Fundamentalists Act Out Darwinist Theory...

I was reading an article from last week's WaPo Magazine on the whole brouhaha over Evolution, and a thought occurred to me: Fundamentalists (Jewish, "Christian" and Islamic) by their very actions exemplify what they most abhor--that man is a primate and descended from "apes".

More below the flip.

When we look at certain branches of primate society, we see proto-tribalism as work.  Certain types of primates tend to be loners (gorillas come to mind) and others such as Chimps are raucously individualistic, but many species operate in troupes.  Baboons in particular come to mind.

When you look at the characteristics of a Baboon troupe, it is a model of patriarchal, fundamentalist organization:

• There is a single male who is dominant
  
• All females are subject to males, particularly the dominant male
  
• It is his offspring that are legitimate (ie, his genes are passed on)
  
• Dissent (by younger males or by females) is not tolerated

Does this sound familiar?

• Fundamentalist doctrines posit an authoritarian "Father" as a deity
  
• That deity's avatar, the religious leader, is to be obeyed  completely as the sole interpreter of the deity's will
  
• All females are subject to males, because they are unclean, sinful, etc. etc.
  
• Only those children sanctified by the Avatar are legitimate
  
• Anyone questioning the dogma is a heretic.
  
• Slaughtering innocents, rape, etc. are justified in the name of the Avatar and the dogma.

Clearly, a paltry 7 or 8 thousand years since we first started thinking about agriculture has not allowed us to get past the Baboon troupe mentality.  In fact, one might surmise that the rise of science, which has shown our insignificance in the face of the incomprehensible scale of the universe, and the explosive growth of population, which has increased pressure for resources, have in fact exacerbated this regressive tendency towards the less desirable aspects of primate social organization.  In other words, as people feel less secure, they revert to "instinctive" (ie, irrational or unrational) modes of behavior.

Just a thought, on Darwin's birthday.