("I often quote meself - it adds polish to me conversations!!" Andy Capp comics...)
"Travelling in groups - packs - herds - comes as natural to humanity as walking upright... And using opposable thumbs...
And in the past, expulsion from the 'herd' was often a death sentence. "
And Journey-On commented:
"Are you saying shunning is....(what's the word I'm looking for?).....oh yeah. ANIMALISTIC. ..."
Uh, actually, Journey-On, the examples I used, were of predatory animals that preyed upon our ancestors... Expulsion from the human 'herd' meant the lone individual lacked the protection of the tribal group - for what that was worth...
In fact, one sees expulsion of rogue animals from herds in the animal kingdom - rogue bull elephants are driven out of elephant herds by the female elephants, to protect the young...
So, in that sense, shunning began with animal groups, and is a vestigial behavior left over from our animal ancestors...
In an ancient setting, I would call 'shunning' a brutal form of discipline. In our modern world, lacking the great predators that made our ancestors' lives so hazardous, I would call shunning a barbarous and primitive behavior, more fitting of a tribe of Neanderthals or Cro-Magnons than supposedly "civilized" people... A throw-back to our ape-like ancestors, perhaps...
Which brings up another point...
Once I got my head clear of the Watchtower anti-science attitudes and began researcing humanity's evolutionary paths, I was amused to realize that, the groups that scream the loudest that humanity was "stick-built" by some Bronze-Age Middle-Eastern male sheepherders' "god", are the groups that behave in the most "ape-like" manner... Fundamentalist Jews, Christians, Muslims...
Shunning being an excellent example. Shunning is an ancient and primitive behavior pattern. As is male dominance of females; the perception that females are the "weaker" sex, the beliefs that the young are the "property" of the dominant males, and so on...
Note: not all of these behaviors will have a parallel in all simian behavior. The "male dominance of females" exists among some species of animals but is lacking in others - lion prides versus raptor pairings, for example. The belief that the young are the "property" of the dominant males does NOT work amongst certain chimpanzee groups, baboons, or hyenas, if I recall correctly, but might apply to orangutan group dynamics...
It is a rough comparison, but still valid, I feel...
Zid
