnref:67"><a href="#fn:67" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">67</a></sup> “[A boy] has to have [a girl’s] permission before intercourse can take place. The men say that once they lie down with a girl, however, if they want her they take her by surprise, when petting her, and force her to their will.” <sup id="fnref:68"><a href="#fn:68" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">68</a></sup> Nowadays we would call that “date rape”, and the young man involved would risk a long prison sentence.</p> <p>For the sake of balance, let’s note that Turnbull found among the Mbuti no instance of what we would call “street rape” as opposed to “date rape”; <sup id="fnref:69"><a href="#fn:69" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">69</a></sup> husbands were not supposed to hit their wives on the head or in the face; <sup id="fnref:70"><a href="#fn:70" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">70</a></sup> and in at least one case in which a man took to beating his wife too frequently and severly, his campmates eventually found means to end the abuse without the use of force and without overt interference. <sup id="fnref:71"><a href="#fn:71" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">71</a></sup> It should also be borne in mind that the significance of a beating depends on the cultural context. In our society it is a great humiliation to be struck by another person, especially by one who is bigger and stronger than oneself. But since blows were commonplace among the Mbuti, <sup id="fnref:72"><a href="#fn:72" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">72</a></sup> it is probably safe to assume that they were not felt as particularly humiliating . Nevertheless it is quite clear that some degree of male dominance was present among the Mbuti. Among the Siriono: “A woman is subservient to her husband”; <sup id="fnref:73"><a href="#fn:73" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">73</a></sup> “The extended family is generally dominated by the oldest active male”; <sup id="fnref:74"><a href="#fn:74" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">74</a></sup> “[Women] are dominated by the men”; <sup id="fnref:75"><a href="#fn:75" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">75</a></sup> “If a man is out in the forest alone with a woman, &hellip;he may throw her to the ground roughly and take his prize [sex] without so much as saying a word”; <sup id="fnref:76"><a href="#fn:76" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">76</a></sup> Parents definitely preferred to have male children; <sup id="fnref:77"><a href="#fn:77" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">77</a></sup> “Although the title ererekwa is reserved by the men for a chief, it one asks a woman: ‘who is your ererekwa?’ she will invariably reply: ‘my husband’.” <sup id="fnref:78"><a href="#fn:78" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">78</a></sup> On the other hand, the Siriono never beat their wives, <sup id="fnref:79"><a href="#fn:79" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">79</a></sup> and “Women enjoy about the same privileges as men. They get as much or more food to eat, and they enjoy the same sexual freedom.” <sup id="fnref:80"><a href="#fn:80" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">80</a></sup> According to Bonvillain, Eskimo men “dominate their wives and daughters. Men’s dominance is not total, however&hellip;&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:81"><a href="#fn:81" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">81</a></sup> She describes gender relations among the Eskimos in some detail, <sup id="fnref:82"><a href="#fn:82" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">82</a></sup> which may or may not be slanted to reflect her feminist ideology.</p> @@ -228,11 +234,15 @@ <p>Although there was “real harmony and mutual understanding in most Aboriginal families”, wife-beating was practiced. <sup id="fnref:95"><a href="#fn:95" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">95</a></sup> According to A. P. Elkin, under some circumstances-for example, on certain ceremonial occasions-women had to submit to compulsory sex, which “implies that woman is but an object to be used in certain socially established ways.” <sup id="fnref:96"><a href="#fn:96" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">96</a></sup> The women, says Elkin, “may often not object,” <sup id="fnref:97"><a href="#fn:97" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">97</a></sup> but: “They sometimes live in terror of the use which is made of them at some ceremonial times.” <sup id="fnref:98"><a href="#fn:98" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">98</a></sup> Of course, no claim is made here that all of the foregoing conditions prevailed in all parts of aboriginal Australia. Culture was not uniform across the continent. Coon says that the Australians were nomadic, but he also states that in parts of southeastern Australia, namely “The better-watered parts, particularly Victoria and the Murray River country”, the aborigines were “relatively sedentary.” <sup id="fnref:99"><a href="#fn:99" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">99</a></sup> According to Massola, in the drier parts of southeastern Australia the aborigines had to cover long distances between fast-drying wells in times of drought. <sup id="fnref:100"><a href="#fn:100" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">100</a></sup> This corresponds with the high degree of nomadism described for other arid parts of Australia, where “Aboigines moved from waterhole to waterhole along well-defined tracks in small family groups. The whole camp moved and rarely established bases.” <sup id="fnref:101"><a href="#fn:101" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">101</a></sup> In stating that in “the better-watered parts” the aborigines were “relatively sedentary”, Coon doubtless means that “in fertile regions there were well-established camping areas, close to water, where people always camped at certain times of year. Camps were bases from which people made forays into the surrounding bush for food, returning in the late afternoon or spending a few days away.” <sup id="fnref:102"><a href="#fn:102" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">102</a></sup> Coon says that in part of the well-watered Murray River country each territorial clan had a headman and a council consisting mainly of men, though in a few cases women were also elected to the council; whereas, farther to the north and west, there was little formal leadership and “control over the women and younger males was shared between” the men aged from thirty to fifty. <sup id="fnref:103"><a href="#fn:103" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">103</a></sup> Thus Australian women had very little overt political power. Yet, as among Poncins’s Eskimos, certainly in our society, and probably in every society, the women often exercised great influence their menfolk <sup id="fnref:104"><a href="#fn:104" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">104</a></sup>.</p> <p>The Tasmanians also were nomadic hunter-gatherers (though some were “relatively sedentary”), <sup id="fnref:105"><a href="#fn:105" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">105</a></sup> and it’s not clear that they treated women any better than the Australians did. “In one account we are told that a band living near Hobart Town before the colonists’ arrival was raided by neighbors who killed the men who tried to stop them and took away their women. And there are other accounts of individual cases of marriage by capture. Sometimes when a man from a neighboring band had the right to marry a girl, but neither she nor her parents liked him, it is said that they killed the girl rather than give her up”; <sup id="fnref:106"><a href="#fn:106" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">106</a></sup> “The other tribes considered [a certain tribe] cowards, and raided them to steal their women”; <sup id="fnref:107"><a href="#fn:107" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">107</a></sup> “Woorrady raped and killed a sister-in-law.” <sup id="fnref:108"><a href="#fn:108" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">108</a></sup></p> <p>Here I should make clear that it is not my intention to argue against gender equality. I myself am enough a product of modern industrial society to feel that women and men should have equal status. My purpose at this point is simply to exhibit the facts concerning the relations between the sexes in hunting-and-gathering societies.</p> -<p>4 There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="4">4. <a class="anchor" href="#4"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> <p>Though some of Gontran de Poncins’s Eskimos were “purer” than others, <sup id="fnref:127"><a href="#fn:127" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">127</a></sup> it appears that all of them had at least some trade goods from the whites. If any reader cares to take the trouble to track down the earliest primary sources — perhaps some of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s work — so as to approach as closely as possible to an original and “pure” Eskimo culture, I would be interested to hear of his or her findings. But it is possible that even long before European contact the Eskimos’ culture may have been affected by something that they received from a non-hunting society; for their sled dogs may not have originated with hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:128"><a href="#fn:128" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">128</a></sup></p> <p>With the Siriono we come closer to purity than we do with the Bushmen, the Mbuti, or Poncins’s Eskimos. The Siriono did not even have dogs, <sup id="fnref:129"><a href="#fn:129" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">129</a></sup> and even though they cultivated crops to a limited extent anthropologists regarded their culture as Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). <sup id="fnref:130"><a href="#fn:130" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">130</a></sup> Some of the Siriono studied by Holmberg had had little or no contact with whites prior to Holmberg’s arrival <sup id="fnref:131"><a href="#fn:131" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">131</a></sup> and, among those Siriono, European tools were rarely encountered <sup id="fnref:132"><a href="#fn:132" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">132</a></sup> until Holmberg himself introduced them. <sup id="fnref:133"><a href="#fn:133" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">133</a></sup> Instead, the Siriono made their tools of naturally-occurring local materials.<sup id="fnref:134"><a href="#fn:134" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">134</a></sup> The Siriono moreover were so primitive that they could not count beyond three. <sup id="fnref:135"><a href="#fn:135" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">135</a></sup> Nevertheless, Siriono culture might have been affected by contact with more “advanced” societies, since Holmberg thought the Siriono were “probably a remnant of an ancient population that was exterminated, absorbed, or engulfed by more civilized invaders.” <sup id="fnref:136"><a href="#fn:136" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">136</a></sup> Lauriston Sharp even suggested that the Siriono might have “degenerated” [sic] “from a more advanced technical condition,” though Holmberg rejected this view and Sharp himself considered it “irrelevant.” <sup id="fnref:137"><a href="#fn:137" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">137</a></sup> In addition, the Siriono might have been affected indirectly by European civilization, since probably at least some of the diseases from which they suffered, e.g., malaria, had been brought to the Americas by Europeans. <sup id="fnref:138"><a href="#fn:138" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">138</a></sup> It’s not surprising that most of the hunter-gatherers I’ve mentioned here — like those cited by the anarchoprimitivists and the politically-correct anthropologists — were affected by direct or indirect contact with agricultural or pastoral peoples even long before their first contact with Europeans, because outside of Australia, Tasmania, and the far west and north of North America “populations which remained faithful to the old hunter-gatherer way of live were small and scattered.” <sup id="fnref:139"><a href="#fn:139" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">139</a></sup> Consequently, with the possible exception of some who lived on small islands, they necessarily had some form of contact with surrounding non-hunter-gatherer populations.</p> <p>Probably the Australian Aborigines and the Tasmanians were the hunter-gatherers who were purest when Europeans first found them. Australia was the only continent that was inhabited exclusively by hunter-gatherers until the white man’s arrival, and Tasmania, an island just to the south of Australia, was even more isolated. But Tasmania may have been visited by Polynesians, and in the north of Australia there was some limited contact with people from Indonesia and New Guinea prior to the arrival of Europeans. <sup id="fnref:140"><a href="#fn:140" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">140</a></sup> Still earlier contact with outsiders, who mayor may not have been hunter-gatherers, is probable. <sup id="fnref:141"><a href="#fn:141" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">141</a></sup> Thus we have no conclusive proof that hunter-gatherer cultures that survived into recent times had not been seriously affected by contact with non-hunter-gatherers by the time the first descriptions of them were written. Consequently, more or less uncertainty is involved in using reports on recent hunter-gatherer societies to draw conclusions about gender relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. And any conclusions drawn from archaeological remains about the social relationships between men and women can only be highly speculative. So, if you like, you can reject all evidence from descriptions of recent hunter-gatherer cultures, and in that case we know almost nothing about the gender relations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Or (with the necessary reservations) you can accept the evidence from recent hunter-gatherer societies, and in that case the evidence clearly points to a significant degree of male dominance. In either case, there is no evidence to support the anarchoprimitivists’ belief that all or most human societies had full gender equality prior to the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some ten thousand years ago.</p> -<p>5 Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> +<h3 id="5">5. <a class="anchor" href="#5"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists, and many politically-correct anthropologists, cite any evidence they can find that hunter-gatherers had gender equality, while systematically ignoring the abundant evidence of gender inequality found in eyewitness reports of hunter-gatherer cultures. For example, the anthropologist Haviland, in his textbook Cultural Anthropology, states that an “important characteristic of the food-foraging [hunther-gatherer] society is its egalitarianism.” <sup id="fnref:142"><a href="#fn:142" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">142</a></sup> He acknowledges that the two sexes may have had different status in such societies, but claims that “status differences by themselves do not imply any necessary inequality”, and that in “traditional food-foraging societies, nothing necessitated special deference of women to men.” <sup id="fnref:143"><a href="#fn:143" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">143</a></sup> If you check the pages listed in Haviland’s index for the entries “Bushmen”, “Ju/’hoansi” (another name for the Dobe Bushmen), “Eskimo”, “Inuit” (another name for Eskimos), “Mbuti”, “Tasma-nian”, “Australian”, and “Aborigine” (the Siriono are not listed in the index), you will find no mention of wife-beating, forced marriage, forced sexual intercourse, or any of the other indications of male dominance that I’ve cited above. Haviland does not deny that these things occurred. He does not claim, for example, that Turnbull merely invented his stories of wife-beating among the Mbuti, or that such-and-such evidence shows that Australian Aboriginal women were not subjected to involuntary sex before the arrival of Europeans. He simply ignores these issues, as if they didn’t exist. And it’s not that Haviland isn’t aware of the issues. For example, he quotes from A. P. Elkin’s book, The Australian Aborigines, <sup id="fnref:144"><a href="#fn:144" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">144</a></sup> an indication that he not only is familiar with the book but considers it a reliable source of information. Yet Elkin’s book, which I cited earlier, provides ample evidence of Australian Aboriginal men’s tyranny over their women <sup id="fnref:145"><a href="#fn:145" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">145</a></sup> — evidence that Haviland fails to mention. It’s pretty clear what is going on: Equality of the sexes is a fundamental tenet of the mainstream ideology of modern society. As highly-socialized members of that society, politically-correct anthropologists believe in the principle of gender equality with something akin to religious conviction, and they feel a need to give us little moral lessons by holding up for our admiration examples of the gender equality that supposedly prevailed when the human race was in a pristine and unspoiled state. This portrayal of primitive cultures is driven by the anthropologists’ own need to reaffirm their faith, and has nothing to do with an honest search for truth.</p> <p>To take another example, I’ve written to John Zerzan four times inviting him to back up his claims about gender equality among hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:146"><a href="#fn:146" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">146</a></sup> The answers he gave me were vague and evasive. <sup id="fnref:147"><a href="#fn:147" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">147</a></sup> I would gladly publish here Zerzan’s letters to me on this subject so that the reader could judge them for himself. However, I wrote to Zerzan requesting permission to publish his letters, and he denied me that permission. <sup id="fnref:148"><a href="#fn:148" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">148</a></sup> With his letters he sent me photocopies of pages from a few books that contained vague, general statements ostensibly supporting his claims about gender equality; for instance, this statement by John E Pfeiffer, who is neither a specialist nor an eyewitness of primitive behavior, but a popularizer: “For reasons unknown sexism arrived with settling and farming, with the emergence of complex society.” <sup id="fnref:149"><a href="#fn:149" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">149</a></sup></p> <p>Zerzan also sent me a photocopy of a page from Bonvillain’s book containing the following statement: “In foraging band [hunter-gatherer] societies, the potential for gender equality is perhaps the greatest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:150"><a href="#fn:150" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">150</a></sup> But Zerzan did not include copies of the pages on which Bonvillain said that male dominance was evident in some hunter-gatherer societies such as that of the Eskimos, or the pages on which she gave information that cast gave doubt on her own claim of gender equality among the Dobe Bushmen, as I discussed above.</p> @@ -244,13 +254,17 @@ <p>It’s worth noting that Zerzan apparently believes that our ancestors were capable of mental telepathy. <sup id="fnref:162"><a href="#fn:162" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">162</a></sup> But particularly revealing is Zerzan’ s quotation of “Shanks and Tilley”: “The point of archaeology is not merely to interpret the past but to change the manner in which the past is interpreted in the service of social reconstruction in the present.” <sup id="fnref:163"><a href="#fn:163" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">163</a></sup> This is virtually open advocacy of the proposition that archaeologists should slant their findings for political purposes. What better evidence could there be of the massive politicization that has taken place in American anthropology over the last 35 or 40 years? In view of this politicization, anything in recent anthropological literature that portrays primitive peoples’ behavior as politically correct must be viewed with the utmost skepticism.</p> <p>After citing to Zerzan some of the examples of gender inequality that I’ve discussed above, I questioned his honesty on the ground that he had “systematically excluded nearly all of the evidence that undercuts the idealized picture of hunter-gatherer societies” that he wanted to present. <sup id="fnref:164"><a href="#fn:164" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">164</a></sup> Zerzan answered that he “did not find many credible sources that contradicted his outlook. <sup id="fnref:165"><a href="#fn:165" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">165</a></sup> This statement strains credulity. Some of the examples that I cited to Zerzan (and have discussed above) were from books on which he himself had relied-those of Bonvillain and Turnbull. <sup id="fnref:166"><a href="#fn:166" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">166</a></sup> Yet he somehow managed to overlook all of the evidence in those books that contradicted his claims. Since Zerzan has read widely about hunter-gatherer societies, and the Australian Aborigines are among the best-known hunter-gatherers, I find it very difficult to believe that he has never come across any accounts of the Australians’ mistreatment of women. Yet he never mentions such accounts-not even for the purpose of refuting them.</p> <p>One does not necessarily have to assume any conscious dishonesty on Zerzan’s part. As Nietzsche said, “The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.” <sup id="fnref:167"><a href="#fn:167" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">167</a></sup> In other words, self-deception often precedes deception of others. An important factor here may be one that is well known to professional propagandists: people tend to block out — to fail to perceive or to remember — information that they find uncongenial<sup id="fnref:168"><a href="#fn:168" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">168</a></sup>. Since information that discredits one’s ideology is highly uncongenial, it follows that people will tend to block out such information. A young anarchoprimitivist with whom I’ve corresponded has provided me with an amazing example of this phenomenon. He wrote to me: “there is no question about the persistence [sic] of patriarchy in all other oceanic societies, but none seems apparent in the [Australian] Aborigines — According to A. P. Elkin’s The Australian Aborigines wives were not held in a restrictive marriage at all.” <sup id="fnref:169"><a href="#fn:169" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">169</a></sup> It was apparent that my anarchoprimitivist friend had read Elkin’s discussion of women’s position in Australian Aboriginal society. I’ve cited above some of the relevant pages of Elkin’s book, such as those on which he states that Australian Aboriginal women sometimes lived in terror of the compulsory sex to which they were subjected at some ceremonial times. Any reasonably rational person who will take the trouble to read those pages <sup id="fnref:170"><a href="#fn:170" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">170</a></sup> will find himself hard-pressed to explain how my anarchoprimitivist friend could have read that material and then claimed in all seriousness that no patriarchy seemed apparent in Australian Aboriginal society — unless my friend simply blocked out of his mind the information that he found ideologically unacceptable. My friend did not question the accuracy of Elkin I s information; in fact, he was relying on Elkin as an authority. He simply remained oblivious to the information that indicated patriarchy among the Australian Aborigines. But this time it should be sufficiently clear to the reader that what the anarchoprimitivists (and many anthropologists) are up to has nothing to do with a rational search for the truth about primitive cultures. Instead, they have been developing a myth.