>>Don't over-estimate the value of aggression
>
>Rush Limbaugh (who is so far out right-wing you need
>binoculars

Forget Limbaugh, stick with the science.  Here's a sample:

"Chimp social structure would be unique were it not for humans acting
similarly. This is no coincidence. By most taxonomic criteria, chimps and
humans are sibling species. Overall, chimp society is not only extremely
sexist -- with all adult males dominant over females-but also xenophobic to
the extent of killing all alien males, many infants, and some old females
who enter their territory. To some readers, my use of the word war may seem
too strong to describe what male kin groups do. But systematic, protracted,
deliberate, and cooperative brutal killings of every male in a neighboring
community, plus genocidal and frequent cannibalistic murder of many of their
offspring, followed by usurpation of the males' mates and annexation of part
or all of the losers' territory, matches or exceeds the worst that humans do
when they wage war.

"Wild chimps reveal the natural contexts of territoriality, war, male
cooperation, solidarity and sharing, nepotism, sexism, xenophobia,
infanticide, murder, cannibalism, polygyny, and mating competition between
kin groups of males -- behaviors that have evolved through sexual selection.
Also significant is the fact that none of these apes learned these violent
behaviors by watching TV or by being victims of socioeconomic handicaps --
poor schools, broken homes, bad fathers, illegal drugs, easy weapons, or any
other sociological condition. Nor were these apes spurred to war by any
political, religious, or economic ideology or by the rhetoric of an insane
demagogue. They also were not seeking an 'identity' or buckling under peer
pressure. Instead, they were obeying instincts, coded in the male psyche,
dictating that they must win against other males." [ p. 176, THE DARK SIDE
OF MAN: Tracing the Origins of Male Violence, by Michael P. Ghiglieri;
Perseus, 1999; http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/073820076X ]

Jay

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