/lit/ - Literature

>>8151333
>>8151333
>>8151333

Nice triples.

>>5066053
The second similarity I noticed between the natural world and our own was the inevitability of hierarchy. I was struck by the fact that all social creatures subscribed to some kind of pecking order. Just like each species plays a role in the ecosystem, each individual within a species plays a role in their social group. I found primate interactions particularly fascinating for the obvious reason that they are our closest relatives in the natural world. The cynic in me was unsurprised to discover that egalitarianism isn't popular among primates. You don't have to be Jane Goodall to see that some chimps get the banana while others are left holding the peel. I was very interested in learning why some chimps dominated and how these alpha chimps kept the others from revolting. Like many things in the animal kingdom, the answer was relatively simple: the biggest, toughest males asserted themselves through violence and I'm ashamed to admit that I found the "law of the jungle" appealing on a visceral level. There is no need for diplomacy or to fret over reaching a consensus, all a chimp needs is muscle. Clearly I had not completely discarded my Nietzschean tendencies. However, there were several significant obstacles preventing me from completely embracing this brutish philosophy (thank God). The first being that I've never been physically imposing. I'd lifted weights since high school and although I'm in decent shape for my size, no amount of bicep curls could exchange my slender frame for the hulking mass that I imagined I needed if I wanted to become a true "alpha." The second obstacle I faced was that I am not a particularly aggressive person by nature. My lack of size and easy-going demeanor made it difficult for me to command respect in the same way my simian idols were able to. However, that didn't stop me from trying. I traded my philosophy books for protein shakes and succumbed to the exhausting macho-posturing that is more befitting a monkey than a man.