</p> -<p>6 I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="6">6. <a class="anchor" href="#6"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> <p>Among at least some groups of Australian Aborigines, women at times would provoke their menfolk to deadly violence against other men. <sup id="fnref:174"><a href="#fn:174" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">174</a></sup> Among the Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived, there was “a good deal of killing”, and it was sometimes a woman who persuaded a man to kill another man. <sup id="fnref:175"><a href="#fn:175" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">175</a></sup> Paintings made in rock shelters by prehistoric hunter-gatherers of eastern Spain show groups of men fighting each other with bows and arrows. <sup id="fnref:176"><a href="#fn:176" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">176</a></sup></p> <p>One could go on and on. But I don’t want to give the impression that all hunter-gatherer were violent. Turnbull refers to numerous nonlethal fights and beatings among the Mbuti, but in those of his books that I’ve read he mentions not a single case of homicide. <sup id="fnref:177"><a href="#fn:177" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">177</a></sup> This suggests that deadly violence was rare among the Mbuti at the time when Turnbull knew them. Siriono women sometimes fought physically, striking each other with sticks, and there was a good deal of aggression among the children, even with sticks or burning brands used as weapons. <sup id="fnref:178"><a href="#fn:178" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">178</a></sup> But men rarely fought each other with weapons, <sup id="fnref:179"><a href="#fn:179" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">179</a></sup> and the Siriono were not warlike. <sup id="fnref:180"><a href="#fn:180" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">180</a></sup> Under extreme provocation they did kill certain whites and missionized Indians, <sup id="fnref:181"><a href="#fn:181" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">181</a></sup> but among the Siriono themselves intentional homicide was almost unknown. <sup id="fnref:182"><a href="#fn:182" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">182</a></sup> Among the Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew aggression of any kind was minimal, though she makes clear that this was not necessarily true of all Bushman groups. <sup id="fnref:183"><a href="#fn:183" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">183</a></sup></p> <p>It is important, too, to realize that deadly violence among primitives is not even remotely comparable to modern warfare. When primitives fight, two little bands of men shoot arrows or swing war-clubs at one another because they want to fight; or because they are defending themselves, their families, or their territory. In the modern world soldiers fight because they are forced to do so, or, at best, because they have been brainwashed into believing in some kook ideology such as that of Nazism, socialism, or what American politicians choose to call “freedom”. In any case the modern soldier is merely a pawn, a dupe who dies not for his family or his tribe but for the politicians who exploit him. If he’s unlucky, maybe he does not die but comes home horribly crippled in a way that would never result from an arrow- or a spear-wound. Meanwhile, thousands of non-combatants are killed or mutilated. The environment is ravaged, not only in the war zone, but also back home, due to the accelerated consumption of natural resources needed to feed the war machine. In comparison, the violence of primitive man is relatively innocuous. That, however, it isn’t good enough for the anarchoprimitivists or for today’s politically correct anthropologists. They can’t deny altogether the existence of violence among hunter-gatherers, since the evidence for it is incontrovertible. But they will stretch the truth as far as they think they can get away with in order to minimize the amount of violence in the human past. It’s worthwhile to give an example that illustrates the silliness of some of the reasoning that they use. In reference to Homo habilis, a physically primitive ancestor of modern man, the anthropologist Haviland writes: “They obtained their meat not by killing live animals but by scavenging Homo habilis got meat by scavenging from carcasses of dead animals, rather than hunting live ones. We know this because the marks of stone tools on the bones of butchered animals commonly overlie marks the teeth of carnivores made. Clearly, Homo habilis did not get to the prey first.” <sup id="fnref:184"><a href="#fn:184" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">184</a></sup></p> <p>But, as Haviland certainly ought to know, many or most predatory animals engage both in hunting and in scavenging. For example, bears, African lions, martens, wolverines, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, hyenas, the raccoon dog of Asia, the Komodo dragon, and some vultures both hunt and scavenge. <sup id="fnref:185"><a href="#fn:185" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">185</a></sup> Thus, the fact that Homo habilis engaged in scavenging provides no evidence whatsoever that he did not also hunt. I emphasize that I do not know or care whether Homo habilis hunted. I see no reason why it should be important for us to know whether our half-human ancestors two million years ago were bloodthirsty killers, peaceful vegetarians, or something in between. The point here is simply to show what kind of reasoning some anthropologists will resort to in their effort to make the human past look as politically correct as possible. Since political correctness has warped the portrayal not only of the human past but of wild nature generally, it should be pointed out that deadly violence among wild animals is not confined to predation of one species upon another. Killing of one member of a species by another member of the same species does occur. For example, it is well known that wild chimpanzees often kill other chimpanzees. <sup id="fnref:186"><a href="#fn:186" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">186</a></sup> Elephants sometimes kill one another in fights, and the same is true of wild pigs. <sup id="fnref:187"><a href="#fn:187" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">187</a></sup> Among the sea birds called brown boobies, two eggs are laid in each nest. After the eggs are hatched, one of the chicks attacks the other and forces it out of the nest, so that it dies. <sup id="fnref:188"><a href="#fn:188" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">188</a></sup> Komodo dragons sometimes eat one another, <sup id="fnref:189"><a href="#fn:189" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">189</a></sup> and there is evidence that cannibalism occurred among some dinosaurs. <sup id="fnref:190"><a href="#fn:190" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">190</a></sup> (Evidence of cannibalism among prehistoric humans is controversial.) <sup id="fnref:191"><a href="#fn:191" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">191</a></sup></p> <p>I do want to make clear that it is by no means my intention to exalt violence. I prefer to see people (and animals) get along smoothly with one another. My purpose is only to expose the irrationality of the politically-correct image of primitive peoples and of wild nature.</p> -<p>7 An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="7">7. <a class="anchor" href="#7"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> <p>But according to Turnbull’s own earlier work, physical fighting was commonplace among the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:196"><a href="#fn:196" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">196</a></sup> If a physical fight isn’t a form of competition, then what is? It’s clear in fact that the Mbuti were a very quarrelsome people, and, in addition to physical fights, there were many verbal disputes among them. <sup id="fnref:197"><a href="#fn:197" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">197</a></sup> Generally speaking, any dispute, whether it is settled physically or verbally; is a form of competition: the interests of one person conflict with those of another, and their quarreling is an effort by each to promote his own interests at the other’s expense. The Mbuti’s jealousies also were evidence of competitive impulses. <sup id="fnref:198"><a href="#fn:198" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">198</a></sup></p> <p>Two things for which the Mbuti competed were mates and food. I’ve already mentioned a case of two women who fought over a man, <sup id="fnref:199"><a href="#fn:199" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">199</a></sup> and quarreling over food apparently was common. <sup id="fnref:200"><a href="#fn:200" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">200</a></sup> It’s worth noting that Turnbull, in his early work, described the Mbuti as “individualists.” <sup id="fnref:201"><a href="#fn:201" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">201</a></sup> There is abundant evidence of competitiveness and/or individualism among other primitive peoples. The Nuer (African pastoralists), the pagan Germanic tribes, the Carib Indians, the Siriono (who lived mainly by hunting and gathering), the Navajo, the Apaches, the Plains Indians, and North American Indians generally have all been described explicitly as “individualistic.” <sup id="fnref:202"><a href="#fn:202" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">202</a></sup> But “individualism” is a vague word that may mean different things to different people, so it’s more helpful to look at definite facts that have been reported. Some of the works that I cite in Note 202 do back up with facts their application of the term “individualistic” to the peoples mentioned. Holmberg writes:</p> <p>“When an Indian [Siriono] has reached adulthood he displays an individualism and apathy toward his fellows that is remarkable. The apparent unconcern of one individual for another-even within the family-never ceased to amaze me while I was living with the Siriono. Frequently men would depart for the hunt alone-without so much as a goodbye-and remain away from the band for weeks at a time without any concern on the part of their fellow tribesmen or even their wives&hellip;.”. “Unconcern with one’s fellows is manifested on every hand. On one occasion Ekwataia went hunting. On his return darkness overcame him about five hundred yards from camp. The night was black as ink, and Ekwataia lost his way. He began to call for help-for someone to bring him fire or to guide him into camp by calls. No one paid heed to his request. After about half an hour, his cries ceased, and his sister Seaci, said: ‘A jaguar probably got him’. When Ekwataia returned the following morning, he told me that he had spent the night sitting on the branch of a tree to avoid being eaten by jaguars.” <sup id="fnref:203"><a href="#fn:203" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">203</a></sup> Holmberg repeatedly remarks on the uncooperative character of the Siriono, and says that those of them who became disabled by age or sickness were simply abandoned by the others. <sup id="fnref:204"><a href="#fn:204" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">204</a></sup> Among other primitive peoples, individualism takes other forms. For example, among most of the North American Indians, warfare was a decidedly individualistic enterprise. “The Indians, being highly individualistic and often fighting more for personal glory than group advantage, never developed a science of warfare.” <sup id="fnref:205"><a href="#fn:205" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">205</a></sup> According to the Cheyenne Indian Wooden Leg: “When any battle actually began it was a case of every man for himself. There were no ordered groupings, no systematic movements in concert, no compulsory goings and comings. Warriors mingled indiscriminately, every one looked out for himself only, or each helped a friend if such help were needed and if the able one’s personal inclination just then was toward friendly helpfulness. The Sioux tribes fought their battles as a band of individuals, the same as we fought ours, and the same as was the way of all Indians I ever knew.” <sup id="fnref:206"><a href="#fn:206" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">206</a></sup></p> @@ -270,12 +284,16 @@ <p>Why “community”? Because of course “community” was a goody-goody word, the kind of word that a kid would use to get brownie points with a teacher. Would any kid in a similar situation have answered “United States of Competition” or “United States of Individualism”? Not likely!</p> <p>It is routinely taken for granted that words like “community,” “cooperation,” “helping,” and “sharing” represent something positive, but “individualism” is seldom used in the mainstream media or in the educational system in an unequivocally positive sense. “Competition” is more often used in a positive sense, but typically it us used that way only in specific contexts in which competition is useful (or at least harmless) to the system. For example, competition is considered desirable in the business word because it weeds out inefficient companies, spurs other companies to become more efficient, and promotes economic and technological progress. But only leashed competition — that is, competition that abides by rules designed to make it harmless or useful — is commonly spoken of favorably. And, when treated in a positive sense, competition is always justified in terms of communitarian values. Thus, business competition is considered good because it promotes efficiency and progress, which supposedly are good for the community as a whole. “Independence,” too, is a “good” word only when used in certain ways. For example, when one speaks of making disabled people “independent” one never thinks of making them independent of the system. One means only that they are to be provided with gainful employment so that the community will not be burdened with the cost of supporting them. Once they have found a job they are every bit as dependent on the system as they were when they lived on welfare, and they have a great deal less freedom to decide how to spend their time. So why do politically-correct anthropologists and others like them contrast the supposedly primitive values of “community,” “cooperation,” “sharing,” and “interdependence” with what they claim are the modern values of “competition,” “individualism” and “independence”? Certainly an important part of the answer is that politically-correct people have absorbed too well the values that the system’s propaganda has taught them, including the values of “cooperation,” “community,” “helping,” and so forth. Another value they have absorbed from propaganda is that of “tolerance,” which in cross-cultural contexts tends to translate into condescending approval of non-Western cultures. A well-socialized modern anthropologist is therefore faced with a conflict: Since he is supposed to be tolerant, he finds it difficult to say anything bad about primitive cultures. But primitive cultures provide abundant examples of behavior that is decidedly bad from the point of view of modern Western values. So the anthropologist has to censor much of the “bad” behavior out of his descriptions of primitive cultures in order to avoid showing them in a negative light. In addition, due to his own excessively thorough socialization, the politically-correct anthropologist has a need to rebel. <sup id="fnref:252"><a href="#fn:252" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">252</a></sup> He is too well socialized to discard the fundamental values of modern society, so he expresses his hostility toward that society by distorting facts to make it seem that modern society deviates from its own stated values to a much greater extent than it actually does. Thus the anthropologist ends by magnifying the competitive and individualistic aspects of modern society while grossly understating these aspects of primitive societies.</p> <p>There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand fully the psychology of these people. It seems obvious, for example, that the politically-correct portrayal of hunter-gatherers is motivated in part by an impulse to construct an image of a pure and innocent world existing at the dawn of time, analogous to the Garden of Eden, but the basis of this impulse is not clear to me.</p> -<p>8 What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> +<h3 id="8">8. <a class="anchor" href="#8"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> <p>“The youngster had speared [the sindula] with his first thrust, pinning the animal to the ground through the fleshy part of the stomach. But the animal was still very much alive, fighting for freedom. Maipe put another spear into its neck, but it still writhed and fought. Not until a third spear pierced its heart did it give up the struggle&hellip;</p> <p>“The pygmies stood around in an excited group, pointing at the dying animal and laughing. One boy, about nine years old, threw himself on the ground and curled up in a grotesque heap and imitated the sindula’s last convulsions&hellip;</p> <p>“At other times I have seen Pygmies singeing feathers off birds that were still alive, explaining that the meat is more tender if death comes slowly. And the hunting dogs, valuable as they are, get kicked around mercilessly from the day they are born to the day they die.” <sup id="fnref:262"><a href="#fn:262" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">262</a></sup></p> <p>A few years later, in Wayward Servants, Turnbull wrote: “The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence. The fun that is sometimes subsequently made of the dead animal, particularly by the youths, appears to be almost a nervous reaction, and there is an element of fear in their behavior. On the other hand, a bird caught alive may deliberately be toyed with, its feathers singed off over the fire while it is still fluttering and squawking until it is finally burned or suffocated to death. This again is usually done by the youths who take the same nervous pleasure in the act; very rarely a young hunter may absent-mindedly [^!?] do the same thing. Older hunters and elders generally disapprove, but do not interfere.”; “The respect seems to be not for animal life but for the game as a gift of the forest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:263"><a href="#fn:263" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">263</a></sup> This does not seem entirely consistent with what Turnbull reported earlier in The Forest People. Maybe Turnbull was already beginning to swing toward political correctness when he wrote Wayward Servants. But even if we take the statements of Wayward Servants at face value, the fact remains that the Mbuti did treat animals with unnecessary cruelty, whether or not they felt “compassion and reverence” for them. If the Mbuti did have compassion for animals, they were probably exceptional in that regard. Hunter-gatherers seem typically to be callous toward animals. The Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived kicked and beat their dogs brutally. <sup id="fnref:264"><a href="#fn:264" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">264</a></sup> The Siriono sometimes captured young animals alive and brought them back to camp, but they gave them nothing to eat, and the animals were treated so roughly by the children that they soon died. <sup id="fnref:265"><a href="#fn:265" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">265</a></sup> It should be noted that many hunting-and-gathering peoples did have a sense of reverence for or closeness to wild animals. I’ve already quoted Colin Turnbull’s statement to that effect in the case of the Mbuti. Coon states that “it is virtually a standard rule among hunters that they should never mock or otherwise insult any wild creature whose life they have brought to an end.” <sup id="fnref:266"><a href="#fn:266" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">266</a></sup> (As the passages I’ve quoted from Turnbull show, there were exceptions to this “standard rule”.) Venturing into speculation, Coon adds that “hunters sense the unity of nature and the combination of humility and responsibility of their role in it.” <sup id="fnref:267"><a href="#fn:267" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">267</a></sup> Wissler describes the closeness to and reverence toward nature (including wild animals) of the North American Indians. <sup id="fnref:268"><a href="#fn:268" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">268</a></sup> Holmberg mentions the Siriono’s “bonds” and “kinship” with the animal world. <sup id="fnref:269"><a href="#fn:269" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">269</a></sup> But, as we’ve already seen, these “bonds” and this “kinship” did not prevent physical cruelty to animals. Clearly, animal-rights activists would be horrified at the way hunter-gatherers often treated animals. For people who look to hunting and gathering cultures as their social ideal, it therefore makes no sense to maintain alliances with the animal-rights movement.</p> -<p>9 To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="9">9. <a class="anchor" href="#9"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> <p>The publisher of the anarchoprimitivist “zine” Species Traitor stated in a letter to me that in hunter-gatherer cultures “people had no property.” <sup id="fnref:280"><a href="#fn:280" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">280</a></sup> This is not true. Various forms of private property did exist among hunter-gatherers — and not only among sedentary ones like the Northwest Coast Indians. It is well known that most hunting-and-gathering peoples had collective property in land. That is, each band of 30 to 130 people owned the territory in which it lived. Coon provides an extended discussion of this. <sup id="fnref:281"><a href="#fn:281" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">281</a></sup> It is less well known that hunter-gatherers, even nomadic ones, could also hold rights to natural resources as individual property, and in some cases such rights could even be inherited. <sup id="fnref:282"><a href="#fn:282" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">282</a></sup> For example, among Mrs. Thomas’s Bushmen: “Each group has a very specific territory which that group alone may use, and they respect their boundaries rigidly. If a person is born in a certain area he or she has a right to eat the melons that grow there and all the veld food. A man may eat the melons wherever his wife can and wherever his father and mother could, so that every Bushman has in this way some kind of rights in many places. Gai, for example, ate melons at Ai a ha’o because his wife’s mother was born there, as well as at his own birthplace, the Okwa Omaramba.” <sup id="fnref:283"><a href="#fn:283" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">283</a></sup></p> <p>Arnong the Veddas (hunter-gatherers of Ceylon), “the band territory was subdivided for individual band members, who could pass their property on to their children.” <sup id="fnref:284"><a href="#fn:284" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">284</a></sup> Arnong certain Australian Aborigines there existed a system of inherited rights to goods obtained in trade for stones extracted from a quarry. <sup id="fnref:285"><a href="#fn:285" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">285</a></sup> Among some other Australian Aborigines, certain fruit trees were privately owned. <sup id="fnref:286"><a href="#fn:286" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">286</a></sup> The Mbuti used termites as food, and among them termite hills could be owned by individuals. <sup id="fnref:287"><a href="#fn:287" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">287</a></sup> Portable items such as tools, clothing, and ornaments usually were owned by individual hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:288"><a href="#fn:288" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">288</a></sup></p> <p>Turnbull mentions the argument of one W. Nippold to the effect that hunter-gatherers, including the Mbuti, had a highly developed sense of private property. Turnbull counters that this is “debatable point, and largely a semantic problem.” <sup id="fnref:289"><a href="#fn:289" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">289</a></sup> Here there is is no need for us to split hairs about what does and what does not constitute private property, or what would be a “highly developed sense” of it. Suffice it to say that the unqualified belief that hunter-gatherers did not have private property is only another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth. It’s important to note, however, that nomadic hunter-gatherers did not accumulate property to the extent of being able to use their wealth to dominate other people. <sup id="fnref:290"><a href="#fn:290" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">290</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer ordinarily had to carry all of his property on his own back whenever he shifted camp, or at best he had to carry it in a canoe or on a dog-sled or travois. <sup id="fnref:291"><a href="#fn:291" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">291</a></sup> By any of these means only a limited amount of property can be transported, hence an upper bound is imposed on the amount of property that a nomad can usefully accumulate.</p> @@ -288,12 +306,14 @@ <p>Turnbull also states that “in the view of mammalogists such as Van Gelder the [Mbuti] hunters are indeed the finest conservationists any conservation-minded government could wish for.” <sup id="fnref:307"><a href="#fn:307" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">307</a></sup> On the other hand, when Turnbull took an Mbuti named Kenge to visit a game preserve out on the plains, Kenge was told “that he would see more game than he had ever seen in the forest, but he was not to try and hunt any. Kenge could not understand this, because to his mind game is meant to be hunted.” <sup id="fnref:308"><a href="#fn:308" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">308</a></sup>. According to Coon, the ethic of the Tikerarmiut Eskimos forbade them to trap more than four wolves, wolverines, foxes, or marmots on any one day. However, this ethic quickly broke down when white traders arrived and tempted the Tikerarmiut with trade goods that they could obtain in exchange for the pelts of the animals named. <sup id="fnref:309"><a href="#fn:309" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">309</a></sup></p> <p>As soon as they acquired steel axes, the Siriono began destroying the wild fruit trees of their region because it was easier to harvest the fruit by cutting the tree down than by climbing it. <sup id="fnref:310"><a href="#fn:310" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">310</a></sup></p> <p>It is well known that some hunter-gatherers intentionally set wildfires because they knew that burned-over land would produce more of the edible plants that they favored. <sup id="fnref:311"><a href="#fn:311" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">311</a></sup> I consider this practice recklessly destructive. It is believed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers, through over-hunting, caused or at least contributed to the extinction of some species of large mammals, <sup id="fnref:312"><a href="#fn:312" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">312</a></sup> though as far as I know this has never been definitely proved. The foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the question of conservation versus environmental recklessness on the part of hunter-gatherers. It’s a question that deserves thorough investigation.</p> -<p>10 I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> +<h3 id="10">10. <a class="anchor" href="#10"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> <p>One is reminded of the response of fundamentalist Christians to any rational attack on their beliefs. Whatever facts one may point out, the fundamentalist will always find some argument, however far-fetched, to explain them away and justify his belief in the literal, word-for-word truth of the Bible. Actually, there is about anarchoprimitivism a distinct flavor of early Christianity. The anarchoprimitivists’ hunting-and-gathering utopia corresponds to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived in ease and without sin (Genesis 2). The invention of agriculture and civilization corresponds to the Fall: Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:6), were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), and thereafter had to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow by tilling the soil (Genesis 3: 19,23). They moreover lost gender equality, since Eve became subordinate to her husband (Genesis 3:16). The revolution that anarchoprimitivists hope will overthrow civilization corresponds to the Day of Judgment, the day of destruction on which Babylon will fall (Revelation 18:2). The return to primitive utopia corresponds to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, wherein “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be.any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).</p> <p>Today’s activists who risk their bodies by engaging in masochistic resistance tactics, such as chaining themselves across roads to prevent the passage of logging trucks, correspond to the Christian martyrs-the true believers who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4). Veganism corresponds to the dietary restrictions of many religions, such as the Christian fast during Lent. Like anarchoprimitivists, the early Christians emphasized egalitarianism (“whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased”, Matthew 23:12) and sharing (“distribution was made unto every man according as he had need”, Acts 4:35). The psychological affinity between anarchoprimitivism and early Christianity does not augur well. As soon as the emperor Constantine gave the Christians an opportunity to become powerful they sold out, and ever since then Christianity, more often than not, has served as a prop for the established powers.