Post 106. February 16, 2020 continued . . .
The Lucifer Principle
The Pecking Order
Howard Bloom uses the metaphor of a chicken yard to illustrate how individuals and organizations jostle within the system to find their place in the hierarchy. “Nature’s way of testing any self-replicating device is competition.” Research on animal behavior has found that hierarchies are ubiquitous, but constantly shifting. For individuals in a chimpanzee tribe “pecking order privileges include sex.” And young males are motivated by testosterone to challenge the dominant alpha male for access to his harem. But Bloom also applies the concept of pecking order to superorganisms like nations. That’s why, throughout history, human social groups have climbed the hierarchical ladder of nations to form dominant empires. Inevitably though, lower-ranking barbarians have challenged the top dogs, toppling the Hellenes, then Rome, and every other world-dominating nation up to the British Empire. So based on that historical pattern, and current events of 1997, Bloom predicted the fall of the American Empire from its roost at the top of the modern world’s pecking order.
Not content to look backward, he went on to propose who will be the next “barbarians” to storm the gates of Washington. His “barbarian principle” says that low-ranking, but highly motivated, tribes will not be content to remain on the bottom of the totem pole. Moreover, “the dominant superorganism sometimes goes to sleep. It falls complacently into a fatal trap, assuming that its high position is God given.” Ironically, the Hebrews conquered the Promised Land, when motivated both by envy for the milk & honey that the native Canaanites enjoyed, but also by the assurance that God would lead them to victory. Thus inspired, they embarked on a campaign of ethnic cleansing, as commanded by God. Likewise, the modern Muslims seem to be an up & coming “killer culture”, low on the pecking order, but with a mandate from heaven, and a collect-ive memory of being on top, in the Ottoman Empire. So, Bloom views them as the next wave of empire usurpers, secure in the belief that Allah is on their side. Of course, this is not an inspired prophecy, but it does seem to be almost inevitable — unless the complacent Western Imperialists get their act together, and work together as a single super-organism (United Nations), to replace the internally crumbling American and European Unions.
One of the motivating factors for Muslims is their injured pride, after the rich & powerful Ottoman Empire was defeated and disassembled into an arbitrary array of poor & backward artificial nations, despite traditional tribal boundaries. Moreover, Bloom notes that foreign aid from Western nations is even more demeaning to those with hurt pride, than impoverish-ment. “Poverty with prestige is better than affluent disgrace”. This is why terrorists do things that we think are not in their best interest. Because they hope to increase their prestige at our expense. “Such is the nature of the hierarchical ladder, however, that whenever a creature moves up, someone else must be shoved down”. Thus, the Lucifer Principle is a win-lose proposition. Ironically, even a step up is not sufficient to dampen the hate & envy. “History indicates a rising standard of living and a bigger plate of food may be the very catalysts that unleash a storm of violence.” Lucifer is like Entropy, always tearing-down Order in order to build-up Disorder.
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