Re: violence and h&g's (was Re: money and health)

January 20, 2004

I had written:

>

> <<But there are hunter-gatherer societies who maintained somewhat vicious

> rules, such as giving death to adulterers or those engaging

> in pre-marital sex, who have survived for thousands of years. Are they

> justified based on their survival?>>

>

> And Dedy replied:

> <<can you name those societies Chris?>>

" . . . the stories of tribes out there somewhere who have never heard of

violence turn out to be urban legends. Margaret Mead's descriptions of

peace-loving New Guineans and sexually nonchalant Samoans were based on

perfunctory

research and turned out to be almost perversely wrong. As the anthropologist

Freeman later documented, Samoans may beat or kill their daughters if they

are not virgins on their wedding night, a young man who cannot woo a virgin may

rape one to extort her into eloping, and the family of a cuckolded husband

may attack and kill the adulterer. " _The_Blank_Slate_, Pinker, p 56.

There-- I think between this and the other post I've offered you evidence for

all that you requested.

On the general question of violence, which can be considered in conjunction

with my previous email, he continues,

" The !Kung San of the Kalahri Desert had been descirbed by Marshall

as 'the harmless people' in a book with that title. But as soon as

anthropologists camped out long enough to accumulate data, they discovered that

the !Kung San have a murder rate higher than that of American inner cities.

They learned as well that a group of the San had recently avenged a murder by

sneaking into the killer's group and executing every man, woman, and child as

they slept. " _ibid_, p 56.

On a more humorous and less gruesome note, the paragraph continues:

" But at least the !Kung San exist. In the early 1970s the _New York Times

Magazine_ reported the discovery of the 'gentle Tasaday' of the philippine

rainforest, a people with no words for conflict, violence or weapons. The

Tasaday

tuned out to be local farmers dressed in leaves for a photo opportunity so

that cronies of Ferdinand Marcos could set aside their 'homeland' as a preserve

and enjoy exclusive mineral and logging rights. "

Chris

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