</p> -<ol start="11"> -<li>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</li> -</ol> +<h3 id="11">11. <a class="anchor" href="#11"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</p> <p>Why does this matter? Because it shows that chronic stress, anxiety and frustration, depression, and so forth, are not inevitable parts of the human condition, but are disorders brought on by modern civilization. Nor is servitude an inevitable part of the human condition: The example of at least some nomadic hunter-gatherer shows that true freedom is possible. Even more important: Regardless of whether they were good conservationists or poor ones, primitive peoples were incapable of damaging their environment to anything remotely approaching the extent to which modern man is damaging his. Primitives simply didn’t have the power to do that much damage. They may have used fire recklessly and they may have exterminated some species through overhunting, but they had no way to dam large rivers, to cover thousands of square miles of the Earth’s surface with cities and pavement, or to produce the vast quantities of toxic chemicals and radioactive waste with which modern civilization threatens to ruin the world for good and all. Nor did primitives have any means of releasing the deadly-dangerous forces represented by genetic engineering and by the super-intelligent computers that may soon be developed. These are dangers that scare even the technophiles themselves. <sup id="fnref:313"><a href="#fn:313" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">313</a></sup> So I agree with the anarchoprimitivists that the advent of civilization was a great disaster and that the Industrial Revolution was an even greater one. I further agree that a revolution against modernity, and against civilization in general, is necessary. But you can’t build an effective revolutionary movement out of soft-headed dreamers, lazies, and charlatans. You have to have tough-minded, realistic, practical people, and people of that kind don’t need the anarchoprimitivists’ mushy utopian myth.</p> <h2 id="concluding-note">Concluding Note <a class="anchor" href="#concluding-note"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> diff --git a/new-site/public/library/index.xml b/new-site/public/library/index.xml index fe77aef0..dff9ac57 100644 --- a/new-site/public/library/index.xml +++ b/new-site/public/library/index.xml @@ -200,10 +200,14 @@ https://vodoraslo.xyz/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/ <h2 id="the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism">The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism <a class="anchor" href="#the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> -</a></h2><p>1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> +</a></h2><h3 id="1">1. <a class="anchor" href="#1"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> <p>The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation.</p> <p>Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality.</p> -<p>2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> +<h3 id="2">2. <a class="anchor" href="#2"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> <p>Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society <sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup>), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence <sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">3</a></sup>). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” <sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">4</a></sup> For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. <sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">5</a></sup> Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. <sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">6</a></sup></p> <p>In a part of his essay that many anarchoprimitivists have found convenient to overlook, Bob Black acknowledges the forty-hour work-week and explains the foregoing contradiction: Sahlins followed early work of Lee that considered only time spent in hunting and foraging. When all necessary work was considered, the work-week was more than doubled. <sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">7</a></sup> The work omitted from consideration by Sahlins and the anarchoprimitivists was probably the most disagreeable part of the Bushmen’s work-week, too, since it consisted largely of food-preparation and firewood collection. <sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">8</a></sup> I speak from extensive personal experience with wild foods: Preparing such foods for use is very often a pain in the neck. It is far more pleasant to gather nuts, dig roots, or hunt game than it is to crack nuts, clean roots, or skin and butcher game — or to collect firewood and cook over an open fire.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists also err in assuming that Lee’s findings can be applied to hunter-gatherers generally. It’s not even clear that those findings are applicable on a year-round basis to the Bushmen studied by Lee. Cashdan cites evidence that Lee’s research may have been done at the time of year when his Bushmen worked least. <sup id="fnref:9"><a href="#fn:9" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">9</a></sup> She also mentions two other hunting-and-gathering peoples who have been shown quantitatively to spend far more time in hunting and foraging than Lee’s Bushmen did, <sup id="fnref:10"><a href="#fn:10" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">10</a></sup> and she points out that Lee may have seriously underestimated women’s working time because he failed to include time spent on childcare. <sup id="fnref:11"><a href="#fn:11" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">11</a></sup></p> @@ -220,7 +224,9 @@ <p>However, I have not been trying to prove that primitive man was less fortunate in his working life than modern man is. In my opinion the contrary was true. Probably at least some nomadic hunter-gatherers had more leisure time than modern employed Americans do. It’s true that the roughly forty-hour work-week of Richard Lee’s Bushmen was about equal to the standard American work-week. But modern Americans are burdened with many demands on their time outside their hours of employment. I myself, when working at a forty-hour job, have generally felt busy: I’ve had to shop for groceries, go to the bank, do the laundry, fill out income-tax forms, take the car in for maintenance, get a haircut, go to the dentist &hellip;there was always something that needed to be done. Many of the people I now correspond with likewise complain of being busy. In contrast, the male Bushman’s time was genuinely his own outside of his working hours; he could spend his non-working time as he pleased. Bushman women of reproductive age may have had much less leisure time because, like women of all societies, they were burdened with the care of small children.</p> <p>But leisure is a modern concept, and the emphasis that anarchoprimitivists put on it is evidence of their servitude to the values of the civilization that they claim to reject. The amount of time expended in work is not what matters. Many authors have discussed what is wrong with work in modern society, and I see no reason to go over that ground again. What does matter is that, apart from monotony, what is wrong with work in modern society is not wrong with the work of nomadic hunter-gatherers. The hunter-gatherer’s work is challenging, both in terms of physical effort and in terms of the level of skill required. <sup id="fnref:40"><a href="#fn:40" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">40</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer’s work is purposeful, and its purpose is not abstract, remote, or artificial but concrete, very real, and directly important to the worker: He works to satisfy the physical needs of himself, his family, and other people to whom he is personally close. Above all, the nomadic hunter-gatherer is a free worker: He is not exploited, he is subservient to no boss, no one gives him orders; <sup id="fnref:41"><a href="#fn:41" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">41</a></sup> he designs is own work-day, if not as an individual then as a member of a group that is small enough so that every individual can participate meaningfully in the decisions that are made <sup id="fnref:42"><a href="#fn:42" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">42</a></sup>. Modern jobs tend to be psychologically stressful, but there are reasons to believe that primitive people’s work typically involved little psychological stress. <sup id="fnref:43"><a href="#fn:43" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">43</a></sup> Hunter-gatherers’ work often monotonous, but it is my view that monotony generally causes primitive people relatively little discomfort. Boredom, I think, is largely a civilized phenomenon and is a product of psychological stresses that are characteristic of civilized life. This admittedly is a matter of personal opinion, I can ‘t prove it, and a discussion of it would take us beyond the scope of this article. Here I will only say that my opinion is based largely on my own experience of living outside the technoindustrial system. How hunter-gatherers felt about their own work is difficult to say, since anthropologists and others who visited primitive peoples (at least those whose reports I’ve read) usually do not seem to have asked such questions. But the following from Holmberg’s worth noting: “They are relatively apathetic to work (taba taba), which includes such distasteful tasks as housebuilding, gathering firewood, clearing, planting, and tilling of fields. In quite a different class, however, are such pleasant occupations as hunting (gwata gwata) and collecting (deka deka, ‘to look for’), which are regarded more as diversions than as work.” <sup id="fnref:44"><a href="#fn:44" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">44</a></sup></p> <p>This despite the fact that, as we saw earlier, the Siriono’s hunting and collecting activities were exceedingly time-consuming, fatiguing, strenuous, and physically demanding.</p> -<p>3 Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> +<h3 id="3">3. <a class="anchor" href="#3"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> <p>Well, maybe not. Look at some of the facts that Bonvillain herself offers in the same book: “Most leaders and camp spokespersons are men. Although women and men participate in group discussions and decision making, &hellip;men’s talk in discussions involving both genders amounts to about two-thirds of the total.” <sup id="fnref:51"><a href="#fn:51" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">51</a></sup></p> <p>Much worse are the forced marriages of girls in their early teens to men much older than themselves. <sup id="fnref:52"><a href="#fn:52" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">52</a></sup> It’s true that practices that seem cruel to us may not be experienced as cruel by people of other cultures on whom they are imposed. But Bonvillain quotes words of a Bushman woman that show that at least some girls did experience their forced marriages as cruel: “I cried and cried”; <sup id="fnref:53"><a href="#fn:53" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">53</a></sup> “I ran away again and again. A part of my heart kept thinking: ‘how come I’m a child and have taken a husband?’” <sup id="fnref:54"><a href="#fn:54" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">54</a></sup> Moreover, “because seniority confers prestige&hellip;, the greater age, experience, and maturity of husbands may make wives socially, if not personally, subordinate.” <sup id="fnref:55"><a href="#fn:55" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">55</a></sup> Thus, while the Dobe Bushmen no doubt had some of the elements of gender equality, one would have to stretch a point pretty far to claim that they had full gender equality. On the basis of his personal experience, Colin Turnbull stated that among the Mbuti pygmies of Africa, a “woman is in no way the social inferior of a man,” <sup id="fnref:56"><a href="#fn:56" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">56</a></sup> and that “the woman is not discriminated against. <sup id="fnref:57"><a href="#fn:57" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">57</a></sup> That sounds like gender equality &hellip;until you look at the concrete facts that Turnbull himself offers in the very same books: “ A certain amount of wife-beating is considered good, and the wife is expected to fight back; <sup id="fnref:58"><a href="#fn:58" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">58</a></sup> “He said that he was very content with his wife, and he had not found it necessary to beat her at all often,” <sup id="fnref:59"><a href="#fn:59" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">59</a></sup>; Man throws wife to the ground and slaps her; <sup id="fnref:60"><a href="#fn:60" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">60</a></sup> Husband beats wife; <sup id="fnref:61"><a href="#fn:61" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">61</a></sup> Man beats sister; <sup id="fnref:62"><a href="#fn:62" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">62</a></sup> Kenge beats his sister; <sup id="fnref:63"><a href="#fn:63" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">63</a></sup> “Perhaps he should have beaten her harder, Tungana [an old man] said, for some girls like being beaten,” <sup id="fnref:64"><a href="#fn:64" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">64</a></sup>; “Amabosu countered by smacking her firmly across the face. Normally Ekianga would have approved of such manly assertion of authority over a disloyal wife.” <sup id="fnref:65"><a href="#fn:65" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">65</a></sup> Turnbull mentions two instances of men giving orders to their wives. <sup id="fnref:66"><a href="#fn:66" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">66</a></sup> I have not found any instance in Turnbull’ s books of wives giving orders to their husbands. Pipestem obtained by wife is referred to as husband’s property. <sup id="fnref:67"><a href="#fn:67" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">67</a></sup> “[A boy] has to have [a girl’s] permission before intercourse can take place. The men say that once they lie down with a girl, however, if they want her they take her by surprise, when petting her, and force her to their will.” <sup id="fnref:68"><a href="#fn:68" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">68</a></sup> Nowadays we would call that “date rape”, and the young man involved would risk a long prison sentence.</p> <p>For the sake of balance, let’s note that Turnbull found among the Mbuti no instance of what we would call “street rape” as opposed to “date rape”; <sup id="fnref:69"><a href="#fn:69" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">69</a></sup> husbands were not supposed to hit their wives on the head or in the face; <sup id="fnref:70"><a href="#fn:70" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">70</a></sup> and in at least one case in which a man took to beating his wife too frequently and severly, his campmates eventually found means to end the abuse without the use of force and without overt interference. <sup id="fnref:71"><a href="#fn:71" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">71</a></sup> It should also be borne in mind that the significance of a beating depends on the cultural context. In our society it is a great humiliation to be struck by another person, especially by one who is bigger and stronger than oneself. But since blows were commonplace among the Mbuti, <sup id="fnref:72"><a href="#fn:72" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">72</a></sup> it is probably safe to assume that they were not felt as particularly humiliating . Nevertheless it is quite clear that some degree of male dominance was present among the Mbuti. Among the Siriono: “A woman is subservient to her husband”; <sup id="fnref:73"><a href="#fn:73" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">73</a></sup> “The extended family is generally dominated by the oldest active male”; <sup id="fnref:74"><a href="#fn:74" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">74</a></sup> “[Women] are dominated by the men”; <sup id="fnref:75"><a href="#fn:75" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">75</a></sup> “If a man is out in the forest alone with a woman, &hellip;he may throw her to the ground roughly and take his prize [sex] without so much as saying a word”; <sup id="fnref:76"><a href="#fn:76" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">76</a></sup> Parents definitely preferred to have male children; <sup id="fnref:77"><a href="#fn:77" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">77</a></sup> “Although the title ererekwa is reserved by the men for a chief, it one asks a woman: ‘who is your ererekwa?’ she will invariably reply: ‘my husband’.” <sup id="fnref:78"><a href="#fn:78" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">78</a></sup> On the other hand, the Siriono never beat their wives, <sup id="fnref:79"><a href="#fn:79" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">79</a></sup> and “Women enjoy about the same privileges as men. They get as much or more food to eat, and they enjoy the same sexual freedom.” <sup id="fnref:80"><a href="#fn:80" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">80</a></sup> According to Bonvillain, Eskimo men “dominate their wives and daughters. Men’s dominance is not total, however&hellip;&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:81"><a href="#fn:81" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">81</a></sup> She describes gender relations among the Eskimos in some detail, <sup id="fnref:82"><a href="#fn:82" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">82</a></sup> which may or may not be slanted to reflect her feminist ideology.</p> @@ -228,11 +234,15 @@ <p>Although there was “real harmony and mutual understanding in most Aboriginal families”, wife-beating was practiced. <sup id="fnref:95"><a href="#fn:95" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">95</a></sup> According to A. P. Elkin, under some circumstances-for example, on certain ceremonial occasions-women had to submit to compulsory sex, which “implies that woman is but an object to be used in certain socially established ways.” <sup id="fnref:96"><a href="#fn:96" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">96</a></sup> The women, says Elkin, “may often not object,” <sup id="fnref:97"><a href="#fn:97" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">97</a></sup> but: “They sometimes live in terror of the use which is made of them at some ceremonial times.” <sup id="fnref:98"><a href="#fn:98" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">98</a></sup> Of course, no claim is made here that all of the foregoing conditions prevailed in all parts of aboriginal Australia. Culture was not uniform across the continent. Coon says that the Australians were nomadic, but he also states that in parts of southeastern Australia, namely “The better-watered parts, particularly Victoria and the Murray River country”, the aborigines were “relatively sedentary.” <sup id="fnref:99"><a href="#fn:99" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">99</a></sup> According to Massola, in the drier parts of southeastern Australia the aborigines had to cover long distances between fast-drying wells in times of drought. <sup id="fnref:100"><a href="#fn:100" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">100</a></sup> This corresponds with the high degree of nomadism described for other arid parts of Australia, where “Aboigines moved from waterhole to waterhole along well-defined tracks in small family groups. The whole camp moved and rarely established bases.” <sup id="fnref:101"><a href="#fn:101" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">101</a></sup> In stating that in “the better-watered parts” the aborigines were “relatively sedentary”, Coon doubtless means that “in fertile regions there were well-established camping areas, close to water, where people always camped at certain times of year. Camps were bases from which people made forays into the surrounding bush for food, returning in the late afternoon or spending a few days away.” <sup id="fnref:102"><a href="#fn:102" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">102</a></sup> Coon says that in part of the well-watered Murray River country each territorial clan had a headman and a council consisting mainly of men, though in a few cases women were also elected to the council; whereas, farther to the north and west, there was little formal leadership and “control over the women and younger males was shared between” the men aged from thirty to fifty. <sup id="fnref:103"><a href="#fn:103" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">103</a></sup> Thus Australian women had very little overt political power. Yet, as among Poncins’s Eskimos, certainly in our society, and probably in every society, the women often exercised great influence their menfolk <sup id="fnref:104"><a href="#fn:104" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">104</a></sup>.</p> <p>The Tasmanians also were nomadic hunter-gatherers (though some were “relatively sedentary”), <sup id="fnref:105"><a href="#fn:105" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">105</a></sup> and it’s not clear that they treated women any better than the Australians did. “In one account we are told that a band living near Hobart Town before the colonists’ arrival was raided by neighbors who killed the men who tried to stop them and took away their women. And there are other accounts of individual cases of marriage by capture. Sometimes when a man from a neighboring band had the right to marry a girl, but neither she nor her parents liked him, it is said that they killed the girl rather than give her up”; <sup id="fnref:106"><a href="#fn:106" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">106</a></sup> “The other tribes considered [a certain tribe] cowards, and raided them to steal their women”; <sup id="fnref:107"><a href="#fn:107" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">107</a></sup> “Woorrady raped and killed a sister-in-law.” <sup id="fnref:108"><a href="#fn:108" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">108</a></sup></p> <p>Here I should make clear that it is not my intention to argue against gender equality. I myself am enough a product of modern industrial society to feel that women and men should have equal status. My purpose at this point is simply to exhibit the facts concerning the relations between the sexes in hunting-and-gathering societies.</p> -<p>4 There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="4">4. <a class="anchor" href="#4"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> <p>Though some of Gontran de Poncins’s Eskimos were “purer” than others, <sup id="fnref:127"><a href="#fn:127" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">127</a></sup> it appears that all of them had at least some trade goods from the whites. If any reader cares to take the trouble to track down the earliest primary sources — perhaps some of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s work — so as to approach as closely as possible to an original and “pure” Eskimo culture, I would be interested to hear of his or her findings. But it is possible that even long before European contact the Eskimos’ culture may have been affected by something that they received from a non-hunting society; for their sled dogs may not have originated with hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:128"><a href="#fn:128" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">128</a></sup></p> <p>With the Siriono we come closer to purity than we do with the Bushmen, the Mbuti, or Poncins’s Eskimos. The Siriono did not even have dogs, <sup id="fnref:129"><a href="#fn:129" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">129</a></sup> and even though they cultivated crops to a limited extent anthropologists regarded their culture as Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). <sup id="fnref:130"><a href="#fn:130" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">130</a></sup> Some of the Siriono studied by Holmberg had had little or no contact with whites prior to Holmberg’s arrival <sup id="fnref:131"><a href="#fn:131" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">131</a></sup> and, among those Siriono, European tools were rarely encountered <sup id="fnref:132"><a href="#fn:132" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">132</a></sup> until Holmberg himself introduced them. <sup id="fnref:133"><a href="#fn:133" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">133</a></sup> Instead, the Siriono made their tools of naturally-occurring local materials.<sup id="fnref:134"><a href="#fn:134" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">134</a></sup> The Siriono moreover were so primitive that they could not count beyond three. <sup id="fnref:135"><a href="#fn:135" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">135</a></sup> Nevertheless, Siriono culture might have been affected by contact with more “advanced” societies, since Holmberg thought the Siriono were “probably a remnant of an ancient population that was exterminated, absorbed, or engulfed by more civilized invaders.” <sup id="fnref:136"><a href="#fn:136" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">136</a></sup> Lauriston Sharp even suggested that the Siriono might have “degenerated” [sic] “from a more advanced technical condition,” though Holmberg rejected this view and Sharp himself considered it “irrelevant.” <sup id="fnref:137"><a href="#fn:137" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">137</a></sup> In addition, the Siriono might have been affected indirectly by European civilization, since probably at least some of the diseases from which they suffered, e.g., malaria, had been brought to the Americas by Europeans. <sup id="fnref:138"><a href="#fn:138" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">138</a></sup> It’s not surprising that most of the hunter-gatherers I’ve mentioned here — like those cited by the anarchoprimitivists and the politically-correct anthropologists — were affected by direct or indirect contact with agricultural or pastoral peoples even long before their first contact with Europeans, because outside of Australia, Tasmania, and the far west and north of North America “populations which remained faithful to the old hunter-gatherer way of live were small and scattered.” <sup id="fnref:139"><a href="#fn:139" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">139</a></sup> Consequently, with the possible exception of some who lived on small islands, they necessarily had some form of contact with surrounding non-hunter-gatherer populations.</p> <p>Probably the Australian Aborigines and the Tasmanians were the hunter-gatherers who were purest when Europeans first found them. Australia was the only continent that was inhabited exclusively by hunter-gatherers until the white man’s arrival, and Tasmania, an island just to the south of Australia, was even more isolated. But Tasmania may have been visited by Polynesians, and in the north of Australia there was some limited contact with people from Indonesia and New Guinea prior to the arrival of Europeans. <sup id="fnref:140"><a href="#fn:140" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">140</a></sup> Still earlier contact with outsiders, who mayor may not have been hunter-gatherers, is probable. <sup id="fnref:141"><a href="#fn:141" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">141</a></sup> Thus we have no conclusive proof that hunter-gatherer cultures that survived into recent times had not been seriously affected by contact with non-hunter-gatherers by the time the first descriptions of them were written. Consequently, more or less uncertainty is involved in using reports on recent hunter-gatherer societies to draw conclusions about gender relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. And any conclusions drawn from archaeological remains about the social relationships between men and women can only be highly speculative. So, if you like, you can reject all evidence from descriptions of recent hunter-gatherer cultures, and in that case we know almost nothing about the gender relations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Or (with the necessary reservations) you can accept the evidence from recent hunter-gatherer societies, and in that case the evidence clearly points to a significant degree of male dominance. In either case, there is no evidence to support the anarchoprimitivists’ belief that all or most human societies had full gender equality prior to the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some ten thousand years ago.