Human beings are "The Third Chimpanzee" - how our behavior is more like chimps than we may want to admit
During our time of apparent political upheaval in America, with a never ending Culture War causing intergenerational conflict and family arguments at the dinner table, I am all too often reminded how human behavior resembles that of our closest Great Ape cousin, the Chimpanzee. I agree with UCLA Anthropologist Jared Diamond that humans are the third chimpanzee, and our tendency toward dominant/submissive behavior. The obsession with being a dominant alpha male is common specifically in the United States, a nation that has been the aggressor in foreign entanglements like the Vietnam War and the second Iraq War, wars that in hindsight appear unnecessary.
In the video below, watch as a group of chimpanzees scapegoat a single chimpanzee in the group, giving him injuries that eventually lead to his death.
Just like humans, chimps will form hordes and gangs and scapegoat individual chimps, beating them until they kill them. Watch the video below, where a once alpha chimp is murdered and partially cannibalized. Researchers believe that the attack was a result of heightened sexual competition. Like Chimpanzees, humans regularly fight over women, and it's considered weak and unmanly not to fight over women, even the behavior is completely Chimp-like.
Watch this clip below of human chimps recently battling in Charlottesville, VA
The most dominant male chimpanzees have the highest testosterone levels and attract the most females. These dominant males will also regularly beat female chimpanzees, which only reinforces their dominance. Rather than leave the dominant male chimp, these battered female chimps will continue to stay and breed with these dominant apes in a manner similar to human women who are oppressed by human men but continue to stay with these men. Stockholm Syndrome, when individuals fall in love with their captor, is not only particular to humans but also something chimps can be subject to.
US Intelligence agencies will follow this chimp model of behavior that involves working for the highest rank or dominant positions with the goal of having access to the most sought after females is ordinarily promulgated by higher ups in the Intelligence community. By empowering the males with sexual satisfaction with a female, they can control the mood and focus of the Intelligence assets. I recommend reading the first part of Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins where elucidates his own experiences of these techniques.
In the video below, Anne Pusey explains that female chimps regularly leave the location in which they were born in to mate with males in other groups. This inherent practice in chimpanzee's ensures that less inbreeding occurs. Female humans are also likely to cheat on their male partner, regularly seeking men who have characteristics they perceive as lacking in their current significant other. This behavior is hardwired into women because human beings are the third chimpanzee.
Humans also have capabilities beyond chimpanzees, and my final message to the reader is that he or she can always transcend our chimp-like behavior by engaging in culture, art, science, reading, and critical thinking. These activities may not be as dominant or sexually satisfying as chimp behavior, but they are what make us distinctly human.
Here's a link to Jared Diamond's book, The Third Chimpanzee
https://www.amazon.com/Third-Chimpanzee-Evolution-Future-Animal/dp/0060845503
Here are some articles on the subject
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