Civilisation and Evolution

Orundellico, Jemmy Button, grew up in Tierra del Fuego and belonged to the Yaghan people. Captain FitzRoy of the HMS Beagle took him to England after taking hostages in 1830. They returned to their homeland on the Beagle when Charles Darwin made his famous voyage. When he returned to his homeland he took up the habits that he had learned as a child and gave up the habits of a cultured English gentleman. Darwin was disgusted and stated that this happened because these people were closer to the apes and unable to appreciate the true benefits of civilization. Poor Jemmy, he just preferred his own culture and habits to those of his kidnappers.

Charles Darwin

This year the world celebrates the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's major work and the 200th anniversary of his birth. Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle and the work he did after that has certainly changed the world in many ways. However, Darwin's theories only affected Europe and didn't do much in Africa or Asia. That represents more than half the world's population. Darwin certainly changed the way many people think but did he actually change the world? If he did change the world, was it for good?

Sydney Easter Show

We went to the Royal Easter Show yesterday. It was a splendid day without any clouds, clear and not too warm. We saw professor Marie Bashir, the governor of New South Wales, open the show. She truly is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. If you can get to the show it is well worth the entry price.

When

At some time in their life a person wants to have structure so that they can feel secure. If this structure is not provided in their cultural context they will establish a cultural context of their own and join a gang. In these circumstances the people involved want to get to the top at some stage so they will try and take over from the leader or move out and establish their own new gang.

What is justice?

In the last few weeks we have seen an example of injustice on a massive scale. On of the basic issues with justice is that a person is only punished once for a crime. However, some sports administrators have a higher opinion of themselves than they ought to have. Nick D'Arcy has faced the Australian courts and been convicted for a crime. The sentence was given and will be carried out. However, the sports administrators seem to believe that they are above the Law and have decided to give him a third punishment for one offence. This is sanctimonious intellectual Nazism at its worst. I say we should sack the administrators and appoint people who are more concerned about the athletes and the sport than their own opinion of themselves.

Make our own rites of passage

In a society with no rites of passage there are many people who want to have the security of earning their right to be a full, participating member of the group. In order to this these people develop their own rites of passage and their own strict set of rules. This will give them the security they need even though some may later rebel against this security and try to establish a new group with themselves higher up the participation ladder.

Illegal gangs

Why do people join illegal gangs anyway? Some people don't join gangs but they join clubs or other organisations, does this serve the same purpose and joining gangs. The answer is yes. We all want to have some kind of security and this comes from knowing who we are. In a society that is deeply concerned with every persons rights we have forgotten the deep need that everyone has to belong. Belonging to one group is seen as interfering with someone else's right to be who they want to to be. However, we all want security and we seek to define ourselves by the company we keep or the organisation we belong to. Illegal gangs have well defined rules and everyone knows who they are are and they feel secure.