</p> -<p>5 Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> +<h3 id="5">5. <a class="anchor" href="#5"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists, and many politically-correct anthropologists, cite any evidence they can find that hunter-gatherers had gender equality, while systematically ignoring the abundant evidence of gender inequality found in eyewitness reports of hunter-gatherer cultures. For example, the anthropologist Haviland, in his textbook Cultural Anthropology, states that an “important characteristic of the food-foraging [hunther-gatherer] society is its egalitarianism.” <sup id="fnref:142"><a href="#fn:142" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">142</a></sup> He acknowledges that the two sexes may have had different status in such societies, but claims that “status differences by themselves do not imply any necessary inequality”, and that in “traditional food-foraging societies, nothing necessitated special deference of women to men.” <sup id="fnref:143"><a href="#fn:143" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">143</a></sup> If you check the pages listed in Haviland’s index for the entries “Bushmen”, “Ju/’hoansi” (another name for the Dobe Bushmen), “Eskimo”, “Inuit” (another name for Eskimos), “Mbuti”, “Tasma-nian”, “Australian”, and “Aborigine” (the Siriono are not listed in the index), you will find no mention of wife-beating, forced marriage, forced sexual intercourse, or any of the other indications of male dominance that I’ve cited above. Haviland does not deny that these things occurred. He does not claim, for example, that Turnbull merely invented his stories of wife-beating among the Mbuti, or that such-and-such evidence shows that Australian Aboriginal women were not subjected to involuntary sex before the arrival of Europeans. He simply ignores these issues, as if they didn’t exist. And it’s not that Haviland isn’t aware of the issues. For example, he quotes from A. P. Elkin’s book, The Australian Aborigines, <sup id="fnref:144"><a href="#fn:144" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">144</a></sup> an indication that he not only is familiar with the book but considers it a reliable source of information. Yet Elkin’s book, which I cited earlier, provides ample evidence of Australian Aboriginal men’s tyranny over their women <sup id="fnref:145"><a href="#fn:145" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">145</a></sup> — evidence that Haviland fails to mention. It’s pretty clear what is going on: Equality of the sexes is a fundamental tenet of the mainstream ideology of modern society. As highly-socialized members of that society, politically-correct anthropologists believe in the principle of gender equality with something akin to religious conviction, and they feel a need to give us little moral lessons by holding up for our admiration examples of the gender equality that supposedly prevailed when the human race was in a pristine and unspoiled state. This portrayal of primitive cultures is driven by the anthropologists’ own need to reaffirm their faith, and has nothing to do with an honest search for truth.</p> <p>To take another example, I’ve written to John Zerzan four times inviting him to back up his claims about gender equality among hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:146"><a href="#fn:146" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">146</a></sup> The answers he gave me were vague and evasive. <sup id="fnref:147"><a href="#fn:147" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">147</a></sup> I would gladly publish here Zerzan’s letters to me on this subject so that the reader could judge them for himself. However, I wrote to Zerzan requesting permission to publish his letters, and he denied me that permission. <sup id="fnref:148"><a href="#fn:148" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">148</a></sup> With his letters he sent me photocopies of pages from a few books that contained vague, general statements ostensibly supporting his claims about gender equality; for instance, this statement by John E Pfeiffer, who is neither a specialist nor an eyewitness of primitive behavior, but a popularizer: “For reasons unknown sexism arrived with settling and farming, with the emergence of complex society.” <sup id="fnref:149"><a href="#fn:149" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">149</a></sup></p> <p>Zerzan also sent me a photocopy of a page from Bonvillain’s book containing the following statement: “In foraging band [hunter-gatherer] societies, the potential for gender equality is perhaps the greatest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:150"><a href="#fn:150" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">150</a></sup> But Zerzan did not include copies of the pages on which Bonvillain said that male dominance was evident in some hunter-gatherer societies such as that of the Eskimos, or the pages on which she gave information that cast gave doubt on her own claim of gender equality among the Dobe Bushmen, as I discussed above.</p> @@ -244,13 +254,17 @@ <p>It’s worth noting that Zerzan apparently believes that our ancestors were capable of mental telepathy. <sup id="fnref:162"><a href="#fn:162" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">162</a></sup> But particularly revealing is Zerzan’ s quotation of “Shanks and Tilley”: “The point of archaeology is not merely to interpret the past but to change the manner in which the past is interpreted in the service of social reconstruction in the present.” <sup id="fnref:163"><a href="#fn:163" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">163</a></sup> This is virtually open advocacy of the proposition that archaeologists should slant their findings for political purposes. What better evidence could there be of the massive politicization that has taken place in American anthropology over the last 35 or 40 years? In view of this politicization, anything in recent anthropological literature that portrays primitive peoples’ behavior as politically correct must be viewed with the utmost skepticism.</p> <p>After citing to Zerzan some of the examples of gender inequality that I’ve discussed above, I questioned his honesty on the ground that he had “systematically excluded nearly all of the evidence that undercuts the idealized picture of hunter-gatherer societies” that he wanted to present. <sup id="fnref:164"><a href="#fn:164" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">164</a></sup> Zerzan answered that he “did not find many credible sources that contradicted his outlook. <sup id="fnref:165"><a href="#fn:165" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">165</a></sup> This statement strains credulity. Some of the examples that I cited to Zerzan (and have discussed above) were from books on which he himself had relied-those of Bonvillain and Turnbull. <sup id="fnref:166"><a href="#fn:166" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">166</a></sup> Yet he somehow managed to overlook all of the evidence in those books that contradicted his claims. Since Zerzan has read widely about hunter-gatherer societies, and the Australian Aborigines are among the best-known hunter-gatherers, I find it very difficult to believe that he has never come across any accounts of the Australians’ mistreatment of women. Yet he never mentions such accounts-not even for the purpose of refuting them.</p> <p>One does not necessarily have to assume any conscious dishonesty on Zerzan’s part. As Nietzsche said, “The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.” <sup id="fnref:167"><a href="#fn:167" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">167</a></sup> In other words, self-deception often precedes deception of others. An important factor here may be one that is well known to professional propagandists: people tend to block out — to fail to perceive or to remember — information that they find uncongenial<sup id="fnref:168"><a href="#fn:168" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">168</a></sup>. Since information that discredits one’s ideology is highly uncongenial, it follows that people will tend to block out such information. A young anarchoprimitivist with whom I’ve corresponded has provided me with an amazing example of this phenomenon. He wrote to me: “there is no question about the persistence [sic] of patriarchy in all other oceanic societies, but none seems apparent in the [Australian] Aborigines — According to A. P. Elkin’s The Australian Aborigines wives were not held in a restrictive marriage at all.” <sup id="fnref:169"><a href="#fn:169" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">169</a></sup> It was apparent that my anarchoprimitivist friend had read Elkin’s discussion of women’s position in Australian Aboriginal society. I’ve cited above some of the relevant pages of Elkin’s book, such as those on which he states that Australian Aboriginal women sometimes lived in terror of the compulsory sex to which they were subjected at some ceremonial times. Any reasonably rational person who will take the trouble to read those pages <sup id="fnref:170"><a href="#fn:170" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">170</a></sup> will find himself hard-pressed to explain how my anarchoprimitivist friend could have read that material and then claimed in all seriousness that no patriarchy seemed apparent in Australian Aboriginal society — unless my friend simply blocked out of his mind the information that he found ideologically unacceptable. My friend did not question the accuracy of Elkin I s information; in fact, he was relying on Elkin as an authority. He simply remained oblivious to the information that indicated patriarchy among the Australian Aborigines. But this time it should be sufficiently clear to the reader that what the anarchoprimitivists (and many anthropologists) are up to has nothing to do with a rational search for the truth about primitive cultures. Instead, they have been developing a myth.</p> -<p>6 I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="6">6. <a class="anchor" href="#6"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> <p>Among at least some groups of Australian Aborigines, women at times would provoke their menfolk to deadly violence against other men. <sup id="fnref:174"><a href="#fn:174" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">174</a></sup> Among the Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived, there was “a good deal of killing”, and it was sometimes a woman who persuaded a man to kill another man. <sup id="fnref:175"><a href="#fn:175" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">175</a></sup> Paintings made in rock shelters by prehistoric hunter-gatherers of eastern Spain show groups of men fighting each other with bows and arrows. <sup id="fnref:176"><a href="#fn:176" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">176</a></sup></p> <p>One could go on and on. But I don’t want to give the impression that all hunter-gatherer were violent. Turnbull refers to numerous nonlethal fights and beatings among the Mbuti, but in those of his books that I’ve read he mentions not a single case of homicide. <sup id="fnref:177"><a href="#fn:177" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">177</a></sup> This suggests that deadly violence was rare among the Mbuti at the time when Turnbull knew them. Siriono women sometimes fought physically, striking each other with sticks, and there was a good deal of aggression among the children, even with sticks or burning brands used as weapons. <sup id="fnref:178"><a href="#fn:178" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">178</a></sup> But men rarely fought each other with weapons, <sup id="fnref:179"><a href="#fn:179" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">179</a></sup> and the Siriono were not warlike. <sup id="fnref:180"><a href="#fn:180" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">180</a></sup> Under extreme provocation they did kill certain whites and missionized Indians, <sup id="fnref:181"><a href="#fn:181" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">181</a></sup> but among the Siriono themselves intentional homicide was almost unknown. <sup id="fnref:182"><a href="#fn:182" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">182</a></sup> Among the Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew aggression of any kind was minimal, though she makes clear that this was not necessarily true of all Bushman groups. <sup id="fnref:183"><a href="#fn:183" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">183</a></sup></p> <p>It is important, too, to realize that deadly violence among primitives is not even remotely comparable to modern warfare. When primitives fight, two little bands of men shoot arrows or swing war-clubs at one another because they want to fight; or because they are defending themselves, their families, or their territory. In the modern world soldiers fight because they are forced to do so, or, at best, because they have been brainwashed into believing in some kook ideology such as that of Nazism, socialism, or what American politicians choose to call “freedom”. In any case the modern soldier is merely a pawn, a dupe who dies not for his family or his tribe but for the politicians who exploit him. If he’s unlucky, maybe he does not die but comes home horribly crippled in a way that would never result from an arrow- or a spear-wound. Meanwhile, thousands of non-combatants are killed or mutilated. The environment is ravaged, not only in the war zone, but also back home, due to the accelerated consumption of natural resources needed to feed the war machine. In comparison, the violence of primitive man is relatively innocuous. That, however, it isn’t good enough for the anarchoprimitivists or for today’s politically correct anthropologists. They can’t deny altogether the existence of violence among hunter-gatherers, since the evidence for it is incontrovertible. But they will stretch the truth as far as they think they can get away with in order to minimize the amount of violence in the human past. It’s worthwhile to give an example that illustrates the silliness of some of the reasoning that they use. In reference to Homo habilis, a physically primitive ancestor of modern man, the anthropologist Haviland writes: “They obtained their meat not by killing live animals but by scavenging Homo habilis got meat by scavenging from carcasses of dead animals, rather than hunting live ones. We know this because the marks of stone tools on the bones of butchered animals commonly overlie marks the teeth of carnivores made. Clearly, Homo habilis did not get to the prey first.” <sup id="fnref:184"><a href="#fn:184" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">184</a></sup></p> <p>But, as Haviland certainly ought to know, many or most predatory animals engage both in hunting and in scavenging. For example, bears, African lions, martens, wolverines, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, hyenas, the raccoon dog of Asia, the Komodo dragon, and some vultures both hunt and scavenge. <sup id="fnref:185"><a href="#fn:185" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">185</a></sup> Thus, the fact that Homo habilis engaged in scavenging provides no evidence whatsoever that he did not also hunt. I emphasize that I do not know or care whether Homo habilis hunted. I see no reason why it should be important for us to know whether our half-human ancestors two million years ago were bloodthirsty killers, peaceful vegetarians, or something in between. The point here is simply to show what kind of reasoning some anthropologists will resort to in their effort to make the human past look as politically correct as possible. Since political correctness has warped the portrayal not only of the human past but of wild nature generally, it should be pointed out that deadly violence among wild animals is not confined to predation of one species upon another. Killing of one member of a species by another member of the same species does occur. For example, it is well known that wild chimpanzees often kill other chimpanzees. <sup id="fnref:186"><a href="#fn:186" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">186</a></sup> Elephants sometimes kill one another in fights, and the same is true of wild pigs. <sup id="fnref:187"><a href="#fn:187" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">187</a></sup> Among the sea birds called brown boobies, two eggs are laid in each nest. After the eggs are hatched, one of the chicks attacks the other and forces it out of the nest, so that it dies. <sup id="fnref:188"><a href="#fn:188" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">188</a></sup> Komodo dragons sometimes eat one another, <sup id="fnref:189"><a href="#fn:189" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">189</a></sup> and there is evidence that cannibalism occurred among some dinosaurs. <sup id="fnref:190"><a href="#fn:190" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">190</a></sup> (Evidence of cannibalism among prehistoric humans is controversial.) <sup id="fnref:191"><a href="#fn:191" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">191</a></sup></p> <p>I do want to make clear that it is by no means my intention to exalt violence. I prefer to see people (and animals) get along smoothly with one another. My purpose is only to expose the irrationality of the politically-correct image of primitive peoples and of wild nature.</p> -<p>7 An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="7">7. <a class="anchor" href="#7"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> <p>But according to Turnbull’s own earlier work, physical fighting was commonplace among the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:196"><a href="#fn:196" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">196</a></sup> If a physical fight isn’t a form of competition, then what is? It’s clear in fact that the Mbuti were a very quarrelsome people, and, in addition to physical fights, there were many verbal disputes among them. <sup id="fnref:197"><a href="#fn:197" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">197</a></sup> Generally speaking, any dispute, whether it is settled physically or verbally; is a form of competition: the interests of one person conflict with those of another, and their quarreling is an effort by each to promote his own interests at the other’s expense. The Mbuti’s jealousies also were evidence of competitive impulses. <sup id="fnref:198"><a href="#fn:198" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">198</a></sup></p> <p>Two things for which the Mbuti competed were mates and food. I’ve already mentioned a case of two women who fought over a man, <sup id="fnref:199"><a href="#fn:199" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">199</a></sup> and quarreling over food apparently was common. <sup id="fnref:200"><a href="#fn:200" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">200</a></sup> It’s worth noting that Turnbull, in his early work, described the Mbuti as “individualists.” <sup id="fnref:201"><a href="#fn:201" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">201</a></sup> There is abundant evidence of competitiveness and/or individualism among other primitive peoples. The Nuer (African pastoralists), the pagan Germanic tribes, the Carib Indians, the Siriono (who lived mainly by hunting and gathering), the Navajo, the Apaches, the Plains Indians, and North American Indians generally have all been described explicitly as “individualistic.” <sup id="fnref:202"><a href="#fn:202" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">202</a></sup> But “individualism” is a vague word that may mean different things to different people, so it’s more helpful to look at definite facts that have been reported. Some of the works that I cite in Note 202 do back up with facts their application of the term “individualistic” to the peoples mentioned. Holmberg writes:</p> <p>“When an Indian [Siriono] has reached adulthood he displays an individualism and apathy toward his fellows that is remarkable. The apparent unconcern of one individual for another-even within the family-never ceased to amaze me while I was living with the Siriono. Frequently men would depart for the hunt alone-without so much as a goodbye-and remain away from the band for weeks at a time without any concern on the part of their fellow tribesmen or even their wives&hellip;.”. “Unconcern with one’s fellows is manifested on every hand. On one occasion Ekwataia went hunting. On his return darkness overcame him about five hundred yards from camp. The night was black as ink, and Ekwataia lost his way. He began to call for help-for someone to bring him fire or to guide him into camp by calls. No one paid heed to his request. After about half an hour, his cries ceased, and his sister Seaci, said: ‘A jaguar probably got him’. When Ekwataia returned the following morning, he told me that he had spent the night sitting on the branch of a tree to avoid being eaten by jaguars.” <sup id="fnref:203"><a href="#fn:203" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">203</a></sup> Holmberg repeatedly remarks on the uncooperative character of the Siriono, and says that those of them who became disabled by age or sickness were simply abandoned by the others. <sup id="fnref:204"><a href="#fn:204" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">204</a></sup> Among other primitive peoples, individualism takes other forms. For example, among most of the North American Indians, warfare was a decidedly individualistic enterprise. “The Indians, being highly individualistic and often fighting more for personal glory than group advantage, never developed a science of warfare.” <sup id="fnref:205"><a href="#fn:205" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">205</a></sup> According to the Cheyenne Indian Wooden Leg: “When any battle actually began it was a case of every man for himself. There were no ordered groupings, no systematic movements in concert, no compulsory goings and comings. Warriors mingled indiscriminately, every one looked out for himself only, or each helped a friend if such help were needed and if the able one’s personal inclination just then was toward friendly helpfulness. The Sioux tribes fought their battles as a band of individuals, the same as we fought ours, and the same as was the way of all Indians I ever knew.” <sup id="fnref:206"><a href="#fn:206" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">206</a></sup></p> @@ -270,12 +284,16 @@ <p>Why “community”? Because of course “community” was a goody-goody word, the kind of word that a kid would use to get brownie points with a teacher. Would any kid in a similar situation have answered “United States of Competition” or “United States of Individualism”? Not likely!</p> <p>It is routinely taken for granted that words like “community,” “cooperation,” “helping,” and “sharing” represent something positive, but “individualism” is seldom used in the mainstream media or in the educational system in an unequivocally positive sense. “Competition” is more often used in a positive sense, but typically it us used that way only in specific contexts in which competition is useful (or at least harmless) to the system. For example, competition is considered desirable in the business word because it weeds out inefficient companies, spurs other companies to become more efficient, and promotes economic and technological progress. But only leashed competition — that is, competition that abides by rules designed to make it harmless or useful — is commonly spoken of favorably. And, when treated in a positive sense, competition is always justified in terms of communitarian values. Thus, business competition is considered good because it promotes efficiency and progress, which supposedly are good for the community as a whole. “Independence,” too, is a “good” word only when used in certain ways. For example, when one speaks of making disabled people “independent” one never thinks of making them independent of the system. One means only that they are to be provided with gainful employment so that the community will not be burdened with the cost of supporting them. Once they have found a job they are every bit as dependent on the system as they were when they lived on welfare, and they have a great deal less freedom to decide how to spend their time. So why do politically-correct anthropologists and others like them contrast the supposedly primitive values of “community,” “cooperation,” “sharing,” and “interdependence” with what they claim are the modern values of “competition,” “individualism” and “independence”? Certainly an important part of the answer is that politically-correct people have absorbed too well the values that the system’s propaganda has taught them, including the values of “cooperation,” “community,” “helping,” and so forth. Another value they have absorbed from propaganda is that of “tolerance,” which in cross-cultural contexts tends to translate into condescending approval of non-Western cultures. A well-socialized modern anthropologist is therefore faced with a conflict: Since he is supposed to be tolerant, he finds it difficult to say anything bad about primitive cultures. But primitive cultures provide abundant examples of behavior that is decidedly bad from the point of view of modern Western values. So the anthropologist has to censor much of the “bad” behavior out of his descriptions of primitive cultures in order to avoid showing them in a negative light. In addition, due to his own excessively thorough socialization, the politically-correct anthropologist has a need to rebel. <sup id="fnref:252"><a href="#fn:252" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">252</a></sup> He is too well socialized to discard the fundamental values of modern society, so he expresses his hostility toward that society by distorting facts to make it seem that modern society deviates from its own stated values to a much greater extent than it actually does. Thus the anthropologist ends by magnifying the competitive and individualistic aspects of modern society while grossly understating these aspects of primitive societies.</p> <p>There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand fully the psychology of these people. It seems obvious, for example, that the politically-correct portrayal of hunter-gatherers is motivated in part by an impulse to construct an image of a pure and innocent world existing at the dawn of time, analogous to the Garden of Eden, but the basis of this impulse is not clear to me.