It is an old saying - Man is a social animal. Really? I don't think any animal is really as social as we would like to believe. Society is a need, not a choice. Man needs society -- it is a need for him to be social but he really doesn't want to be.
Let's start with animals from bottom of the food chain. Ants are social. They have huge operations -- there is a queen and they collect food together, build homes together, help each other, etc. But this is all because a single ant wouldn't survive on its own. They need to be social. Let's use the example of a more complex animal like deer. They travel in herds because that is 'safe' for them. If they are left out they may get attacked by a predator. Lions and tigers are pretty secure in their strengths so they live in nuclear families and tend not to be very social.
Now let's turn to humans. When a human is poor and helpless, he likes the support of other people as a safety net. He is also not strong enough to think on his own, so society takes over -- religion and the mob around him controls him. So he is always surrounded by huge families and links like religion and union and the herd mentality is strong. There is no other way to go. If you are lucky enough to be rich and powerful, then you accept society on your own terms. Now you are becoming a lion and not an ant, and hence you start looking to get away from people -- find a bigger and bigger and emptier house on a higher and higher hill. So once the same poor person living in huge joint families with a huge set of friends turning to religion and living within social norms, gets the freedom by way of money and power, suddenly, the same 'social' human is no more so. The joint families start breaking into nuclear ones and further more. What society calls 'love' most of the time is only tested then, because most of the time, it is a compulsion and a need which keeps people in a herd like community, family etc. Minorities, for example, always seem to be more close knit, because of their need to feel protected.
When he can buy safety, security, health, and food, man suddenly stops being that social. He still needs to see his kind, but only on his terms. He has to do some give and take with his 'equals' and hence he mingles once in a while. Now give him a Facebook, twitter, phone, texting, and now he wants to socialize even less as he gets his fill keeping the distance so he can 'invoke' the society at his own will by click of a button.
My point is - No living creature is social, they are stuck in it together. Next time when you lament how joint family and 'values' have decreased, how loved ones change, and brothers fight, just put this simple formula to test. Was it that the inter-dependence was removed? It is all because the 'need' is gone, and the essential nature of human, that of living on his own terms comes to the fore. When poor societies find independence and freedom, it is called change of culture, and westernization. But what merely is that? it is just manifestation of 'real' nature of a creature.
Let's start with animals from bottom of the food chain. Ants are social. They have huge operations -- there is a queen and they collect food together, build homes together, help each other, etc. But this is all because a single ant wouldn't survive on its own. They need to be social. Let's use the example of a more complex animal like deer. They travel in herds because that is 'safe' for them. If they are left out they may get attacked by a predator. Lions and tigers are pretty secure in their strengths so they live in nuclear families and tend not to be very social.
Now let's turn to humans. When a human is poor and helpless, he likes the support of other people as a safety net. He is also not strong enough to think on his own, so society takes over -- religion and the mob around him controls him. So he is always surrounded by huge families and links like religion and union and the herd mentality is strong. There is no other way to go. If you are lucky enough to be rich and powerful, then you accept society on your own terms. Now you are becoming a lion and not an ant, and hence you start looking to get away from people -- find a bigger and bigger and emptier house on a higher and higher hill. So once the same poor person living in huge joint families with a huge set of friends turning to religion and living within social norms, gets the freedom by way of money and power, suddenly, the same 'social' human is no more so. The joint families start breaking into nuclear ones and further more. What society calls 'love' most of the time is only tested then, because most of the time, it is a compulsion and a need which keeps people in a herd like community, family etc. Minorities, for example, always seem to be more close knit, because of their need to feel protected.
When he can buy safety, security, health, and food, man suddenly stops being that social. He still needs to see his kind, but only on his terms. He has to do some give and take with his 'equals' and hence he mingles once in a while. Now give him a Facebook, twitter, phone, texting, and now he wants to socialize even less as he gets his fill keeping the distance so he can 'invoke' the society at his own will by click of a button.
My point is - No living creature is social, they are stuck in it together. Next time when you lament how joint family and 'values' have decreased, how loved ones change, and brothers fight, just put this simple formula to test. Was it that the inter-dependence was removed? It is all because the 'need' is gone, and the essential nature of human, that of living on his own terms comes to the fore. When poor societies find independence and freedom, it is called change of culture, and westernization. But what merely is that? it is just manifestation of 'real' nature of a creature.
No comments:
Post a Comment