[Buddha-l] Re: S. Pinker

[Bshmr at aol.com]

My nonlinear mind is troublesome today so please bear with me as I struggle 
to organize and simplify while dinking with the nearby, troublesome 'good' PC.

>>{Richard P. Hayes}: Actually, one person who does address some of these 
issues is Steven Pinker, the man after whom this thread was named. One of these 
days I'd like to discuss some of his ideas.
>>

I started 'No Blank Slate'. Pinker lectures or pontificates. His endorsement 
of Hobbes is over the top -- Hobbes is a pet peeve. ... 

Anyway, figuratively rushing to the kitchen to mix the family and politics in 
the same bowl: 

I am fond of World Values Survey based stuff which unfortunately doesn't go 
back 100, or 1000, or 3000 years, not that the semantics (?) would be constant. 
 Yet, it is more definite than speculative interpretation and leads me to 
proffer this non-binary perspective:

Evidence exists of a definite cluster of persons preferring autocratic, 
catholic-esque values. I am fond of a simile using observations of other animals 
because they aren't as misleading as neocons *g*. If one visualizes an African 
veldt, these folks would be concentrated as a massed herd constituting some 
8-12% of all animals visible. Smaller, more dispersed groups would dot the 
landscape; and, one could distinguish social orders (which might be conditional) 
down to the solitary beasts. ... (Now, leaping to quick points.)

The massed herd uses social cohesion for survival. ... In the USA, the 
conservative 'herdlings' preach individualism while behaving as a socially dependent 
mass. 

Other apparent herds scatter when threatened; some animals form temporary 
packs or family groups; and so on. That is, a range of social diversity has 
evolved.

Note that 'liberal' defies characterization comparable to the 'herdlings'; 
wart-hogs don't act like rhinos which don't act like vultures which don't act 
like lions, etc. 'Liberal' becomes a nearly meaningless abstraction, if for no 
other reason than social cohesion bounds a group/class/category and liberals 
aren't primarily socially cohesive.  The paradox of so-called 'liberals' is that 
they espouse 'social justice' yet are relatively a-social or solitary 
compared to 'herdlings'. In WVS stuff, liberals don't cluster nice and tight.

So, the primary point is a binary world view often is faulty. I have tried to 
illustrate that. I am guessing that any idealized family occurred in small 
portion (say 8-12%), everything else deviated by degrees to meaninglessness. 
And, the diversity has been and is supportive of the species beyond one's ability 
to speculate.

A lesser point is that Hobbes, and his advocates, lacked awareness and 
mindfulness training although both had been around for over 2000 years by his era. 
*g*


Richard Basham -- aka rbb  Make noise, leave sign; or, not.  @1986