</p> -<p>8 What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> +<h3 id="8">8. <a class="anchor" href="#8"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> <p>“The youngster had speared [the sindula] with his first thrust, pinning the animal to the ground through the fleshy part of the stomach. But the animal was still very much alive, fighting for freedom. Maipe put another spear into its neck, but it still writhed and fought. Not until a third spear pierced its heart did it give up the struggle&hellip;</p> <p>“The pygmies stood around in an excited group, pointing at the dying animal and laughing. One boy, about nine years old, threw himself on the ground and curled up in a grotesque heap and imitated the sindula’s last convulsions&hellip;</p> <p>“At other times I have seen Pygmies singeing feathers off birds that were still alive, explaining that the meat is more tender if death comes slowly. And the hunting dogs, valuable as they are, get kicked around mercilessly from the day they are born to the day they die.” <sup id="fnref:262"><a href="#fn:262" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">262</a></sup></p> <p>A few years later, in Wayward Servants, Turnbull wrote: “The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence. The fun that is sometimes subsequently made of the dead animal, particularly by the youths, appears to be almost a nervous reaction, and there is an element of fear in their behavior. On the other hand, a bird caught alive may deliberately be toyed with, its feathers singed off over the fire while it is still fluttering and squawking until it is finally burned or suffocated to death. This again is usually done by the youths who take the same nervous pleasure in the act; very rarely a young hunter may absent-mindedly [^!?] do the same thing. Older hunters and elders generally disapprove, but do not interfere.”; “The respect seems to be not for animal life but for the game as a gift of the forest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:263"><a href="#fn:263" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">263</a></sup> This does not seem entirely consistent with what Turnbull reported earlier in The Forest People. Maybe Turnbull was already beginning to swing toward political correctness when he wrote Wayward Servants. But even if we take the statements of Wayward Servants at face value, the fact remains that the Mbuti did treat animals with unnecessary cruelty, whether or not they felt “compassion and reverence” for them. If the Mbuti did have compassion for animals, they were probably exceptional in that regard. Hunter-gatherers seem typically to be callous toward animals. The Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived kicked and beat their dogs brutally. <sup id="fnref:264"><a href="#fn:264" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">264</a></sup> The Siriono sometimes captured young animals alive and brought them back to camp, but they gave them nothing to eat, and the animals were treated so roughly by the children that they soon died. <sup id="fnref:265"><a href="#fn:265" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">265</a></sup> It should be noted that many hunting-and-gathering peoples did have a sense of reverence for or closeness to wild animals. I’ve already quoted Colin Turnbull’s statement to that effect in the case of the Mbuti. Coon states that “it is virtually a standard rule among hunters that they should never mock or otherwise insult any wild creature whose life they have brought to an end.” <sup id="fnref:266"><a href="#fn:266" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">266</a></sup> (As the passages I’ve quoted from Turnbull show, there were exceptions to this “standard rule”.) Venturing into speculation, Coon adds that “hunters sense the unity of nature and the combination of humility and responsibility of their role in it.” <sup id="fnref:267"><a href="#fn:267" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">267</a></sup> Wissler describes the closeness to and reverence toward nature (including wild animals) of the North American Indians. <sup id="fnref:268"><a href="#fn:268" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">268</a></sup> Holmberg mentions the Siriono’s “bonds” and “kinship” with the animal world. <sup id="fnref:269"><a href="#fn:269" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">269</a></sup> But, as we’ve already seen, these “bonds” and this “kinship” did not prevent physical cruelty to animals. Clearly, animal-rights activists would be horrified at the way hunter-gatherers often treated animals. For people who look to hunting and gathering cultures as their social ideal, it therefore makes no sense to maintain alliances with the animal-rights movement.</p> -<p>9 To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="9">9. <a class="anchor" href="#9"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> <p>The publisher of the anarchoprimitivist “zine” Species Traitor stated in a letter to me that in hunter-gatherer cultures “people had no property.” <sup id="fnref:280"><a href="#fn:280" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">280</a></sup> This is not true. Various forms of private property did exist among hunter-gatherers — and not only among sedentary ones like the Northwest Coast Indians. It is well known that most hunting-and-gathering peoples had collective property in land. That is, each band of 30 to 130 people owned the territory in which it lived. Coon provides an extended discussion of this. <sup id="fnref:281"><a href="#fn:281" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">281</a></sup> It is less well known that hunter-gatherers, even nomadic ones, could also hold rights to natural resources as individual property, and in some cases such rights could even be inherited. <sup id="fnref:282"><a href="#fn:282" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">282</a></sup> For example, among Mrs. Thomas’s Bushmen: “Each group has a very specific territory which that group alone may use, and they respect their boundaries rigidly. If a person is born in a certain area he or she has a right to eat the melons that grow there and all the veld food. A man may eat the melons wherever his wife can and wherever his father and mother could, so that every Bushman has in this way some kind of rights in many places. Gai, for example, ate melons at Ai a ha’o because his wife’s mother was born there, as well as at his own birthplace, the Okwa Omaramba.” <sup id="fnref:283"><a href="#fn:283" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">283</a></sup></p> <p>Arnong the Veddas (hunter-gatherers of Ceylon), “the band territory was subdivided for individual band members, who could pass their property on to their children.” <sup id="fnref:284"><a href="#fn:284" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">284</a></sup> Arnong certain Australian Aborigines there existed a system of inherited rights to goods obtained in trade for stones extracted from a quarry. <sup id="fnref:285"><a href="#fn:285" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">285</a></sup> Among some other Australian Aborigines, certain fruit trees were privately owned. <sup id="fnref:286"><a href="#fn:286" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">286</a></sup> The Mbuti used termites as food, and among them termite hills could be owned by individuals. <sup id="fnref:287"><a href="#fn:287" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">287</a></sup> Portable items such as tools, clothing, and ornaments usually were owned by individual hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:288"><a href="#fn:288" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">288</a></sup></p> <p>Turnbull mentions the argument of one W. Nippold to the effect that hunter-gatherers, including the Mbuti, had a highly developed sense of private property. Turnbull counters that this is “debatable point, and largely a semantic problem.” <sup id="fnref:289"><a href="#fn:289" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">289</a></sup> Here there is is no need for us to split hairs about what does and what does not constitute private property, or what would be a “highly developed sense” of it. Suffice it to say that the unqualified belief that hunter-gatherers did not have private property is only another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth. It’s important to note, however, that nomadic hunter-gatherers did not accumulate property to the extent of being able to use their wealth to dominate other people. <sup id="fnref:290"><a href="#fn:290" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">290</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer ordinarily had to carry all of his property on his own back whenever he shifted camp, or at best he had to carry it in a canoe or on a dog-sled or travois. <sup id="fnref:291"><a href="#fn:291" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">291</a></sup> By any of these means only a limited amount of property can be transported, hence an upper bound is imposed on the amount of property that a nomad can usefully accumulate.</p> @@ -288,12 +306,14 @@ <p>Turnbull also states that “in the view of mammalogists such as Van Gelder the [Mbuti] hunters are indeed the finest conservationists any conservation-minded government could wish for.” <sup id="fnref:307"><a href="#fn:307" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">307</a></sup> On the other hand, when Turnbull took an Mbuti named Kenge to visit a game preserve out on the plains, Kenge was told “that he would see more game than he had ever seen in the forest, but he was not to try and hunt any. Kenge could not understand this, because to his mind game is meant to be hunted.” <sup id="fnref:308"><a href="#fn:308" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">308</a></sup>. According to Coon, the ethic of the Tikerarmiut Eskimos forbade them to trap more than four wolves, wolverines, foxes, or marmots on any one day. However, this ethic quickly broke down when white traders arrived and tempted the Tikerarmiut with trade goods that they could obtain in exchange for the pelts of the animals named. <sup id="fnref:309"><a href="#fn:309" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">309</a></sup></p> <p>As soon as they acquired steel axes, the Siriono began destroying the wild fruit trees of their region because it was easier to harvest the fruit by cutting the tree down than by climbing it. <sup id="fnref:310"><a href="#fn:310" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">310</a></sup></p> <p>It is well known that some hunter-gatherers intentionally set wildfires because they knew that burned-over land would produce more of the edible plants that they favored. <sup id="fnref:311"><a href="#fn:311" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">311</a></sup> I consider this practice recklessly destructive. It is believed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers, through over-hunting, caused or at least contributed to the extinction of some species of large mammals, <sup id="fnref:312"><a href="#fn:312" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">312</a></sup> though as far as I know this has never been definitely proved. The foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the question of conservation versus environmental recklessness on the part of hunter-gatherers. It’s a question that deserves thorough investigation.</p> -<p>10 I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> +<h3 id="10">10. <a class="anchor" href="#10"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> <p>One is reminded of the response of fundamentalist Christians to any rational attack on their beliefs. Whatever facts one may point out, the fundamentalist will always find some argument, however far-fetched, to explain them away and justify his belief in the literal, word-for-word truth of the Bible. Actually, there is about anarchoprimitivism a distinct flavor of early Christianity. The anarchoprimitivists’ hunting-and-gathering utopia corresponds to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived in ease and without sin (Genesis 2). The invention of agriculture and civilization corresponds to the Fall: Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:6), were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), and thereafter had to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow by tilling the soil (Genesis 3: 19,23). They moreover lost gender equality, since Eve became subordinate to her husband (Genesis 3:16). The revolution that anarchoprimitivists hope will overthrow civilization corresponds to the Day of Judgment, the day of destruction on which Babylon will fall (Revelation 18:2). The return to primitive utopia corresponds to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, wherein “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be.any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).</p> <p>Today’s activists who risk their bodies by engaging in masochistic resistance tactics, such as chaining themselves across roads to prevent the passage of logging trucks, correspond to the Christian martyrs-the true believers who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4). Veganism corresponds to the dietary restrictions of many religions, such as the Christian fast during Lent. Like anarchoprimitivists, the early Christians emphasized egalitarianism (“whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased”, Matthew 23:12) and sharing (“distribution was made unto every man according as he had need”, Acts 4:35). The psychological affinity between anarchoprimitivism and early Christianity does not augur well. As soon as the emperor Constantine gave the Christians an opportunity to become powerful they sold out, and ever since then Christianity, more often than not, has served as a prop for the established powers.</p> -<ol start="11"> -<li>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</li> -</ol> +<h3 id="11">11. <a class="anchor" href="#11"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</p> <p>Why does this matter? Because it shows that chronic stress, anxiety and frustration, depression, and so forth, are not inevitable parts of the human condition, but are disorders brought on by modern civilization. Nor is servitude an inevitable part of the human condition: The example of at least some nomadic hunter-gatherer shows that true freedom is possible. Even more important: Regardless of whether they were good conservationists or poor ones, primitive peoples were incapable of damaging their environment to anything remotely approaching the extent to which modern man is damaging his. Primitives simply didn’t have the power to do that much damage. They may have used fire recklessly and they may have exterminated some species through overhunting, but they had no way to dam large rivers, to cover thousands of square miles of the Earth’s surface with cities and pavement, or to produce the vast quantities of toxic chemicals and radioactive waste with which modern civilization threatens to ruin the world for good and all. Nor did primitives have any means of releasing the deadly-dangerous forces represented by genetic engineering and by the super-intelligent computers that may soon be developed. These are dangers that scare even the technophiles themselves. <sup id="fnref:313"><a href="#fn:313" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">313</a></sup> So I agree with the anarchoprimitivists that the advent of civilization was a great disaster and that the Industrial Revolution was an even greater one. I further agree that a revolution against modernity, and against civilization in general, is necessary. But you can’t build an effective revolutionary movement out of soft-headed dreamers, lazies, and charlatans. You have to have tough-minded, realistic, practical people, and people of that kind don’t need the anarchoprimitivists’ mushy utopian myth.</p> <h2 id="concluding-note">Concluding Note <a class="anchor" href="#concluding-note"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> diff --git a/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/index.xml b/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/index.xml index dd367665..cdc1a980 100644 --- a/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/index.xml +++ b/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/index.xml @@ -200,10 +200,14 @@ https://vodoraslo.xyz/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/ <h2 id="the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism">The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism <a class="anchor" href="#the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> -</a></h2><p>1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> +</a></h2><h3 id="1">1. <a class="anchor" href="#1"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games &hellip; one could go on and on.</p> <p>The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation.</p> <p>Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality.</p> -<p>2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> +<h3 id="2">2. <a class="anchor" href="#2"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day &hellip; the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). <sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.</p> <p>Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society <sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">2</a></sup>), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence <sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">3</a></sup>). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” <sup id="fnref:4"><a href="#fn:4" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">4</a></sup> For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. <sup id="fnref:5"><a href="#fn:5" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">5</a></sup> Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. <sup id="fnref:6"><a href="#fn:6" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">6</a></sup></p> <p>In a part of his essay that many anarchoprimitivists have found convenient to overlook, Bob Black acknowledges the forty-hour work-week and explains the foregoing contradiction: Sahlins followed early work of Lee that considered only time spent in hunting and foraging. When all necessary work was considered, the work-week was more than doubled. <sup id="fnref:7"><a href="#fn:7" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">7</a></sup> The work omitted from consideration by Sahlins and the anarchoprimitivists was probably the most disagreeable part of the Bushmen’s work-week, too, since it consisted largely of food-preparation and firewood collection. <sup id="fnref:8"><a href="#fn:8" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">8</a></sup> I speak from extensive personal experience with wild foods: Preparing such foods for use is very often a pain in the neck. It is far more pleasant to gather nuts, dig roots, or hunt game than it is to crack nuts, clean roots, or skin and butcher game — or to collect firewood and cook over an open fire.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists also err in assuming that Lee’s findings can be applied to hunter-gatherers generally. It’s not even clear that those findings are applicable on a year-round basis to the Bushmen studied by Lee. Cashdan cites evidence that Lee’s research may have been done at the time of year when his Bushmen worked least. <sup id="fnref:9"><a href="#fn:9" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">9</a></sup> She also mentions two other hunting-and-gathering peoples who have been shown quantitatively to spend far more time in hunting and foraging than Lee’s Bushmen did, <sup id="fnref:10"><a href="#fn:10" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">10</a></sup> and she points out that Lee may have seriously underestimated women’s working time because he failed to include time spent on childcare. <sup id="fnref:11"><a href="#fn:11" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">11</a></sup></p> @@ -220,7 +224,9 @@ <p>However, I have not been trying to prove that primitive man was less fortunate in his working life than modern man is. In my opinion the contrary was true. Probably at least some nomadic hunter-gatherers had more leisure time than modern employed Americans do. It’s true that the roughly forty-hour work-week of Richard Lee’s Bushmen was about equal to the standard American work-week. But modern Americans are burdened with many demands on their time outside their hours of employment. I myself, when working at a forty-hour job, have generally felt busy: I’ve had to shop for groceries, go to the bank, do the laundry, fill out income-tax forms, take the car in for maintenance, get a haircut, go to the dentist &hellip;there was always something that needed to be done. Many of the people I now correspond with likewise complain of being busy. In contrast, the male Bushman’s time was genuinely his own outside of his working hours; he could spend his non-working time as he pleased. Bushman women of reproductive age may have had much less leisure time because, like women of all societies, they were burdened with the care of small children.</p> <p>But leisure is a modern concept, and the emphasis that anarchoprimitivists put on it is evidence of their servitude to the values of the civilization that they claim to reject. The amount of time expended in work is not what matters. Many authors have discussed what is wrong with work in modern society, and I see no reason to go over that ground again. What does matter is that, apart from monotony, what is wrong with work in modern society is not wrong with the work of nomadic hunter-gatherers. The hunter-gatherer’s work is challenging, both in terms of physical effort and in terms of the level of skill required. <sup id="fnref:40"><a href="#fn:40" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">40</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer’s work is purposeful, and its purpose is not abstract, remote, or artificial but concrete, very real, and directly important to the worker: He works to satisfy the physical needs of himself, his family, and other people to whom he is personally close. Above all, the nomadic hunter-gatherer is a free worker: He is not exploited, he is subservient to no boss, no one gives him orders; <sup id="fnref:41"><a href="#fn:41" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">41</a></sup> he designs is own work-day, if not as an individual then as a member of a group that is small enough so that every individual can participate meaningfully in the decisions that are made <sup id="fnref:42"><a href="#fn:42" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">42</a></sup>. Modern jobs tend to be psychologically stressful, but there are reasons to believe that primitive people’s work typically involved little psychological stress. <sup id="fnref:43"><a href="#fn:43" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">43</a></sup> Hunter-gatherers’ work often monotonous, but it is my view that monotony generally causes primitive people relatively little discomfort. Boredom, I think, is largely a civilized phenomenon and is a product of psychological stresses that are characteristic of civilized life. This admittedly is a matter of personal opinion, I can ‘t prove it, and a discussion of it would take us beyond the scope of this article. Here I will only say that my opinion is based largely on my own experience of living outside the technoindustrial system. How hunter-gatherers felt about their own work is difficult to say, since anthropologists and others who visited primitive peoples (at least those whose reports I’ve read) usually do not seem to have asked such questions. But the following from Holmberg’s worth noting: “They are relatively apathetic to work (taba taba), which includes such distasteful tasks as housebuilding, gathering firewood, clearing, planting, and tilling of fields. In quite a different class, however, are such pleasant occupations as hunting (gwata gwata) and collecting (deka deka, ‘to look for’), which are regarded more as diversions than as work.” <sup id="fnref:44"><a href="#fn:44" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">44</a></sup></p> <p>This despite the fact that, as we saw earlier, the Siriono’s hunting and collecting activities were exceedingly time-consuming, fatiguing, strenuous, and physically demanding.</p> -<p>3 Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> +<h3 id="3">3. <a class="anchor" href="#3"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherers, at least the nomadic ones, had gender equality. John Zerzan, for example, has asserted this in Future Primitive <sup id="fnref:45"><a href="#fn:45" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">45</a></sup> and elsewhere. <sup id="fnref:46"><a href="#fn:46" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">46</a></sup> Probably some hunter-gatherer societies did have full gender equality, though I don ‘t know of a single unarguable example. I do know of hunting-and-gathering cultures that had a relatively high degree of gender equality but fell short of full equality. In other nomadic hunter-gatherer societies male dominance was unmistakable, and in some such societies it reached the level of out-and-out brutality toward women. Probably the most touted example of gender equality among hunter-gatherers is that of Richard Lee’s Bushmen, whom we mentioned earlier in our discussion of the hunter-gatherer’s working life. It should be noted at the outset that it would be very risky to assume that Lee’s conclusions concerning the Dobe Bushmen could be applied to the Bushmen of the Kalahari region generally. Different groups of Bushmen differed culturally; <sup id="fnref:47"><a href="#fn:47" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">47</a></sup> they didn’t even all speak the same language. <sup id="fnref:48"><a href="#fn:48" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">48</a></sup> At any rate, relying largely on Richard Lee’s studies, Nancy Bonvillain states that among the Dobe Bushmen (whom she calls “Ju/’hoansi”), “social norms clearly support the notion of equality of women and men,” <sup id="fnref:49"><a href="#fn:49" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">49</a></sup> and that their “society overtly validates equality of women and men.” <sup id="fnref:50"><a href="#fn:50" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">50</a></sup> So the Dobe Bushmen had gender equality, right?</p> <p>Well, maybe not. Look at some of the facts that Bonvillain herself offers in the same book: “Most leaders and camp spokespersons are men. Although women and men participate in group discussions and decision making, &hellip;men’s talk in discussions involving both genders amounts to about two-thirds of the total.” <sup id="fnref:51"><a href="#fn:51" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">51</a></sup></p> <p>Much worse are the forced marriages of girls in their early teens to men much older than themselves. <sup id="fnref:52"><a href="#fn:52" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">52</a></sup> It’s true that practices that seem cruel to us may not be experienced as cruel by people of other cultures on whom they are imposed. But Bonvillain quotes words of a Bushman woman that show that at least some girls did experience their forced marriages as cruel: “I cried and cried”; <sup id="fnref:53"><a href="#fn:53" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">53</a></sup> “I ran away again and again. A part of my heart kept thinking: ‘how come I’m a child and have taken a husband?’” <sup id="fnref:54"><a href="#fn:54" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">54</a></sup> Moreover, “because seniority confers prestige&hellip;, the greater age, experience, and maturity of husbands may make wives socially, if not personally, subordinate.” <sup id="fnref:55"><a href="#fn:55" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">55</a></sup> Thus, while the Dobe Bushmen no doubt had some of the elements of gender equality, one would have to stretch a point pretty far to claim that they had full gender equality. On the basis of his personal experience, Colin Turnbull stated that among the Mbuti pygmies of Africa, a “woman is in no way the social inferior of a man,” <sup id="fnref:56"><a href="#fn:56" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">56</a></sup> and that “the woman is not discriminated against. <sup id="fnref:57"><a href="#fn:57" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">57</a></sup> That sounds like gender equality &hellip;until you look at the concrete facts that Turnbull himself offers in the very same books: “ A certain amount of wife-beating is considered good, and the wife is expected to fight back; <sup id="fnref:58"><a href="#fn:58" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">58</a></sup> “He said that he was very content with his wife, and he had not found it necessary to beat her at all often,” <sup id="fnref:59"><a href="#fn:59" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">59</a></sup>; Man throws wife to the ground and slaps her; <sup id="fnref:60"><a href="#fn:60" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">60</a></sup> Husband beats wife; <sup id="fnref:61"><a href="#fn:61" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">61</a></sup> Man beats sister; <sup id="fnref:62"><a href="#fn:62" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">62</a></sup> Kenge beats his sister; <sup id="fnref:63"><a href="#fn:63" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">63</a></sup> “Perhaps he should have beaten her harder, Tungana [an old man] said, for some girls like being beaten,” <sup id="fnref:64"><a href="#fn:64" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">64</a></sup>; “Amabosu countered by smacking her firmly across the face. Normally Ekianga would have approved of such manly assertion of authority over a disloyal wife.” <sup id="fnref:65"><a href="#fn:65" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">65</a></sup> Turnbull mentions two instances of men giving orders to their wives. <sup id="fnref:66"><a href="#fn:66" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">66</a></sup> I have not found any instance in Turnbull’ s books of wives giving orders to their husbands. Pipestem obtained by wife is referred to as husband’s property. <sup id="fnref:67"><a href="#fn:67" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">67</a></sup> “[A boy] has to have [a girl’s] permission before intercourse can take place. The men say that once they lie down with a girl, however, if they want her they take her by surprise, when petting her, and force her to their will.” <sup id="fnref:68"><a href="#fn:68" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">68</a></sup> Nowadays we would call that “date rape”, and the young man involved would risk a long prison sentence.