The Nomadic Alternative – Page 9

Man. Briefly, they have observed the existence of a hierarchy of dominance in some (but not all) animal species, and presume its existence in men to account for the spontaneity of human warfare.

A flow of internal ‘aggression’ filters from the autocrat to the lowest and weakest individuals, who bend before displays of superior force. The strong males, who discipline the hierarchy and beat it into submission, guarantee a defended living space (lebensraum) for all its members. In return they have the right – the right of force – to the best food and the best females. Thus the fittest animals have the means to keep fit and procreate the fitness of the species.

Inferior rivals must bow to authority, or, finding no place to live, become outcasts, unable to breed. The Supermale honours the Darwinian principle of Natural Selection and credits his Creator.

This theory holds undeniable attractions for the Neo-Fascist, who draws moralistic conclusions on such diverse topics as contain-ment, disarmament, patriotism, the unnatural state of democracy, the nature of power, the rightful position of the autocrat, and the undesirable effects of modern medicine. The most helpful conclu-sions the ethologists have been able to draw is that somehow the human animal will develop cultural controls to prevent indiscriminate explosions of its aggressive drives. And the Supermale, it is evident, shall do the controlling.

This argument, thank God, rebounds on itself. Servile adulation of the Supermale is a reversion to animality. Might has never been right among men. For hubris always meets its nemesis, and tyranny is ultimately at the mercy of opinion. The force of words drags down brute force. Ingenuity equals out strength, brain complements muscle. Mythology applauds the Trickster – the “wise guy” who gets away with it in a tight situation – and despises the bully.

To the Hobbesian a peaceful savage is an embarrassing savage. And some peoples are quite harmless, do not make war among them-selves or with their neighbours, but simply run away. “Fighting is very dangerous”, said a Kalahari Bushman to Mrs. Lorna Marshall. “Somebody might get killed.” When the Anti-Primitivist learns of