Natural Equality

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." This famous sentence from the United States Declaration of Independence seems to be a self-evident truth. Why does it seem then, that we've completely forgotten about it?

The modern form of humans evolved about 200,000 years ago, and for 190,000 of those years the truth of equality among men has been self-evident indeed. It took settlement, agriculture, the concentration of power and wealth for us to forget about that truth, until the Enlightenment briefly reminded us. The institution of democracy was indeed the consequence of that reminder, as was the rebellion against England and its king in the nascent United States of America. However, the practical effects of us rediscovering the self-evident truth of our equality have been imperfect and brief; we've never before been as unequal as we are now. Worse even; we're constantly reminded that this gross violation of the self-evident truth is the truth of our existence, by conservatives and right-wingers who goon about some "natural hierarchy," even comparing us to lobsters...

Tribal communities throughout history and on all continents weren't merely egalitarian, they were obsessively egalitarian, rejecting any kind of domination within their communities. That doesn't mean that they reject the concept of leadership, they reject the notion of rulers. A leader must be "primus inter pares," a first among equals, and ultimately everyone participates in the decision-making process; democracy comes naturally in our social species. And from leaders copious amounts of generosity and kindness are expected, they must not be arrogant, boastful or overbearing, or they risk not only demotion but ostracism from the tribe. Some of these tribal communities have been known to execute not only murderers, but sometimes those that are simply too aggressive.

To illustrate how obsessively preoccupied with egalitarianism these tribes were, consider this quote from a study on !Kung etiquette, a tribe from Southern Africa:

"Say that a man has been hunting. He must not come home and announce like a braggart, 'I have killed a big one in the bush!' He must first sit down in silence until I or someone else comes up to his fire and asks, 'What did you see today?' He replies quietly, 'Ah, I'm no good for hunting. I saw nothing at all... maybe just a tiny one.' Then I smile to myself because I know he has killed something big."

This modesty theme is carried on at the kill site. As soon as they see the kill, everyone starts putting it down:

"You mean to say you have dragged us all the way out here to make us cart home your pile of bones? Oh, if I had known it was this thin I wouldn't have come." "People, to think I gave up a nice day in the shade for this. At home we may be hungry but at least we have nice cool water to drink."

The hunter is expected to agree:

"You're right, this one is not worth the effort; let's just cook the liver for strength and leave the rest for the hyenas. It is not too late to hunt today and even a duiker or a steenbok would be better than this mess."
_{source: studylib}

Children in these tribes are raised without aggression, without a sense of privilege or sometimes even ownership. For 190,000 years we've lived like this, from the Arctic to the jungle. But the last 10,000 years have been a constant brainwashing from the few who like to dominate and be arrogant, who see themselves as "alpha males." And we've been taught to revere them, to accept them as our "natural" rulers, and accept our own lowly place in their "natural hierarchy." All the while knowing on an intuitive level that it's wrong, for "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

I've found this beautiful video illustrating all of this and more. It's linked below and I invite you all to give it a quick watch; it's a good reminder of the self-evident truth ;-)

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