</p> <p>For the sake of balance, let’s note that Turnbull found among the Mbuti no instance of what we would call “street rape” as opposed to “date rape”; <sup id="fnref:69"><a href="#fn:69" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">69</a></sup> husbands were not supposed to hit their wives on the head or in the face; <sup id="fnref:70"><a href="#fn:70" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">70</a></sup> and in at least one case in which a man took to beating his wife too frequently and severly, his campmates eventually found means to end the abuse without the use of force and without overt interference. <sup id="fnref:71"><a href="#fn:71" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">71</a></sup> It should also be borne in mind that the significance of a beating depends on the cultural context. In our society it is a great humiliation to be struck by another person, especially by one who is bigger and stronger than oneself. But since blows were commonplace among the Mbuti, <sup id="fnref:72"><a href="#fn:72" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">72</a></sup> it is probably safe to assume that they were not felt as particularly humiliating . Nevertheless it is quite clear that some degree of male dominance was present among the Mbuti. Among the Siriono: “A woman is subservient to her husband”; <sup id="fnref:73"><a href="#fn:73" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">73</a></sup> “The extended family is generally dominated by the oldest active male”; <sup id="fnref:74"><a href="#fn:74" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">74</a></sup> “[Women] are dominated by the men”; <sup id="fnref:75"><a href="#fn:75" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">75</a></sup> “If a man is out in the forest alone with a woman, &hellip;he may throw her to the ground roughly and take his prize [sex] without so much as saying a word”; <sup id="fnref:76"><a href="#fn:76" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">76</a></sup> Parents definitely preferred to have male children; <sup id="fnref:77"><a href="#fn:77" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">77</a></sup> “Although the title ererekwa is reserved by the men for a chief, it one asks a woman: ‘who is your ererekwa?’ she will invariably reply: ‘my husband’.” <sup id="fnref:78"><a href="#fn:78" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">78</a></sup> On the other hand, the Siriono never beat their wives, <sup id="fnref:79"><a href="#fn:79" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">79</a></sup> and “Women enjoy about the same privileges as men. They get as much or more food to eat, and they enjoy the same sexual freedom.” <sup id="fnref:80"><a href="#fn:80" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">80</a></sup> According to Bonvillain, Eskimo men “dominate their wives and daughters. Men’s dominance is not total, however&hellip;&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:81"><a href="#fn:81" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">81</a></sup> She describes gender relations among the Eskimos in some detail, <sup id="fnref:82"><a href="#fn:82" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">82</a></sup> which may or may not be slanted to reflect her feminist ideology.</p> @@ -228,11 +234,15 @@ <p>Although there was “real harmony and mutual understanding in most Aboriginal families”, wife-beating was practiced. <sup id="fnref:95"><a href="#fn:95" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">95</a></sup> According to A. P. Elkin, under some circumstances-for example, on certain ceremonial occasions-women had to submit to compulsory sex, which “implies that woman is but an object to be used in certain socially established ways.” <sup id="fnref:96"><a href="#fn:96" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">96</a></sup> The women, says Elkin, “may often not object,” <sup id="fnref:97"><a href="#fn:97" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">97</a></sup> but: “They sometimes live in terror of the use which is made of them at some ceremonial times.” <sup id="fnref:98"><a href="#fn:98" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">98</a></sup> Of course, no claim is made here that all of the foregoing conditions prevailed in all parts of aboriginal Australia. Culture was not uniform across the continent. Coon says that the Australians were nomadic, but he also states that in parts of southeastern Australia, namely “The better-watered parts, particularly Victoria and the Murray River country”, the aborigines were “relatively sedentary.” <sup id="fnref:99"><a href="#fn:99" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">99</a></sup> According to Massola, in the drier parts of southeastern Australia the aborigines had to cover long distances between fast-drying wells in times of drought. <sup id="fnref:100"><a href="#fn:100" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">100</a></sup> This corresponds with the high degree of nomadism described for other arid parts of Australia, where “Aboigines moved from waterhole to waterhole along well-defined tracks in small family groups. The whole camp moved and rarely established bases.” <sup id="fnref:101"><a href="#fn:101" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">101</a></sup> In stating that in “the better-watered parts” the aborigines were “relatively sedentary”, Coon doubtless means that “in fertile regions there were well-established camping areas, close to water, where people always camped at certain times of year. Camps were bases from which people made forays into the surrounding bush for food, returning in the late afternoon or spending a few days away.” <sup id="fnref:102"><a href="#fn:102" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">102</a></sup> Coon says that in part of the well-watered Murray River country each territorial clan had a headman and a council consisting mainly of men, though in a few cases women were also elected to the council; whereas, farther to the north and west, there was little formal leadership and “control over the women and younger males was shared between” the men aged from thirty to fifty. <sup id="fnref:103"><a href="#fn:103" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">103</a></sup> Thus Australian women had very little overt political power. Yet, as among Poncins’s Eskimos, certainly in our society, and probably in every society, the women often exercised great influence their menfolk <sup id="fnref:104"><a href="#fn:104" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">104</a></sup>.</p> <p>The Tasmanians also were nomadic hunter-gatherers (though some were “relatively sedentary”), <sup id="fnref:105"><a href="#fn:105" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">105</a></sup> and it’s not clear that they treated women any better than the Australians did. “In one account we are told that a band living near Hobart Town before the colonists’ arrival was raided by neighbors who killed the men who tried to stop them and took away their women. And there are other accounts of individual cases of marriage by capture. Sometimes when a man from a neighboring band had the right to marry a girl, but neither she nor her parents liked him, it is said that they killed the girl rather than give her up”; <sup id="fnref:106"><a href="#fn:106" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">106</a></sup> “The other tribes considered [a certain tribe] cowards, and raided them to steal their women”; <sup id="fnref:107"><a href="#fn:107" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">107</a></sup> “Woorrady raped and killed a sister-in-law.” <sup id="fnref:108"><a href="#fn:108" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">108</a></sup></p> <p>Here I should make clear that it is not my intention to argue against gender equality. I myself am enough a product of modern industrial society to feel that women and men should have equal status. My purpose at this point is simply to exhibit the facts concerning the relations between the sexes in hunting-and-gathering societies.</p> -<p>4 There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="4">4. <a class="anchor" href="#4"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>There is a problem involved in any attempt to draw conclusions about original, “pure” hunter-gatherer cultures from reported observations of living hunter-gatherer societies. If we have a description of a primitive culture, it ordinarily will have been written by some civilized person. If the description is detailed, then, by the time it was written, the primitive people described very likely will have had significant contact, direct or indirect, with civilization, and such contact can bring about dramatic changes in a primitive culture. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, in the epilogue to the 1989 edition of her book The Harmless People, <sup id="fnref:109"><a href="#fn:109" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">109</a></sup> describes the catastrophically destructive effect of civilization on the Bushmen she knew. Harold B. Barclay has pointed out that (for example) modern Eskimos “are quite pleased with their high powered rifles, motorboats and so forth.” <sup id="fnref:110"><a href="#fn:110" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">110</a></sup> “So forth” would include snowmobiles. Hence, Barclay says, “hunter gatherers today are in no sense identical to hunter gatherers of a thousand or ten thousand year ago.” <sup id="fnref:111"><a href="#fn:111" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">111</a></sup> According to Cashdan, writing in 1989, “all hunter-gatherers in the world today are in contact, directly or indirectly, with the world economy. This fact should caution us against viewing today’s hunter-gatherers as ‘snapshots’ of the past.” <sup id="fnref:112"><a href="#fn:112" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">112</a></sup> Of course, in seeking evidence of the way human beings lived prior to the advent of civilization, no one in his right mind would turn to peoples who used motorboats, snowmobiles, and high-powered rifles, <sup id="fnref:113"><a href="#fn:113" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">113</a></sup> or to peoples whose cultures had obviously been grossly disrupted by the intrusion of civilized societies. We look for accounts of hunter-gatherers written (at least) several decades ago and at a time when — as far as we can tell — their cultures had not been seriously altered by contact with civilization. But it’s not always easy to tell whether contact with civilization has altered a primitive culture. Coon is clearly aware of this problem, and in his excellent survey of hunter-gatherer cultures he gives the following example of how seemingly slight interference from civilization can have a dramatic effect on a primitive culture: When “well-meaning missionaries handed out steel axes” to the Yir Yoront aborigines of Australia, the “Yir Yoront world almost came to an end. The men lost their authority over their wives, a generation gap appeared,” and a system of trade stretching over hundreds of miles was disrupted. <sup id="fnref:114"><a href="#fn:114" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">114</a></sup> Richard Lee’s Bushmen are perhaps the favorite example for anarchoprimitivists and leftish anthropologists who want to present a politically-correct image of hunter-gatherers, and Lee’s Bushmen were among the least “pure” of the hunter-gatherers we’ve mentioned here. They may not even have always been hunter gatherers. <sup id="fnref:115"><a href="#fn:115" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">115</a></sup> In any case they had probably been trading with agricultural and pastoral peoples for a couple of thousand years. <sup id="fnref:116"><a href="#fn:116" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">116</a></sup> The Kung Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew had metal acquired through trade, <sup id="fnref:117"><a href="#fn:117" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">117</a></sup> and the same apparently was true of Lee’s Bushmen. <sup id="fnref:118"><a href="#fn:118" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">118</a></sup> Mrs. Thomas writes: “In the ten to twenty years after we started our work, many academics [this presumably includes Richard Lee] developed an enormous interest in the Bushmen. Many of them went to Botswana to visit groups of Kung Bushmen, and for a time in Botswana, the anthropologists/Bushmen ratio seemed almost one to one.” <sup id="fnref:119"><a href="#fn:119" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">119</a></sup> Obviously, the presence of so many anthropologists may itself have affected the behavior of the Bushmen. In the 1950’s, <sup id="fnref:120"><a href="#fn:120" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">120</a></sup> when Turnbull studied them, still more in the 1920’s and 1930’s <sup id="fnref:121"><a href="#fn:121" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">121</a></sup> when Schebesta studied them, the Mbuti apparently had not had much direct contact with civilization, so that Schebesta went so far as to claim that “the Mbuti not only racially, but also psychologically and in terms of cultural history, are a primeval phenomenon (Urphanomen) among the races and peoples of the Earth.” <sup id="fnref:122"><a href="#fn:122" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">122</a></sup> Yet the Mbuti had already begun to be somewhat affected by civilization a few years before Schebesta’s first visit to them. <sup id="fnref:123"><a href="#fn:123" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">123</a></sup> And for centuries before that, the Mbuti had lived in close contact (which included extensive trade relations) with non-civilized, village-dwelling cultivators of crops. <sup id="fnref:124"><a href="#fn:124" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">124</a></sup> As Schebesta wrote, “The belief that the Mbuti have been hermetically sealed off from the outer world has been laid to rest once and for all.” <sup id="fnref:125"><a href="#fn:125" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">125</a></sup> Turnbull goes farther: “’This is in no way to say that the [social] structure to be found among the Mbuti is representative of an original pygmy hunting and gathering structure; in fact probably far from it, for the repercussions of the invasion of the forest by the village cultivators have been enormous.” <sup id="fnref:126"><a href="#fn:126" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">126</a></sup></p> <p>Though some of Gontran de Poncins’s Eskimos were “purer” than others, <sup id="fnref:127"><a href="#fn:127" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">127</a></sup> it appears that all of them had at least some trade goods from the whites. If any reader cares to take the trouble to track down the earliest primary sources — perhaps some of Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s work — so as to approach as closely as possible to an original and “pure” Eskimo culture, I would be interested to hear of his or her findings. But it is possible that even long before European contact the Eskimos’ culture may have been affected by something that they received from a non-hunting society; for their sled dogs may not have originated with hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:128"><a href="#fn:128" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">128</a></sup></p> <p>With the Siriono we come closer to purity than we do with the Bushmen, the Mbuti, or Poncins’s Eskimos. The Siriono did not even have dogs, <sup id="fnref:129"><a href="#fn:129" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">129</a></sup> and even though they cultivated crops to a limited extent anthropologists regarded their culture as Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). <sup id="fnref:130"><a href="#fn:130" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">130</a></sup> Some of the Siriono studied by Holmberg had had little or no contact with whites prior to Holmberg’s arrival <sup id="fnref:131"><a href="#fn:131" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">131</a></sup> and, among those Siriono, European tools were rarely encountered <sup id="fnref:132"><a href="#fn:132" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">132</a></sup> until Holmberg himself introduced them. <sup id="fnref:133"><a href="#fn:133" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">133</a></sup> Instead, the Siriono made their tools of naturally-occurring local materials.<sup id="fnref:134"><a href="#fn:134" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">134</a></sup> The Siriono moreover were so primitive that they could not count beyond three. <sup id="fnref:135"><a href="#fn:135" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">135</a></sup> Nevertheless, Siriono culture might have been affected by contact with more “advanced” societies, since Holmberg thought the Siriono were “probably a remnant of an ancient population that was exterminated, absorbed, or engulfed by more civilized invaders.” <sup id="fnref:136"><a href="#fn:136" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">136</a></sup> Lauriston Sharp even suggested that the Siriono might have “degenerated” [sic] “from a more advanced technical condition,” though Holmberg rejected this view and Sharp himself considered it “irrelevant.” <sup id="fnref:137"><a href="#fn:137" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">137</a></sup> In addition, the Siriono might have been affected indirectly by European civilization, since probably at least some of the diseases from which they suffered, e.g., malaria, had been brought to the Americas by Europeans. <sup id="fnref:138"><a href="#fn:138" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">138</a></sup> It’s not surprising that most of the hunter-gatherers I’ve mentioned here — like those cited by the anarchoprimitivists and the politically-correct anthropologists — were affected by direct or indirect contact with agricultural or pastoral peoples even long before their first contact with Europeans, because outside of Australia, Tasmania, and the far west and north of North America “populations which remained faithful to the old hunter-gatherer way of live were small and scattered.” <sup id="fnref:139"><a href="#fn:139" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">139</a></sup> Consequently, with the possible exception of some who lived on small islands, they necessarily had some form of contact with surrounding non-hunter-gatherer populations.</p> <p>Probably the Australian Aborigines and the Tasmanians were the hunter-gatherers who were purest when Europeans first found them. Australia was the only continent that was inhabited exclusively by hunter-gatherers until the white man’s arrival, and Tasmania, an island just to the south of Australia, was even more isolated. But Tasmania may have been visited by Polynesians, and in the north of Australia there was some limited contact with people from Indonesia and New Guinea prior to the arrival of Europeans. <sup id="fnref:140"><a href="#fn:140" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">140</a></sup> Still earlier contact with outsiders, who mayor may not have been hunter-gatherers, is probable. <sup id="fnref:141"><a href="#fn:141" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">141</a></sup> Thus we have no conclusive proof that hunter-gatherer cultures that survived into recent times had not been seriously affected by contact with non-hunter-gatherers by the time the first descriptions of them were written. Consequently, more or less uncertainty is involved in using reports on recent hunter-gatherer societies to draw conclusions about gender relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. And any conclusions drawn from archaeological remains about the social relationships between men and women can only be highly speculative. So, if you like, you can reject all evidence from descriptions of recent hunter-gatherer cultures, and in that case we know almost nothing about the gender relations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Or (with the necessary reservations) you can accept the evidence from recent hunter-gatherer societies, and in that case the evidence clearly points to a significant degree of male dominance. In either case, there is no evidence to support the anarchoprimitivists’ belief that all or most human societies had full gender equality prior to the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry some ten thousand years ago.</p> -<p>5 Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> +<h3 id="5">5. <a class="anchor" href="#5"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>Our review of the facts concerning gender relations in recent hunter-gatherers societies helps to reveal something of the psychology of the anarchoprimitivists and that of their cousins, the politically-correct anthropologists.</p> <p>The anarchoprimitivists, and many politically-correct anthropologists, cite any evidence they can find that hunter-gatherers had gender equality, while systematically ignoring the abundant evidence of gender inequality found in eyewitness reports of hunter-gatherer cultures. For example, the anthropologist Haviland, in his textbook Cultural Anthropology, states that an “important characteristic of the food-foraging [hunther-gatherer] society is its egalitarianism.” <sup id="fnref:142"><a href="#fn:142" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">142</a></sup> He acknowledges that the two sexes may have had different status in such societies, but claims that “status differences by themselves do not imply any necessary inequality”, and that in “traditional food-foraging societies, nothing necessitated special deference of women to men.” <sup id="fnref:143"><a href="#fn:143" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">143</a></sup> If you check the pages listed in Haviland’s index for the entries “Bushmen”, “Ju/’hoansi” (another name for the Dobe Bushmen), “Eskimo”, “Inuit” (another name for Eskimos), “Mbuti”, “Tasma-nian”, “Australian”, and “Aborigine” (the Siriono are not listed in the index), you will find no mention of wife-beating, forced marriage, forced sexual intercourse, or any of the other indications of male dominance that I’ve cited above. Haviland does not deny that these things occurred. He does not claim, for example, that Turnbull merely invented his stories of wife-beating among the Mbuti, or that such-and-such evidence shows that Australian Aboriginal women were not subjected to involuntary sex before the arrival of Europeans. He simply ignores these issues, as if they didn’t exist. And it’s not that Haviland isn’t aware of the issues. For example, he quotes from A. P. Elkin’s book, The Australian Aborigines, <sup id="fnref:144"><a href="#fn:144" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">144</a></sup> an indication that he not only is familiar with the book but considers it a reliable source of information. Yet Elkin’s book, which I cited earlier, provides ample evidence of Australian Aboriginal men’s tyranny over their women <sup id="fnref:145"><a href="#fn:145" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">145</a></sup> — evidence that Haviland fails to mention. It’s pretty clear what is going on: Equality of the sexes is a fundamental tenet of the mainstream ideology of modern society. As highly-socialized members of that society, politically-correct anthropologists believe in the principle of gender equality with something akin to religious conviction, and they feel a need to give us little moral lessons by holding up for our admiration examples of the gender equality that supposedly prevailed when the human race was in a pristine and unspoiled state. This portrayal of primitive cultures is driven by the anthropologists’ own need to reaffirm their faith, and has nothing to do with an honest search for truth.</p> <p>To take another example, I’ve written to John Zerzan four times inviting him to back up his claims about gender equality among hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:146"><a href="#fn:146" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">146</a></sup> The answers he gave me were vague and evasive. <sup id="fnref:147"><a href="#fn:147" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">147</a></sup> I would gladly publish here Zerzan’s letters to me on this subject so that the reader could judge them for himself. However, I wrote to Zerzan requesting permission to publish his letters, and he denied me that permission. <sup id="fnref:148"><a href="#fn:148" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">148</a></sup> With his letters he sent me photocopies of pages from a few books that contained vague, general statements ostensibly supporting his claims about gender equality; for instance, this statement by John E Pfeiffer, who is neither a specialist nor an eyewitness of primitive behavior, but a popularizer: “For reasons unknown sexism arrived with settling and farming, with the emergence of complex society.” <sup id="fnref:149"><a href="#fn:149" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">149</a></sup></p> <p>Zerzan also sent me a photocopy of a page from Bonvillain’s book containing the following statement: “In foraging band [hunter-gatherer] societies, the potential for gender equality is perhaps the greatest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:150"><a href="#fn:150" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">150</a></sup> But Zerzan did not include copies of the pages on which Bonvillain said that male dominance was evident in some hunter-gatherer societies such as that of the Eskimos, or the pages on which she gave information that cast gave doubt on her own claim of gender equality among the Dobe Bushmen, as I discussed above.