Re: violence...

Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Sat, 25 Sep 1999 19:19:12 -0400

"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
>
> On Fri, 24 Sep 1999, Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
>
> > From my experience it has little to do with being hungry. Its a matter
> > of working the brain in its natural environment, giving it a complex
> > problem of tracking and stalking another creature that has been evolved
> > to avoid your best efforts. Making the kill at that point may or may not
> > be necessary.
>
> It is interesting, for me to notice my own tendency to translate a
> hunter/gatherer mindset from animals to the opposite sex. I have
> little interest in tracking or killing a wild animal (perhaps because
> I have little experience with whether or not they are a challenge).
> However, "stalking" a woman is an interesting challenge. I know
> women who have similar perspectives with regard to men. For me,
> making the "kill" has definite "responsibility" consequences,
> so you have to consider carefully *exactly* what you want as proof
> of a successful hunt.

An excellent example, IMHO, of the urban mind finding an outlet for the hunter instinct, and indicative of how serial rapists and killers develop, since treating women as objects of prey is not a healthy mindset.

>
> > I'm sure the exercise, the totally immersed environment might have a
> > contributing factor, as its a much higher bandwidth input than any
> > simulator game, but the hunt is the real fun.
>
> By this argument, you must then accept that is is not the reality
> of the hunting/violence per se, but the *perception* of that experience
> that you desire.

I don't know enough about the neurochemistry to come to a definitive conclusion, I can only cite the stats and relate my own perceptions, as a hunter.

>
> > As Lazarus Long said, "I've had the most fun when I wasn't sure
> > where my next meal was coming from."
>
> Clearly, lack of fullfillment of basic needs sharpens the experience.
> Generally speaking the average human in Western cultures in this day
> and age lives in an environment of very "dull" expriences. Hunting
> is perhaps an expression of the desire to recapture the vividness
> of the reality that we evolved in.

Perhaps.

Mike Lorrey