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"Of course. All of this would work beautifully, Julie, if people would just be better than people have ever been. You'd be just one big happy family, if only you would be better than people have ever been. The warring factions in the Balkans would hug and make up. Saddam Hussein would dismantle his war machine and enter a monastery. Crime would disappear overnight. No one would break any law. You could dispense with courts, police, prisons. Everyone would abandon self-interest and work together to improve the lot of the poor and to rid the world of hunger, racism, hatred, and injustice. I could spend hours listing all the wonderful things that would happen . . . if only people would just be better than people have ever been." "Yeah, I'm sure of that." "This was the tremendous strength of the tribal way, that its success didn't depend on people being better. It worked for people they way they are--unimproved, unenlightened, troublesome, disruptive, selfish, mean, cruel, greedy, and violent." My Ishmael
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UNIT 15 From Tribalism to Hierarchalism
The author says that every civilization that enters history ex nihilo (that is, from no previous civilization) enters with the same basic hierarchal social organization firmly in place. Have students report on what is known about the social organizations of civilizations that emerged in one of the places he mentions outside the New World (Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, or China).
Quinn says he doubts that anyone really needs him to explain what "the rulers" like about hierarchalism. What do they like about it?
See how many students have visited Disney World or any place like it. What was their impression of the workers they saw? What kind of work were they doing? Do you agree that "No one runs off to join Disney World"?
Among the circus boss's jobs, Quinn says, are to decide who's going to be hired and fired and to settle disputes. If people sometimes have to be fired and sometimes have disputes, doesn't this mean that circus life is something less than perfect? How does this relate to other statements the author has made about the "perfection" of tribal life?
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