</p> @@ -244,13 +254,17 @@ <p>It’s worth noting that Zerzan apparently believes that our ancestors were capable of mental telepathy. <sup id="fnref:162"><a href="#fn:162" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">162</a></sup> But particularly revealing is Zerzan’ s quotation of “Shanks and Tilley”: “The point of archaeology is not merely to interpret the past but to change the manner in which the past is interpreted in the service of social reconstruction in the present.” <sup id="fnref:163"><a href="#fn:163" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">163</a></sup> This is virtually open advocacy of the proposition that archaeologists should slant their findings for political purposes. What better evidence could there be of the massive politicization that has taken place in American anthropology over the last 35 or 40 years? In view of this politicization, anything in recent anthropological literature that portrays primitive peoples’ behavior as politically correct must be viewed with the utmost skepticism.</p> <p>After citing to Zerzan some of the examples of gender inequality that I’ve discussed above, I questioned his honesty on the ground that he had “systematically excluded nearly all of the evidence that undercuts the idealized picture of hunter-gatherer societies” that he wanted to present. <sup id="fnref:164"><a href="#fn:164" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">164</a></sup> Zerzan answered that he “did not find many credible sources that contradicted his outlook. <sup id="fnref:165"><a href="#fn:165" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">165</a></sup> This statement strains credulity. Some of the examples that I cited to Zerzan (and have discussed above) were from books on which he himself had relied-those of Bonvillain and Turnbull. <sup id="fnref:166"><a href="#fn:166" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">166</a></sup> Yet he somehow managed to overlook all of the evidence in those books that contradicted his claims. Since Zerzan has read widely about hunter-gatherer societies, and the Australian Aborigines are among the best-known hunter-gatherers, I find it very difficult to believe that he has never come across any accounts of the Australians’ mistreatment of women. Yet he never mentions such accounts-not even for the purpose of refuting them.</p> <p>One does not necessarily have to assume any conscious dishonesty on Zerzan’s part. As Nietzsche said, “The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.” <sup id="fnref:167"><a href="#fn:167" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">167</a></sup> In other words, self-deception often precedes deception of others. An important factor here may be one that is well known to professional propagandists: people tend to block out — to fail to perceive or to remember — information that they find uncongenial<sup id="fnref:168"><a href="#fn:168" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">168</a></sup>. Since information that discredits one’s ideology is highly uncongenial, it follows that people will tend to block out such information. A young anarchoprimitivist with whom I’ve corresponded has provided me with an amazing example of this phenomenon. He wrote to me: “there is no question about the persistence [sic] of patriarchy in all other oceanic societies, but none seems apparent in the [Australian] Aborigines — According to A. P. Elkin’s The Australian Aborigines wives were not held in a restrictive marriage at all.” <sup id="fnref:169"><a href="#fn:169" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">169</a></sup> It was apparent that my anarchoprimitivist friend had read Elkin’s discussion of women’s position in Australian Aboriginal society. I’ve cited above some of the relevant pages of Elkin’s book, such as those on which he states that Australian Aboriginal women sometimes lived in terror of the compulsory sex to which they were subjected at some ceremonial times. Any reasonably rational person who will take the trouble to read those pages <sup id="fnref:170"><a href="#fn:170" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">170</a></sup> will find himself hard-pressed to explain how my anarchoprimitivist friend could have read that material and then claimed in all seriousness that no patriarchy seemed apparent in Australian Aboriginal society — unless my friend simply blocked out of his mind the information that he found ideologically unacceptable. My friend did not question the accuracy of Elkin I s information; in fact, he was relying on Elkin as an authority. He simply remained oblivious to the information that indicated patriarchy among the Australian Aborigines. But this time it should be sufficiently clear to the reader that what the anarchoprimitivists (and many anthropologists) are up to has nothing to do with a rational search for the truth about primitive cultures. Instead, they have been developing a myth.</p> -<p>6 I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="6">6. <a class="anchor" href="#6"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I’ve already had occasion at several points to mention violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers. Examples of violence, including deadly violence, among hunter-gatherers are abundant. To mention only a few such examples: “One account has been published of a mortal battle between an inland band of Tasmanians having access to ochre, and a coastal band who had agreed to exchange seashells for the other’s product. The inland people brought their ochre, but the coastal people arrived empty handed. Men were killed because of a breach of faith over the two materials, neither of which was edible or of any other practical use. In other words, the Tasmanians were just as ‘human’ as the rest of US.” <sup id="fnref:171"><a href="#fn:171" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">171</a></sup> The Tasmanians made their spears “in two lengths&hellip;the shorter ones were for hunting, the longer ones for fighting.” <sup id="fnref:172"><a href="#fn:172" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">172</a></sup> Among the hunter-gatherers of the Andaman Islands, “grievances were remembered, and revenge might be taken later. The raiders either crept through the jungle or approached in canoes. They leaped on their victims by surprise, quickly shot [with arrows] all the men and women unable to escape, and took away any uninjured children, to adopt them&hellip;”; “If enough members of the group survived to reconstitute the band, they might eventually grow numerous enough to seek revenge, and a lengthy feud might arise. [Peace efforts were] initiated by the women because it was they who had kept the hostilities alive, egging on their men.” <sup id="fnref:173"><a href="#fn:173" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">173</a></sup></p> <p>Among at least some groups of Australian Aborigines, women at times would provoke their menfolk to deadly violence against other men. <sup id="fnref:174"><a href="#fn:174" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">174</a></sup> Among the Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived, there was “a good deal of killing”, and it was sometimes a woman who persuaded a man to kill another man. <sup id="fnref:175"><a href="#fn:175" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">175</a></sup> Paintings made in rock shelters by prehistoric hunter-gatherers of eastern Spain show groups of men fighting each other with bows and arrows. <sup id="fnref:176"><a href="#fn:176" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">176</a></sup></p> <p>One could go on and on. But I don’t want to give the impression that all hunter-gatherer were violent. Turnbull refers to numerous nonlethal fights and beatings among the Mbuti, but in those of his books that I’ve read he mentions not a single case of homicide. <sup id="fnref:177"><a href="#fn:177" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">177</a></sup> This suggests that deadly violence was rare among the Mbuti at the time when Turnbull knew them. Siriono women sometimes fought physically, striking each other with sticks, and there was a good deal of aggression among the children, even with sticks or burning brands used as weapons. <sup id="fnref:178"><a href="#fn:178" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">178</a></sup> But men rarely fought each other with weapons, <sup id="fnref:179"><a href="#fn:179" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">179</a></sup> and the Siriono were not warlike. <sup id="fnref:180"><a href="#fn:180" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">180</a></sup> Under extreme provocation they did kill certain whites and missionized Indians, <sup id="fnref:181"><a href="#fn:181" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">181</a></sup> but among the Siriono themselves intentional homicide was almost unknown. <sup id="fnref:182"><a href="#fn:182" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">182</a></sup> Among the Bushmen whom Mrs. Thomas knew aggression of any kind was minimal, though she makes clear that this was not necessarily true of all Bushman groups. <sup id="fnref:183"><a href="#fn:183" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">183</a></sup></p> <p>It is important, too, to realize that deadly violence among primitives is not even remotely comparable to modern warfare. When primitives fight, two little bands of men shoot arrows or swing war-clubs at one another because they want to fight; or because they are defending themselves, their families, or their territory. In the modern world soldiers fight because they are forced to do so, or, at best, because they have been brainwashed into believing in some kook ideology such as that of Nazism, socialism, or what American politicians choose to call “freedom”. In any case the modern soldier is merely a pawn, a dupe who dies not for his family or his tribe but for the politicians who exploit him. If he’s unlucky, maybe he does not die but comes home horribly crippled in a way that would never result from an arrow- or a spear-wound. Meanwhile, thousands of non-combatants are killed or mutilated. The environment is ravaged, not only in the war zone, but also back home, due to the accelerated consumption of natural resources needed to feed the war machine. In comparison, the violence of primitive man is relatively innocuous. That, however, it isn’t good enough for the anarchoprimitivists or for today’s politically correct anthropologists. They can’t deny altogether the existence of violence among hunter-gatherers, since the evidence for it is incontrovertible. But they will stretch the truth as far as they think they can get away with in order to minimize the amount of violence in the human past. It’s worthwhile to give an example that illustrates the silliness of some of the reasoning that they use. In reference to Homo habilis, a physically primitive ancestor of modern man, the anthropologist Haviland writes: “They obtained their meat not by killing live animals but by scavenging Homo habilis got meat by scavenging from carcasses of dead animals, rather than hunting live ones. We know this because the marks of stone tools on the bones of butchered animals commonly overlie marks the teeth of carnivores made. Clearly, Homo habilis did not get to the prey first.” <sup id="fnref:184"><a href="#fn:184" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">184</a></sup></p> <p>But, as Haviland certainly ought to know, many or most predatory animals engage both in hunting and in scavenging. For example, bears, African lions, martens, wolverines, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, hyenas, the raccoon dog of Asia, the Komodo dragon, and some vultures both hunt and scavenge. <sup id="fnref:185"><a href="#fn:185" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">185</a></sup> Thus, the fact that Homo habilis engaged in scavenging provides no evidence whatsoever that he did not also hunt. I emphasize that I do not know or care whether Homo habilis hunted. I see no reason why it should be important for us to know whether our half-human ancestors two million years ago were bloodthirsty killers, peaceful vegetarians, or something in between. The point here is simply to show what kind of reasoning some anthropologists will resort to in their effort to make the human past look as politically correct as possible. Since political correctness has warped the portrayal not only of the human past but of wild nature generally, it should be pointed out that deadly violence among wild animals is not confined to predation of one species upon another. Killing of one member of a species by another member of the same species does occur. For example, it is well known that wild chimpanzees often kill other chimpanzees. <sup id="fnref:186"><a href="#fn:186" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">186</a></sup> Elephants sometimes kill one another in fights, and the same is true of wild pigs. <sup id="fnref:187"><a href="#fn:187" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">187</a></sup> Among the sea birds called brown boobies, two eggs are laid in each nest. After the eggs are hatched, one of the chicks attacks the other and forces it out of the nest, so that it dies. <sup id="fnref:188"><a href="#fn:188" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">188</a></sup> Komodo dragons sometimes eat one another, <sup id="fnref:189"><a href="#fn:189" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">189</a></sup> and there is evidence that cannibalism occurred among some dinosaurs. <sup id="fnref:190"><a href="#fn:190" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">190</a></sup> (Evidence of cannibalism among prehistoric humans is controversial.) <sup id="fnref:191"><a href="#fn:191" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">191</a></sup></p> <p>I do want to make clear that it is by no means my intention to exalt violence. I prefer to see people (and animals) get along smoothly with one another. My purpose is only to expose the irrationality of the politically-correct image of primitive peoples and of wild nature.</p> -<p>7 An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="7">7. <a class="anchor" href="#7"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>An important element of the anarchoprimitivist myth is the belief that hunter-gatherer societies were free of competition and were characterized instead by sharing and cooperation. Collin Turnbull’s early writings on the Mbuti pygmies seem to be quite frank, but his work leaned increasingly toward political correctness as time went by. <sup id="fnref:192"><a href="#fn:192" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">192</a></sup> Writing in 1983 (18 and 21 years, respectively, after he had published Wayward Servants and The Forest People), Turnbull noted that Mbuti children had no competitive games, <sup id="fnref:193"><a href="#fn:193" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">193</a></sup> and after referring to the high value that he claimed modern society placed on “competition” and “economic independence,” <sup id="fnref:194"><a href="#fn:194" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">194</a></sup> he contrasted these with “the well-tried primitive values of family-writ-large: interdependence, cooperation, and reliance on community &hellip;rather than on self&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:195"><a href="#fn:195" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">195</a></sup></p> <p>But according to Turnbull’s own earlier work, physical fighting was commonplace among the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:196"><a href="#fn:196" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">196</a></sup> If a physical fight isn’t a form of competition, then what is? It’s clear in fact that the Mbuti were a very quarrelsome people, and, in addition to physical fights, there were many verbal disputes among them. <sup id="fnref:197"><a href="#fn:197" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">197</a></sup> Generally speaking, any dispute, whether it is settled physically or verbally; is a form of competition: the interests of one person conflict with those of another, and their quarreling is an effort by each to promote his own interests at the other’s expense. The Mbuti’s jealousies also were evidence of competitive impulses. <sup id="fnref:198"><a href="#fn:198" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">198</a></sup></p> <p>Two things for which the Mbuti competed were mates and food. I’ve already mentioned a case of two women who fought over a man, <sup id="fnref:199"><a href="#fn:199" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">199</a></sup> and quarreling over food apparently was common. <sup id="fnref:200"><a href="#fn:200" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">200</a></sup> It’s worth noting that Turnbull, in his early work, described the Mbuti as “individualists.” <sup id="fnref:201"><a href="#fn:201" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">201</a></sup> There is abundant evidence of competitiveness and/or individualism among other primitive peoples. The Nuer (African pastoralists), the pagan Germanic tribes, the Carib Indians, the Siriono (who lived mainly by hunting and gathering), the Navajo, the Apaches, the Plains Indians, and North American Indians generally have all been described explicitly as “individualistic.” <sup id="fnref:202"><a href="#fn:202" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">202</a></sup> But “individualism” is a vague word that may mean different things to different people, so it’s more helpful to look at definite facts that have been reported. Some of the works that I cite in Note 202 do back up with facts their application of the term “individualistic” to the peoples mentioned. Holmberg writes:</p> <p>“When an Indian [Siriono] has reached adulthood he displays an individualism and apathy toward his fellows that is remarkable. The apparent unconcern of one individual for another-even within the family-never ceased to amaze me while I was living with the Siriono. Frequently men would depart for the hunt alone-without so much as a goodbye-and remain away from the band for weeks at a time without any concern on the part of their fellow tribesmen or even their wives&hellip;.”. “Unconcern with one’s fellows is manifested on every hand. On one occasion Ekwataia went hunting. On his return darkness overcame him about five hundred yards from camp. The night was black as ink, and Ekwataia lost his way. He began to call for help-for someone to bring him fire or to guide him into camp by calls. No one paid heed to his request. After about half an hour, his cries ceased, and his sister Seaci, said: ‘A jaguar probably got him’. When Ekwataia returned the following morning, he told me that he had spent the night sitting on the branch of a tree to avoid being eaten by jaguars.” <sup id="fnref:203"><a href="#fn:203" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">203</a></sup> Holmberg repeatedly remarks on the uncooperative character of the Siriono, and says that those of them who became disabled by age or sickness were simply abandoned by the others. <sup id="fnref:204"><a href="#fn:204" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">204</a></sup> Among other primitive peoples, individualism takes other forms. For example, among most of the North American Indians, warfare was a decidedly individualistic enterprise. “The Indians, being highly individualistic and often fighting more for personal glory than group advantage, never developed a science of warfare.” <sup id="fnref:205"><a href="#fn:205" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">205</a></sup> According to the Cheyenne Indian Wooden Leg: “When any battle actually began it was a case of every man for himself. There were no ordered groupings, no systematic movements in concert, no compulsory goings and comings. Warriors mingled indiscriminately, every one looked out for himself only, or each helped a friend if such help were needed and if the able one’s personal inclination just then was toward friendly helpfulness. The Sioux tribes fought their battles as a band of individuals, the same as we fought ours, and the same as was the way of all Indians I ever knew.” <sup id="fnref:206"><a href="#fn:206" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">206</a></sup></p> @@ -270,12 +284,16 @@ <p>Why “community”? Because of course “community” was a goody-goody word, the kind of word that a kid would use to get brownie points with a teacher. Would any kid in a similar situation have answered “United States of Competition” or “United States of Individualism”? Not likely!</p> <p>It is routinely taken for granted that words like “community,” “cooperation,” “helping,” and “sharing” represent something positive, but “individualism” is seldom used in the mainstream media or in the educational system in an unequivocally positive sense. “Competition” is more often used in a positive sense, but typically it us used that way only in specific contexts in which competition is useful (or at least harmless) to the system. For example, competition is considered desirable in the business word because it weeds out inefficient companies, spurs other companies to become more efficient, and promotes economic and technological progress. But only leashed competition — that is, competition that abides by rules designed to make it harmless or useful — is commonly spoken of favorably. And, when treated in a positive sense, competition is always justified in terms of communitarian values. Thus, business competition is considered good because it promotes efficiency and progress, which supposedly are good for the community as a whole. “Independence,” too, is a “good” word only when used in certain ways. For example, when one speaks of making disabled people “independent” one never thinks of making them independent of the system. One means only that they are to be provided with gainful employment so that the community will not be burdened with the cost of supporting them. Once they have found a job they are every bit as dependent on the system as they were when they lived on welfare, and they have a great deal less freedom to decide how to spend their time. So why do politically-correct anthropologists and others like them contrast the supposedly primitive values of “community,” “cooperation,” “sharing,” and “interdependence” with what they claim are the modern values of “competition,” “individualism” and “independence”? Certainly an important part of the answer is that politically-correct people have absorbed too well the values that the system’s propaganda has taught them, including the values of “cooperation,” “community,” “helping,” and so forth. Another value they have absorbed from propaganda is that of “tolerance,” which in cross-cultural contexts tends to translate into condescending approval of non-Western cultures. A well-socialized modern anthropologist is therefore faced with a conflict: Since he is supposed to be tolerant, he finds it difficult to say anything bad about primitive cultures. But primitive cultures provide abundant examples of behavior that is decidedly bad from the point of view of modern Western values. So the anthropologist has to censor much of the “bad” behavior out of his descriptions of primitive cultures in order to avoid showing them in a negative light. In addition, due to his own excessively thorough socialization, the politically-correct anthropologist has a need to rebel. <sup id="fnref:252"><a href="#fn:252" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">252</a></sup> He is too well socialized to discard the fundamental values of modern society, so he expresses his hostility toward that society by distorting facts to make it seem that modern society deviates from its own stated values to a much greater extent than it actually does. Thus the anthropologist ends by magnifying the competitive and individualistic aspects of modern society while grossly understating these aspects of primitive societies.</p> <p>There’s more to it than that, of course, and I can’t claim to understand fully the psychology of these people. It seems obvious, for example, that the politically-correct portrayal of hunter-gatherers is motivated in part by an impulse to construct an image of a pure and innocent world existing at the dawn of time, analogous to the Garden of Eden, but the basis of this impulse is not clear to me.</p> -<p>8 What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> +<h3 id="8">8. <a class="anchor" href="#8"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>What about hunter-gatherers’ relations with animals? Some anarchoprimitivists seem to think that animals and humans once “coexisted” and that although animals nowadays sometimes eat humans, “such attacks by animals are comparatively rare,” and “these animals are short of food due to the encroachment of civilization and are acting more out of extreme hunger and desperation. It is also due to our ignorance of the animal’s gestures and scents, despoiled foliage or other signals our ancestor’s [sic] knew but our domestication has now denied us.” <sup id="fnref:253"><a href="#fn:253" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">253</a></sup> It is certainly true that the hunter-gatherer’s knowledge of animals’ habits made him safer in the wilderness than a modern man would be. It is also true that attacks on humans by wild animals are and have been relatively infrequent, probably because animals have learned the hard way that it is risky to prey on humans. But to hunter-gatherers in many environments wild animals did represent a significant danger. The Siriono hunter was “occasionally exposed to attacks from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes.” <sup id="fnref:254"><a href="#fn:254" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">254</a></sup> Leopards, forest buffalo, and crocodiles were a real threat to the Mbuti. <sup id="fnref:255"><a href="#fn:255" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">255</a></sup> On the other hand, remarkably, the Kadar (hunter-gatherers of India) were said to have “a truce with tigers, which in the old days left them strictly alone. <sup id="fnref:256"><a href="#fn:256" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">256</a></sup> This is the only case of the kind that I know of. Hunter-gatherers represented a much greater danger to animals than vice versa, since of course they hunted animals for food. Even the Kadar, who had no hunting weapons and lived mainly on wild yams, occasionally used their digging sticks to kill small animals for food. <sup id="fnref:257"><a href="#fn:257" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">257</a></sup> Hunting methods could be cruel. Mbuti pygmies would stab an elephant in the belly with a poisoned spear; the animal would then die of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) during the next 24 hours.