@aaronblohowiak: Ok, your assertions:
“precivilized cultures are almost continually at low-grade war with one another over food supplies, mates, and territory.”
– The term “precivilized cultures” implies that these cultures are the ones who just haven’t gotten around yet to civilizing, as if it were inevitable and a matter of time (hence the prefix “pre”). It appears to me that this attitude tends to lead “civilized” people to overlook the possibility of learning what these other cultures might teach them. Like, that it is possible to live with nature, not against it.
– How do you define “low-grade war” and what judgments are you passing about it? Although some of these cultures might have fairly regular fights over some things, they don’t do it anything like we civilized countries who cause massive damage to noncombatants and aim to conquer and dominate completely. Their fights are limited, personal, and of limited purpose and effect – in no way do they even conceive of conquering the world. Only with civilization did war get invented as exterminating other people, enslaving them, sowing “the enemy’s land” with salt, or claiming the
“Intellectual Property Rights” to the DNA in their seeds in exchange for selling the genetically sabotaged grain that can’t be used to grow future crops, in order to increase the paper profits and stock value of some megacorporation.
“your romanticized views of indigenous peoples’ politics are naive at best.”
– It’s unfortunate I was so unclear to you. I didn’t mean to romanticize “uncivilized” cultures, but to point out the cold fact that they and the animals have been entirely successful at preserving a way of life for longer than civilization has existed, while civilized people assume superiority yet find it challenging to stop their own ever-accelerating damage (potentially fatal damage to the planet itself).
“If you had integrity and believe the things you say, then why haven’t you chosen to forgo the fruits of civilization and join one of the cultures you exalt?”
– You misunderstand my observations. As I mentioned to neonez, I hope “civilized” humans will see the effect of their “entitled conquerors” attitude and learn to live in harmony with other species as soon as possible, rather than continuing to destroy other species and environments. Grass skirts are not required, but a shift of thinking is.