Human beings may resemble baboons too much to abide by the morality that civilization crystallizes for us. This is why the most popular political movements incorporate baboonish elements into the mix — to make our conceptions of “the right” more palatable to hearts bent primarily on “might” — upon domination and violence and exploitation.
It is also why, across the political spectrum, you will find bizarre violent and irrational undercurrents: lust for war; hatred of material progress; collectivism; tribalism; servility; sexism; racism; groupthink …
But what happened to that one troop of baboons who lost their alpha males….
Wirkman Comment 