Aggro-Agriculture

Thousands of cultures through the millenia do not have the same desire we do to propagate our beliefs. What many of these cultures have in common is that they are hunter-gatherer societies. Daniel Quinn told me that in his books. I'd like to add reclusive Taoists and Buddhists to the list, among other nondualistic philosophies, but even then is it rare that an agrarian society can produce people who do not have the insatiable urge to xerox their brains onto other brains. Maybe Quinn was right and there's something truly abominable at the root of totalitarian agriculture--the idea that WE control the Earth strictly for our benefit and not our competitors (wolves, insects, birds). And since we are in control, we decide what is good and what is evil. And if you disagree, off with your head.

People are alarmed when a boy burns ants with a magnifying glass or a man runs over a bunch of geese with sadistic glee, thinking it's only a matter of time before he moves on to running over people. Couldn't that line of thinking be applied to institutionalized killing like totalitarian agriculture with its pesticides and competition elimination? If you have given yourself the power to determine which animal species deserve to live, it's only one step short of determining which human group deserves to live. Hunter-gatherers have battles. Agriculturalists have genocides. A requirement for genocide is a sense of absolute and universal righteousness, the same kind that enables a totalitarian agriculturalist to call himself king over the fish, the plants, and the pigs.