We assume humans just get on, and when they don’t they’ve become ‘polarised’. Reverse the assumption. The…

We assume humans just get on, and when they don’t they’ve become ‘polarised’. Reverse the assumption. The baseline of all human life is violence. Imitative rivalry, for status. Humans are SOCIAL animals. /1 https://t.co/U6MBDB8JvD https://t.co/TRgkJJfnY6

America has always swapped collective life, with social life. Which means it has always been violent. The continuous fighting for status, by every individual, in the social melee. The fight for ‘identity’. Mass shooters for example mostly just want to be seen. /2

To be noticed, to be somebody rather than nobody. In a nation that is openly hostile to forms of identity founded in collective life. The progress of all civilisation is the control of social life. The creation of a ‘we’ that trumps social status games. /3

As I Tweet about, in turn this only occurs when the current status quo (the existing state of play in social status games) is catastrophically disrupted by mostly external threats. Wars, plagues, natural disasters. Only existential threat creates a ‘we’. /4

Like those communities suddenly threatened by bushfires, or floods. Where people who normally have nothing to do with each other or even despise one another, suddenly find a camaraderie. We’ve all seen this mechanism in action. /5

It never lasts long. Great orgasmic movements of togetherness fracture quickly, often the money raised for disasters is rorted or mismanaged, or even stolen, for example. Or more often the colossal disconnect between intent and implementation ends the love-in. /6

If we reverse all of our ideas about public life and recognise that left to themselves humans will only ever do one thing - compete against each other for social status, in imitative groups or teams - then the world will make a lot more sense. /7

Left to themselves, humans are ALWAYS ‘polarised’. That’s what social life is. The open fight for status. If you make them live inside social media, whose business model is this imitative rivalry, this violence will escalate exponentially. /end