***What follows is discussion, rather than review***
This is point is eloquently made. I agree (which probably helps me see the eloquence). It also evolves, for me, to two higher discussion points: the danger of absolute equality; and bear hunting.
First, let me draw a picture for the fist point. If we run as fast as our brother(s), surely the aforementioned bear will see the strength of numbers and decide not to attack. But who scared away the bear? Surely there was one person who tipped the scale! In fact, the group en masse scared away the bear, but the nature of human kind is to climb, to improve, to compete. The human individual, by nature, seeks for his share of the reward--be it food, treasure, or glory--and will not be content to always take an even share as everyone else. At an atavistic level, this ensures that the most durable, aggressive, and strongest bloodlines are promulgated. At a social level, it means that if we scare off the bear of establishment as a group, we will then birth our own monster of ego to release among us. An unspoken perspective to the joke, making it much less funny, is the possibility that the "faster" brother is the one who brought the bear around in the first place, specifically to eat the slower brother, thereby increasing Speedy's share of the reward. Absolute equality works beautifully in manifestos and poems; but the animal within the man will not allow it.
Now let us think about the bears in all this. How many bears chased us? One? Two? For the sake of the example, let's say we have outsmarted the one bear that was chasing us, my brother and I. We don't want to be chased again, so WE will now go hunt the BEAR, for it is a ravenous, frothing thing, and must obviously be destroyed for the sake of all. And we find it and we kill it, and we carry it home as a trophy, hanging from our righteous stick (which, we might notice with some foreboding, appears to be sharpened at both ends). We are heroes! But now what? We are heroes today, but just two of the guys tomorrow. How to we stay on top of the food chain, on top of the pyramid? Well...get another bear! So we hunt, and we find one slavering after a woman and her girlfriend in the forest of equal rights, and we slay that beast, too! And then we find the Brutality Bear mauling the poor and weak, and we bring a third trophy to hang on the wall behind tonight's anchorman.
Then we come to a cave where we hear a funny little sound, like a quiet rumble. We poke our head inside and find a small little bear sleeping. It is the beast of Justice, of Law, of Order, of Right. He is sleeping peacefully until his time of hibernation (long overdue, I dare interject) has ended. This little cub is of danger to no one. But he is a bear! And so we lie in wait, my brother(s) and I, outside the cave. And we make noises like victims, and we wake the bear, with his deep blue fur and gold eyes like blazing shields. And when he charges from his den to chase the slowest of the unjust--WE KILL THE BEAR!! We roll in his blood and wear his skin home as a cloak! And we broadcast to the rest of the family that ALL bears must die, ALL bears must be destroyed! And the family rallies round (yes, even with a pocket full shells, as it were)! We are no longer on top of the pyramid, but just one of the crowd, and we go where the crowd goes and hunt where the crowd hunts. And we watch in horror as the crowd becomes the bear, as WE become the bear, and we realize we frothing at the mouth for a kill of any kind.
We can always come together for protection; but we need to be wary of our own human condition: we are animals, and we compete for survival. To try to repress that instinct leads down dangerous paths. We can sublimate the urge, and harness it--that ability of the mind is what sets us apart; but we must not think that everyone on an equal playing field all the time is utopia. It's actually the last stop before Extinction. And while we are protecting ourselves and each other, we absolutely must remain aware, at the individual level, that we are animals, and if we give in wholesale to those baser instincts and trade justice for vengeance, then we give away that thing that sets us apart, we become the animal, and we make ourselves fair game to be hunted down.
Safety is not outrunning the bear; safety is not becoming the bear. Safety is balance, a constantly shifting target we must define as individuals and as a group. Safety is in communication between the individual and the group. Safety is not outrunning the bear or grinning down the bear.
Safety is in talking all us bears off the ledge.
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