It may seem odd that a 2½ minute video documenting an experiment with capuchin monkeys serves as the starting point of what is essentially a political blog. But often when things like human behavior and voting patterns don’t make sense, it’s useful to go back to the basics, to look beneath the surface to examine the mechanisms that create both predictable results and their often irrational anomalies.
The truth is, politics may be just as much about sociology – the way different groups
behave and interact – as it is about ideology and demographics. Today, we evaluate candidates, their actions, and their parties mostly within the context of a 24/7 news-cycle that inevitably creates a tabloid sensibility. And sometimes it’s necessary to pull back to a wider view to gain better perspective.
Eminent primatologist and ethologist Frans de Waal has devoted much of his life to the study of morality in animals. The recognized standard that de Waal employs to measure animal behavior is the Two Pillars of Basic Morality – one representing Reciprocity (sharing and fairness); the other signifying Empathy (compassion and concern for others).
In the video, two Capuchin monkeys in adjoining Plexiglas cages are given the same task – to take a small rock and hand it through an opening to their handler – after which they receive a reward. But the reward is on two levels – a slice of cucumber, an adequate tidbit, and a grape, a much better and more nourishing treat. When both monkeys receive the cucumber, all is good. But when one is given a grape and the other gets only a cucumber, the second rebels – stomping his hand and hurling the cucumber back at the handler. He’d rather have no reward than an inequitable one.
Other basic tests show that when one monkey is given a large number of nuts or grapes and another gets none, the rewards are shared instead of hoarded by one. These results (and others showing shared work) have been replicated hundreds of times in tests given throughout the world with a variety of animals – elephants, dogs, dolphins, and many more – providing evidence that an innate (or genetic) fairness and willingness to cooperate is widespread in the animal kingdom. On an evolutionary level, this ingrained attribute of fairness – of sharing both rewards and workloads – is how species and communities thrive. Indeed, Jane Goodall – the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees – views primates as nothing less than our moral ancestors.
Because humans are evolved from chimps, capuchins, and other primates, our DNA is 98.5% identical to theirs. And like them, our sense of morality and fairness is genetically embedded – we possess it from birth and then reinforce the concept of sharing at home, in daycare centers, and in early school grades. Ask almost anyone and they’ll tell you they believe in fairness and teach it to their children. Indeed, fairness in all things is a universal human ideal.
So how do Republicans, in actions instead of words, stack up against monkeys on the most basic moral standards?
At a time when America faces its biggest and most threatening economic crisis in 80 years – one that could negatively affect our country for decades – Republicans are thwarting all efforts by the President and Democrats to jump-start any sort of middle-class recovery. It’s not just a Do-Nothing congress, it’s the Stop-Anything-That-Might-Help-Democrats-Even-If-It-Helps-Our-Country platform that pollutes every word and deed of the GOP. When they’re not obstructing positive action through a record number of filibusters, they’re filing lawsuits against any reform (like Obamacare) initiated by the Democrats. They refuse to confirm a huge number of judges (who would ease the mind-numbing backlog in our courts) and high-level cabinet nominees, like Elizabeth Warren and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, to block any needed regulation or oversight. They cut taxes on the rich and want to plunk the full financial burden on the poor and what just a few years ago was the middle-class. They are not willing to make even the smallest token sacrifice for their country – not even one added penny in taxes for any billionaire. And if anyone questions their agenda or motives, they scream “Class Warfare!” or “Socialism!” – two Big Lies that are growing very thin.
For the last 30 years – no matter what they have said – Republicans have consistently acted to cut education, welfare, and seem hell-bent on reducing Disaster Relief and “reforming” (i.e. getting rid of) Social Security. They want to reduce the number of police, fireman, and teachers, thus risking our health and safety while at the same time limiting our children’s opportunity. They attack and try to defund any social program (like Planned Parenthood) that actually helps people. They have calculatedly and deliberately hijacked any attempt to properly fund government just to prove that it doesn’t work so they can choke it to death and hand all responsibility over to the corporations that they clearly favor over real-life people
Does this sound like a party that seeks and works in harmony toward the healthy growth and common welfare of the community-at-large? Or does it come off as a dysfunctional, dissonant, and destructive faction that places its party and money before its country and people?
