Not everything genetic is beneficial. Not every biological imperative should be unquestioningly indulged.
Yeah but what if that unfulfilled biological imperative provoked a compulsion too strong to control with certain people hence stuff like Virginia Tech or Columbine or what have you.
There was no mass shooting that I know of in the 19th century (well ok maybe the wild west but we're stretching the definition a bit) and these were more violent times.
That could have something to do with the shift from living in local communities to living in an anonymized, impersonal global culture, at least when you're talking about things like school shootings.
As I said school shootings were just an example of a violent event committed by one person. I picked it as an example because if it happened in the past it would have been easy to spot in a 19th century context even though police work was for all intents & purposes police work was non existent (pretty sure plenty of serial killers got away scot-free because of that).
As for the change of lifestyle: but it's quite the opposite we're living in an ever more interconnected world and at the same time our society puts a strong emphasis on individuality,on the value of every single life.
I know if had to live in a village in the 19th century and my life was boring as hell because there's nothing to do and there's no intimacy because everybody knows everybody it would drive me fucking nuts and I would think about killing everybody.
Well, let me throw in an opinion about killing and evolution. It is naive to think killing is unnatural. I don't dispute the use of it in the process of evolution. The whole biome of the world is a closed system, a recycling factory. I have no qualms about the morality of killing, per se, but we have the means to stop and don't do so. We don't need to fix our environment, but fix ourselves. Killing is unnecessary. We're beyond the clamoring of genetic dominance cycles, though it still occurs, of course. I believe the term is "epigenetic" or something. It's an evolution of culture, society, and mind. You may feel free to put spirituality, but I think religion is a lingering parasite, and for far longer than politicians. The thing is, instead of killing, let's stop making more people. It just seems the reasons to kill, at least traditionally, should head toward a fading out among the human collective. The glitch in the system that might make difficulty isn't "curing" greed or avarice or defense against violence, but killing as part of compulsion or for "fun." They might be a drastic minority, perhaps manageable if the other parts have been taken care of. This is just my opinion, of course. We could speak forever about idealism.
by AmanitaSilly me. I referred to the dictionary definition of "compulsion"; I should have known you would know better.~
You can still feel a strong, compulsive need to do something, whether you act on it or not. The compulsion is not the action itself. It's the motivator, the driving force.
Authority? Reality check: you're a single mom on welfare dealing with a troubled adolescent you are currently homeschooling, Thriller. If anything, that restricts your freedom and autonomy. Your homicidal urges constitute an impotent channel through which you express the "power" that you are unable to fulfill, achieve or wield in real life, and it consumes you, sapping you of any genuine vitality or potential.
I don't see how my being a parent restricts much of anything. Sure, I can't just pack up and travel around at the moment because of my daughter, but that doesn't mean I can't go out places when I want to.
Not only do I have power as a parent over my daughter, I also have power over the choices I make in life.
Do you think that being successful in a job is the only thing that gives someone power?
If that is what you think, than I only imagine how powerless you must feel.