<sup id="fnref:258"><a href="#fn:258" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">258</a></sup> The Bushmen shot game with poisoned arrows, and the animals died slowly over a period that could be as long as three days. <sup id="fnref:259"><a href="#fn:259" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">259</a></sup> Prehistoric hunter-gatherers slaughtered animals on a mass basis by driving herds over cliffs or bluffs. <sup id="fnref:260"><a href="#fn:260" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">260</a></sup> The process was fairly gruesome and presumably was painful to the animals, since some of them were not killed outright by their fall but only disabled. The Indian Wooden Leg said: “I have helped in the chasing of antelope bands over a cliff. Many of them were killed or got broken legs. We clubbed to death the injured ones.” <sup id="fnref:261"><a href="#fn:261" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">261</a></sup> This is not exactly the kind of thing that appeals to animal-rights activists. Anarchoprimitivists may want to claim that hunter-gatherers inflicted suffering on animals only to the extent that they had to do so in order to get meat. But this is not true. A good deal of hunter-gatherers’ cruelty was gratuitous. In The Forest People, Turnbull reported:</p> <p>“The youngster had speared [the sindula] with his first thrust, pinning the animal to the ground through the fleshy part of the stomach. But the animal was still very much alive, fighting for freedom. Maipe put another spear into its neck, but it still writhed and fought. Not until a third spear pierced its heart did it give up the struggle&hellip;</p> <p>“The pygmies stood around in an excited group, pointing at the dying animal and laughing. One boy, about nine years old, threw himself on the ground and curled up in a grotesque heap and imitated the sindula’s last convulsions&hellip;</p> <p>“At other times I have seen Pygmies singeing feathers off birds that were still alive, explaining that the meat is more tender if death comes slowly. And the hunting dogs, valuable as they are, get kicked around mercilessly from the day they are born to the day they die.” <sup id="fnref:262"><a href="#fn:262" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">262</a></sup></p> <p>A few years later, in Wayward Servants, Turnbull wrote: “The moment of killing is best described as a moment of intense compassion and reverence. The fun that is sometimes subsequently made of the dead animal, particularly by the youths, appears to be almost a nervous reaction, and there is an element of fear in their behavior. On the other hand, a bird caught alive may deliberately be toyed with, its feathers singed off over the fire while it is still fluttering and squawking until it is finally burned or suffocated to death. This again is usually done by the youths who take the same nervous pleasure in the act; very rarely a young hunter may absent-mindedly [^!?] do the same thing. Older hunters and elders generally disapprove, but do not interfere.”; “The respect seems to be not for animal life but for the game as a gift of the forest&hellip;” <sup id="fnref:263"><a href="#fn:263" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">263</a></sup> This does not seem entirely consistent with what Turnbull reported earlier in The Forest People. Maybe Turnbull was already beginning to swing toward political correctness when he wrote Wayward Servants. But even if we take the statements of Wayward Servants at face value, the fact remains that the Mbuti did treat animals with unnecessary cruelty, whether or not they felt “compassion and reverence” for them. If the Mbuti did have compassion for animals, they were probably exceptional in that regard. Hunter-gatherers seem typically to be callous toward animals. The Eskimos with whom Gontran de Poncins lived kicked and beat their dogs brutally. <sup id="fnref:264"><a href="#fn:264" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">264</a></sup> The Siriono sometimes captured young animals alive and brought them back to camp, but they gave them nothing to eat, and the animals were treated so roughly by the children that they soon died. <sup id="fnref:265"><a href="#fn:265" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">265</a></sup> It should be noted that many hunting-and-gathering peoples did have a sense of reverence for or closeness to wild animals. I’ve already quoted Colin Turnbull’s statement to that effect in the case of the Mbuti. Coon states that “it is virtually a standard rule among hunters that they should never mock or otherwise insult any wild creature whose life they have brought to an end.” <sup id="fnref:266"><a href="#fn:266" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">266</a></sup> (As the passages I’ve quoted from Turnbull show, there were exceptions to this “standard rule”.) Venturing into speculation, Coon adds that “hunters sense the unity of nature and the combination of humility and responsibility of their role in it.” <sup id="fnref:267"><a href="#fn:267" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">267</a></sup> Wissler describes the closeness to and reverence toward nature (including wild animals) of the North American Indians. <sup id="fnref:268"><a href="#fn:268" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">268</a></sup> Holmberg mentions the Siriono’s “bonds” and “kinship” with the animal world. <sup id="fnref:269"><a href="#fn:269" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">269</a></sup> But, as we’ve already seen, these “bonds” and this “kinship” did not prevent physical cruelty to animals. Clearly, animal-rights activists would be horrified at the way hunter-gatherers often treated animals. For people who look to hunting and gathering cultures as their social ideal, it therefore makes no sense to maintain alliances with the animal-rights movement.</p> -<p>9 To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> +<h3 id="9">9. <a class="anchor" href="#9"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>To mop up as it were, I’ll mention briefly a few other elements of the anarchoprimitivist myth. According to the myth, racism is an artifact of civilization. But it’s not clear that this is actually true. Of course, most primitive peoples couldn’t be racists, because they never came in contact with any member of a race different from their own. But where contacts between different races did occur, I’m not aware of any reason to believe that hunter-gatherers were less prone to racism than modern man is. The Mbuti pygmies were distinguishable from their village-dwelling neighbors not only by their shorter stature but also by their facial features and by the lighter color of their skin. <sup id="fnref:270"><a href="#fn:270" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">270</a></sup> The Mbuti referred to the villagers as “black savages” and “animals”, and did not consider them to be real people. <sup id="fnref:271"><a href="#fn:271" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">271</a></sup> The villagers similarly referred to the Mbuti as “savages” and “animals”, nor did they consider the Mbuti to be real people. <sup id="fnref:272"><a href="#fn:272" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">272</a></sup> It’s true that the villagers often took Mbuti wives, but this seems to have been only because their own women, in the forest environment, had very low fertility, whereas Mbuti women bore plenty of children. <sup id="fnref:273"><a href="#fn:273" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">273</a></sup> First-generation offspring of mixed marriages were considered inferior. <sup id="fnref:274"><a href="#fn:274" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">274</a></sup> (Worth noting is that while Mbuti women often married villagers and lived in the villages, villager women hardly ever married Mbuti men, because the women “shunned the hard Gypsy life of the forest nomads and preferred the settled village life.” <sup id="fnref:275"><a href="#fn:275" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">275</a></sup> Moreover, the mixed-blood offspring of Mbuti-villager unions usually remained in the villages and “only rarely found their way back to the forest, because they preferred the more comfortable village life to the tough life of the forest.” <sup id="fnref:276"><a href="#fn:276" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">276</a></sup> This is hardly consistent with the anarchoprimitivists’ image of the hunter-gatherer’s life as one of ease and plenty.) In the foregoing case of mutual racial antagonism only one side — the Mbuti — consisted of hunter-gatherers, the villagers being cultivators of crops. For a possible example of racism in which both sides were hunter-gatherers, the Indians of the North American subarctic and the Eskimos hated and feared one another; they seldom met except to fight. <sup id="fnref:277"><a href="#fn:277" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">277</a></sup> How about homophobia? That wasn’t unknown among hunter-gatherers either. According to Mrs. Thomas, homosexuality was not permitted among the Bushmen whom she knew <sup id="fnref:278"><a href="#fn:278" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">278</a></sup> (though it does not necessarily follow that this was true of all Bushman groups). Among the Mbuti, according to Turnbull, “homosexuality is never alluded to except as a great insult, under the most dire provocation.” <sup id="fnref:279"><a href="#fn:279" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">279</a></sup></p> <p>The publisher of the anarchoprimitivist “zine” Species Traitor stated in a letter to me that in hunter-gatherer cultures “people had no property.” <sup id="fnref:280"><a href="#fn:280" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">280</a></sup> This is not true. Various forms of private property did exist among hunter-gatherers — and not only among sedentary ones like the Northwest Coast Indians. It is well known that most hunting-and-gathering peoples had collective property in land. That is, each band of 30 to 130 people owned the territory in which it lived. Coon provides an extended discussion of this. <sup id="fnref:281"><a href="#fn:281" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">281</a></sup> It is less well known that hunter-gatherers, even nomadic ones, could also hold rights to natural resources as individual property, and in some cases such rights could even be inherited. <sup id="fnref:282"><a href="#fn:282" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">282</a></sup> For example, among Mrs. Thomas’s Bushmen: “Each group has a very specific territory which that group alone may use, and they respect their boundaries rigidly. If a person is born in a certain area he or she has a right to eat the melons that grow there and all the veld food. A man may eat the melons wherever his wife can and wherever his father and mother could, so that every Bushman has in this way some kind of rights in many places. Gai, for example, ate melons at Ai a ha’o because his wife’s mother was born there, as well as at his own birthplace, the Okwa Omaramba.” <sup id="fnref:283"><a href="#fn:283" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">283</a></sup></p> <p>Arnong the Veddas (hunter-gatherers of Ceylon), “the band territory was subdivided for individual band members, who could pass their property on to their children.” <sup id="fnref:284"><a href="#fn:284" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">284</a></sup> Arnong certain Australian Aborigines there existed a system of inherited rights to goods obtained in trade for stones extracted from a quarry. <sup id="fnref:285"><a href="#fn:285" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">285</a></sup> Among some other Australian Aborigines, certain fruit trees were privately owned. <sup id="fnref:286"><a href="#fn:286" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">286</a></sup> The Mbuti used termites as food, and among them termite hills could be owned by individuals. <sup id="fnref:287"><a href="#fn:287" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">287</a></sup> Portable items such as tools, clothing, and ornaments usually were owned by individual hunter-gatherers. <sup id="fnref:288"><a href="#fn:288" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">288</a></sup></p> <p>Turnbull mentions the argument of one W. Nippold to the effect that hunter-gatherers, including the Mbuti, had a highly developed sense of private property. Turnbull counters that this is “debatable point, and largely a semantic problem.” <sup id="fnref:289"><a href="#fn:289" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">289</a></sup> Here there is is no need for us to split hairs about what does and what does not constitute private property, or what would be a “highly developed sense” of it. Suffice it to say that the unqualified belief that hunter-gatherers did not have private property is only another element of the anarchoprimitivist myth. It’s important to note, however, that nomadic hunter-gatherers did not accumulate property to the extent of being able to use their wealth to dominate other people. <sup id="fnref:290"><a href="#fn:290" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">290</a></sup> The hunter-gatherer ordinarily had to carry all of his property on his own back whenever he shifted camp, or at best he had to carry it in a canoe or on a dog-sled or travois. <sup id="fnref:291"><a href="#fn:291" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">291</a></sup> By any of these means only a limited amount of property can be transported, hence an upper bound is imposed on the amount of property that a nomad can usefully accumulate.</p> @@ -288,12 +306,14 @@ <p>Turnbull also states that “in the view of mammalogists such as Van Gelder the [Mbuti] hunters are indeed the finest conservationists any conservation-minded government could wish for.” <sup id="fnref:307"><a href="#fn:307" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">307</a></sup> On the other hand, when Turnbull took an Mbuti named Kenge to visit a game preserve out on the plains, Kenge was told “that he would see more game than he had ever seen in the forest, but he was not to try and hunt any. Kenge could not understand this, because to his mind game is meant to be hunted.” <sup id="fnref:308"><a href="#fn:308" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">308</a></sup>. According to Coon, the ethic of the Tikerarmiut Eskimos forbade them to trap more than four wolves, wolverines, foxes, or marmots on any one day. However, this ethic quickly broke down when white traders arrived and tempted the Tikerarmiut with trade goods that they could obtain in exchange for the pelts of the animals named. <sup id="fnref:309"><a href="#fn:309" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">309</a></sup></p> <p>As soon as they acquired steel axes, the Siriono began destroying the wild fruit trees of their region because it was easier to harvest the fruit by cutting the tree down than by climbing it. <sup id="fnref:310"><a href="#fn:310" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">310</a></sup></p> <p>It is well known that some hunter-gatherers intentionally set wildfires because they knew that burned-over land would produce more of the edible plants that they favored. <sup id="fnref:311"><a href="#fn:311" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">311</a></sup> I consider this practice recklessly destructive. It is believed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers, through over-hunting, caused or at least contributed to the extinction of some species of large mammals, <sup id="fnref:312"><a href="#fn:312" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">312</a></sup> though as far as I know this has never been definitely proved. The foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the question of conservation versus environmental recklessness on the part of hunter-gatherers. It’s a question that deserves thorough investigation.</p> -<p>10 I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> +<h3 id="10">10. <a class="anchor" href="#10"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>I can’t generalize broadly since I’ve communicated personally with only a few anarchoprimitivists, but it’s clear that the beliefs of at least some anarchoprimitivists are impervious to any facts that conflict with them. One can point out to these people any number of facts of the kind I’ve presented here and quote the words of writers who actually visited hunter-gatherers at a time when the latter were still relatively unspoiled, yet the true-believing anarchoprimitivist will always find rationalizations, no matter how strained, to discount all inconvenient facts and maintain his belief in the myth.</p> <p>One is reminded of the response of fundamentalist Christians to any rational attack on their beliefs. Whatever facts one may point out, the fundamentalist will always find some argument, however far-fetched, to explain them away and justify his belief in the literal, word-for-word truth of the Bible. Actually, there is about anarchoprimitivism a distinct flavor of early Christianity. The anarchoprimitivists’ hunting-and-gathering utopia corresponds to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived in ease and without sin (Genesis 2). The invention of agriculture and civilization corresponds to the Fall: Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:6), were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), and thereafter had to earn their bread with the sweat of their brow by tilling the soil (Genesis 3: 19,23). They moreover lost gender equality, since Eve became subordinate to her husband (Genesis 3:16). The revolution that anarchoprimitivists hope will overthrow civilization corresponds to the Day of Judgment, the day of destruction on which Babylon will fall (Revelation 18:2). The return to primitive utopia corresponds to the arrival of the Kingdom of God, wherein “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be.any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).</p> <p>Today’s activists who risk their bodies by engaging in masochistic resistance tactics, such as chaining themselves across roads to prevent the passage of logging trucks, correspond to the Christian martyrs-the true believers who “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4). Veganism corresponds to the dietary restrictions of many religions, such as the Christian fast during Lent. Like anarchoprimitivists, the early Christians emphasized egalitarianism (“whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased”, Matthew 23:12) and sharing (“distribution was made unto every man according as he had need”, Acts 4:35). The psychological affinity between anarchoprimitivism and early Christianity does not augur well. As soon as the emperor Constantine gave the Christians an opportunity to become powerful they sold out, and ever since then Christianity, more often than not, has served as a prop for the established powers.</p> -<ol start="11"> -<li>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</li> -</ol> +<h3 id="11">11. <a class="anchor" href="#11"> + <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> +</a></h3><p>In the present article I’ve been mainly concerned to debunk the anarchoprimitivist myth, and for that reason I’ve emphasized certain aspects of primitive societies that will be seen as negative from the standpoint of modern values. But there is another side to this coin: Nomadic hunting-and-gathering societies showed many traits that were highly attractive. Among other things, there is reason to believe that such societies were relatively free of the psychological problems that bedevil modern man, such as chronic stress, anxiety or frustration, depression, eating and sleep disorders, and so forth; that people in such societies, in certain critically important respects (though not in all respects) had far more personal autonomy than modern man does; and that hunter-gatherers were better satisfied with their way of life than modern man is with his.</p> <p>Why does this matter? Because it shows that chronic stress, anxiety and frustration, depression, and so forth, are not inevitable parts of the human condition, but are disorders brought on by modern civilization. Nor is servitude an inevitable part of the human condition: The example of at least some nomadic hunter-gatherer shows that true freedom is possible. Even more important: Regardless of whether they were good conservationists or poor ones, primitive peoples were incapable of damaging their environment to anything remotely approaching the extent to which modern man is damaging his. Primitives simply didn’t have the power to do that much damage. They may have used fire recklessly and they may have exterminated some species through overhunting, but they had no way to dam large rivers, to cover thousands of square miles of the Earth’s surface with cities and pavement, or to produce the vast quantities of toxic chemicals and radioactive waste with which modern civilization threatens to ruin the world for good and all. Nor did primitives have any means of releasing the deadly-dangerous forces represented by genetic engineering and by the super-intelligent computers that may soon be developed. These are dangers that scare even the technophiles themselves. <sup id="fnref:313"><a href="#fn:313" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">313</a></sup> So I agree with the anarchoprimitivists that the advent of civilization was a great disaster and that the Industrial Revolution was an even greater one. I further agree that a revolution against modernity, and against civilization in general, is necessary. But you can’t build an effective revolutionary movement out of soft-headed dreamers, lazies, and charlatans. You have to have tough-minded, realistic, practical people, and people of that kind don’t need the anarchoprimitivists’ mushy utopian myth.</p> <h2 id="concluding-note">Concluding Note <a class="anchor" href="#concluding-note"> <span class="spanForHeader">#</span> diff --git a/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/index.html b/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/index.html index 350c2d85..855a8b03 100644 --- a/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/index.html +++ b/new-site/public/library/ted-kaczynski/the-truth-about-primitive-life-a-critique-of-anarchoprimitivism/index.html @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ - + @@ -18,7 +18,21 @@ Table Of Contents:

The Truth About Primitive Life a Critique of Anarchoprimitivism # -

1 As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games … one could go on and on.

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As the Industrial Revolution proceeded, modern society created for itself a self-congratulatory myth, the myth of “progress”: From the time of our remote, ape-like ancestors, human history had been an unremitting march toward a better and brighter future, with everyone joyously welcoming each new technological advance: animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and of money, sailing ships, the compass, gunpowder, the printing press, the steam engine, and, at last, the crowning human achievement-modern industrial society! Prior to industrialization, nearly everyone was condemned to a miserable life of constant, backbreaking labor, malnutrition disease, and an early death. Aren’t we so lucky that we live in modern times and have lots of leisure and an array of technological conveniences to make our lives easy? Today I think there are relatively few thoughtful, honest and well-informed people who still believe in this myth. To lose one’s faith in “progress” one has only to look around and see the devastation of our environment, the spread of nuclear weapons, the excessive frequency of depression, anxiety disorders and psychological stress, the spiritual emptiness of a society that nourishes itself principally with television and computer games … one could go on and on.

The myth of progress may not yet be dead, but it is dying. In its place another myth has been growing up, a myth that has been promoted especially by the anarchoprimitivists, though it is widespread in other quarters as well. According to this myth, prior to the advent of civilization no one ever had to work, people just plucked their food from the trees and popped it into their mouths and spent the rest of their time playing ring-around-the-rosie with the flower children. Men and women were equal, there was no disease, no competition, no racism, sexism or homophobia, people lived in harmony with the animals and all was love, sharing and cooperation.

Admittedly, the foregoing is a caricature of the anarchoprimitivists’ vision. Most of them — I hope — are not quite as far out of touch with reality as that. They nevertheless are pretty far out of touch with it, and it’s high time for someone to debunk their myth. Because that is the purpose of this article, I will say little here about the positive aspects of primitive societies. I do want to make clear, however, that one can truthfully say about such societies a great deal that is positive. In other words, the anarchoprimitivist myth is not one hundred percent myth; it does include some elements of reality.

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2 Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day … the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). 1 People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.

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Let’s begin with the concept of “primitive affluence”. It seems to be an article of faith among anarchoprimitivists that our hunting-and-gathering ancestors had to work an average of only two to three hours a day, or two to four hours a day … the figures given vary, but the maximum stated never exceeds four hours a day, or 28 hours a week (average). 1 People who give these figures usually do not state precisely what they mean by “work”, but the reader is led to assume that it includes all of the activities necessary to meet the practical exigencies of the hunter-gatherers’ way of life.

Characteristically, the anarchoprimitivists usually fail to cite their source for this supposed information, but it seems to be derived mainly from two essays, one by Marshall Sahlins (The Original Afluent Society 2), and the other by Bob Black (Primitive Afluence 3). Sahlins claimed that for the Bushmen of the Dobe region of Southern Africa, the “work week was approximately 15 hours.” 4 For this information he relied on the studies of Richard B. Lee. I do not have direct access to Lee’s works, but I do have a copy of an article by Elizabeth Cashdan in which she summarizes Lee’s results much more carefully and completely than Sahlins does. 5 Cashdan flatly contradicts Sahlins: According to her, Lee found that the Bushmen he studied worked more than forty hours per week. 6

In a part of his essay that many anarchoprimitivists have found convenient to overlook, Bob Black acknowledges the forty-hour work-week and explains the foregoing contradiction: Sahlins followed early work of Lee that considered only time spent in hunting and foraging. When all necessary work was considered, the work-week was more than doubled. 7 The work omitted from consideration by Sahlins and the anarchoprimitivists was probably the most disagreeable part of the Bushmen’s work-week, too, since it consisted largely of food-preparation and firewood collection. 8 I speak from extensive personal experience with wild foods: Preparing such foods for use is very often a pain in the neck. It is far more pleasant to gather nuts, dig roots, or hunt game than it is to crack nuts, clean roots, or skin and butcher game — or to collect firewood and cook over an open fire.

The anarchoprimitivists also err in assuming that Lee’s findings can be applied to hunter-gatherers generally. It’s not even clear that those findings are applicable on a year-round basis to the Bushmen studied by Lee. Cashdan cites evidence that Lee’s research may have been done at the time of year when his Bushmen worked least. 9 She also mentions two other hunting-and-gathering peoples who have been shown quantitatively to spend far more time in hunting and foraging than Lee’s Bushmen did, 10 and she points out that Lee may have seriously underestimated women’s working time because he failed to include time spent on childcare. 11

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