Morality – the essence and practice of cooperation, empathy, fairness, and reciprocity – was long thought to be a solely human attribute. And since it contains a democratic as well as an ethical aspect, it is one of the cornerstones on which America was founded. But these days, even the most basic moral standards are sadly more evident in animals than in the Republican Party and its minions. To the frightening extent that if Mitt Romney and the GOP slate sweep the November elections, the rest of us will be better off living on the planet of the apes.
Critics across the UK have taken a swing at the web swinger. Amazing Spider-Man is meeting mixed reviews across the pond. While some are calling it good, but not up to the standards of The Avengers, others are saying it was boring and underwhelming. The first review out of Belgium raved about how great Andrew Garfield was as Peter Parker. The others don’t quite agree, many saying he’s lost the classic Peter Parker sarcasm and wit.
A new television spot for The Dark Knight Rises has been released. There are some new clips in the trailer, but the high point is definitely the footage featuring the BatJet. The Dark Knight Rises is the last big superhero movie release of the summer. It hits theaters on July 20, but presale tickets are available now.
Early last week, gossip about Josh Hartnet being cast as Matt Murdock in the Daredevil reboot swarmed the internet. Director David Slade quickly squashed these rumors. He tweeted that not only was Hartnet not taking the part, but that they aren’t at the casting phase for the movie. During his tweets, he also announced that there are no intentions for the movie to be in 3D.
Nerds everywhere can relax. Paramount Pictures has pulled the plug on Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles. It looks like there will be no alien turtles from space, nor worries that the turtles won’t be teenagers. Although, another source says the movie has only been pushed back ten weeks.
Can the Time Lord live forever? Matt Smith hopes so. In a recent interview, he said he’d be interested in playing the part of the Eleventh Doctor forever, or as long as possible. No one knows when the Doctor number twelve’s time will come, but Smith hopes to stay in the TARDIS until the end of time.
During recent interviews, Chris Pine and Alex Kurtzman talked more about the upcoming Star Trek 2. Kurtzman spoke about the villain in the film, assuring fans that he was a scary badass that threatens to steal the show. Where the first Star Trek was about the crew’s relationships, Star Trek 2 will focus on the villain and how the crew has to work together to defeat him. It was also confirmed the film is being shot in IMAX.
If you can’t wait for Star Trek 2 for your fix of Enterprise-bourne action, you can look forward to the new Star Trek: The Next Generation comic. Entitled Hive, it will debut in September 2012 and will feature Picard and his crew fighting against the Borg who have assimilated the entire galaxy.
“I never got into this business thinking I’d be a movie star. I grew up running around the Connecticut countryside pretending I was Hopalong Cassidys sidekick.”
– Glenn Close
Glenn Close is hands down one of the greatest actors we have. She has proven that time and time again in films like The World According to Garp, The Safety of Objects and Dangerous Liaisons. Her film, Heights, is a Merchant Ivory production that comes on the heels of her great season in FXs The Shield.
Heights follows five characters over 24 hours on a fall day in New York City. Isabel [Elizabeth Banks], a photographer, is having second thoughts about her upcoming marriage to Jonathan [James Marsden], a lawyer. On the same day, Isabel’s mother Diana [Glenn Close] learns that her husband has a new lover, and begins to re-think her life choices and her open marriage. Diana and Isabel’s paths cross with Alec [Jesse Bradford], a young actor, and with Peter [John Light], a journalist.
As the interrelated stories proceed, the connections between the lives of the five characters begin to reveal themselves and their stories unravel so that Isabel, Jonathan, Diana, Alec, and Peter must choose what kind of lives they will lead before the sun comes up on the next day.
