23 Comments

The importance of material conditions in explaining human behaviour cannot be overstated.

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It most assuredly can be overstated, and perversely so. Exhibit A: Marxism.

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Marxist materialism is dialectical in nature. It’s not just “extreme” materialism in degree, but distinct and unique in kind.

I am not a dialectical sort of materialist, and certainly not a Marxist.

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Marxism is explicitly and thoroughly materialist, and no kind of materialism has proven more toxic than Marxism and its progeny.

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Dialectical materialism.

I get that as a Catholic reactionary you want to blame the violence of the Cultural Revolution and Stalin’s purges on materialism and atheism, but you ignore the fact that Marxist materialism is specifically dialectical in nature.

Plus lots of awful violence comes from religious fundamentalism and idealism, like the Spanish Inquisition, and the terrorism of Islamists. You might see it as ethically justified to punish “sin” and “degeneracy”, but don’t pretend it doesn’t happen.

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Spanish Inquisition? When that's mentioned in the same ballpark as Stalin or Mohammedan mass murder, I know I'm reading something based on either ignorance or deception.

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I’m indeed a Catholic reactionary (in the real sense). Thus, for example, the sooner Antipope Francis is burned at the stake, the better.

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What’s your opinion on clerical fascism?

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I have sometimes wondered how people resolved cases of murders - or suspected homocides - in horticultural societies.

This clarifies that in supplying data on a specific case. Fascinating. Thank you.

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Wow. The dark barbarism of paganism never fails to nauseate.

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Old Testament genocides.

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Commanded by God, hence thoroughly right and just. But the dark barbarism of paganism is thoroughly satanic.

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30 Years War.

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It's not a confusing puzzle, just a demonstration that sociological context and cultural beliefs also matter, not just biology, but I don't think anyone reasonable would say that biology is the only explanation for differences in homicide. In this case, you had this tribe that due to some very preposterous beliefs and traditions, ended up having an extremely high homicide rate, once those beliefs and traditions were discarded, they stopped it.

Now, if you look at homicide in a different context, like contemporary US, then biological trends becomes a very plausible explanation for something like the extremely high homicide rate of blacks. Blacks in America don't kill much more because of beliefs like this tribe, but because of greater impulsiveness and aggression, among other things, and impulsiveness and aggression are hereditary. Now, that's also not to say that the black homicide rate can't go down, it can and has, but for that you need policing and a tough justice system, and once you remove those, the situation gets worse. Basically, it should be obvious that different groups with different behavioral tendencies will need different versions of the hand of the state to behave properly.

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Living with a PNG tribe for 6 years I can say that this story is just as ridiculous as Margaret Mead on Manus island in PNG. It all boils down to one thing, hope vs fear. If you are Animist your life revolves around fear of appeasing the spirits but as a Christian, you have hope for the future.

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So how many wars did Europe fall into (see Hitler)* and America take part in?

*https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/18147

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615 total Gebusi population? How many murders could there be?

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Leftists are enemies of civilization.

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it strikes me that some of the forms of material wealth involved here - pigs, crops, cash - have the property that they can be subdivided easily and unambiguously in a way that qualities like respect, power, influence, or indeed magic cannot, and this might be an important factor in the outbreak of peace among the Gebrusi.

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> As the Gebusi aggregated in larger villages with increased access to healthcare, and better nutrition with the influx of metal tools allowing for more productive gardens

What do you think was the catalyst for the above (better healthcare, etc)?

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One question, is the homicide rate lower or is the reporting of same faulty?

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