Narcissistic Gorillas In Suits and the Myths of Civilisation
Introduction
Recently I've been pondering the question of why modern society has become excessively narcissistic, vacuous and simultaneously polarised.
Here I would like to share some of my thoughts on how I think the central problem relates to myths and perceptions that are perpetuated by modern culture.
This is an opinion based piece of writing rather than something based on a study.
Gorillas in Suits
In the opening few minutes of one of my favourite movies "2001 : A Space Odyssey" we see proto-human apes struggling for survival.
Two tribes fight each other over resources (water). One tribe drives the other away.
An encounter with an alien device (monolith) leads to the initially defeated tribe "changing".
In an iconic movie moment one of the apes from the previously defeated (and now transformed) tribe grabs a bone and uses it as a weapon.
This represents the first use of technology and as the movie subtitles it, represents the "Ascent of Man".
We see the bone fly into the air and it slowly morphs into a spacecraft.
If we put aside the alien connotations here this famous movie moment makes a profound statement about humans and civilisation.
In the blink of an eye (in evolutionary terms) we have gone from struggling apes beating each other to death with bones to a technological civilisation with the capability for space travel.
The problem is that civilisation is just a thin veneer.
We are still beating each other to death except the bone is now a missile, a bomb or a drone.
The person who is doing it may be wearing a suit or sitting behind a desk but the intent and motivations behind it, those basic human drives are exactly the same.
The accoutrements may have changed but the organism at the centre hasn't.
The Problem Is We Believe Our Own Hype
The culture and systems we have built up around ourselves give us the impression that we are somehow beyond animalistic desires and tendencies.
Sadly it is based on false ideas and profound errors of thinking.
We are by nature prone to narcissism and the idea that we are "highly evolved" creatures on some superior level appeals to our egos.
Confirmation bias is a powerful force and we have a tendency to seek out those things which support our opinions.
I believe there is also a subset of this bias which extends to things which we "want to believe".
I have not come across a specific name for this (I suspect there is probably a German word there always is) but this seems to be a mixture of narcissism and conformation bias.
We want to believe we are noble and righteous, so we seek out those things which confirm that opinion.
We ignore anything that contradicts the belief.
In addition I believe modern technology and media may be amplifying these tendencies.
I will attempt to explain how:
The Modern Environment Reinforces This
These days we live a situation where we are able to pick and choose the opinions we are exposed to.
The online world and also media in general makes it easy for us to cocoon ourselves in an environment which basically tells us everything we want to hear.
We follow certain websites, newspapers and TV channels which agree with views we want to hear and we ignore or reject those that don't.
I have noticed this tendency within myself and it seems to be getting progressively worse over time - partly because of technology.
Technology has made it so easy that we don't even need to think about it. Complex algorithms created by companies like Google and Facebook only present us with what they think we want to see.
TVs and DVRs do the same kind of thing with programming recommendations - mine even records programs for me that it thinks I will like.
Every menu and recommendation is tailored to our tastes.
In this way whatever opinion you have or whatever you believe you can create your own reality around it.
Nobody can question you unless you actively seek it out. There is no mental effort or reasoned justification.
We are able to exist in our own safe "bubbles".
This is a kind of political correctness taken to the extreme where all opinions are given equal weight and value.
Nobody likes being wrong so it is easier (and less painful) to create the illusion that everyone agrees.
The mega-corporations and media companies know this and since they are basically trying to sell to us they keep us happy by reinforcing these ideas.
I believe that this is inherently unhealthy and is at least partly responsible for the extreme polarisation of contemporary times:
Why Is This Bad?
Like the alcoholic who cannot see there is a problem, we become entrenched in behaviours that harm others as well as ourselves.
We don't see the damage we are doing so we don't have an opportunity to change.
We lose insight into the lives and problems of others and I believe it makes us more divided as a society.
We all see ourselves as the noble hero in our own story - we fail to see the wrongs we do and we take inappropriate offence to the things that others do.
This leads to grievances becoming worse over time and people becoming more and more polarised.
This is all plain to see in our political environment.
I also believe it extends to almost all areas of modern life, from our jobs to our relationships.
Do you think you are above all this?
Maybe you are, or maybe you want to believe that so strongly that you are falling prey to the very bias and narcissism that I described.
I know that I still do and I don't think any of us are beyond it.
This is part of the day to day human struggle and just denying it does not make it go away.
What Can Be Done?
The first step is acknowledging that we have a problem.
We need to admit that we are irrational and emotional beings that are not always governed by logic.
We need to accept when we make mistakes and apologise when we are in the wrong.
This is not easy because we live in a blame focused and "mistake phobic" society.
I think this is at least in part because of the litigious nature of modern culture.
This in itself is based on the preposterous idea that nobody should ever make a mistake and that someone must be responsible for everything that happens.
In my opinion it is a patently infantile way of looking at the world and life in general.
I also think it does more harm than good.
On the one hand it ratchets up the expectations that we make of others and on the other it makes people afraid of owning up to and learning from mistakes.
Ultimately it actually encourages the triumph of ignorance over reason and holds us all back.
We need to surround ourselves with people that challenge our opinions rather than just self-selected "Yes" men who share our every attitude and opinion.
In doing so we also need to accept that we are not always right and we need to come to terms with it.
Failing to do so is harmful to us as a society and will at the very least lead to cultural stagnation.
In a worse scenario it could cause greater conflict between different groups of people as those stagnated cultures become more polarised and divided.
The eventual result could even be civil wars and more world wars.
None of these outcomes are good.
Conclusion
Anyway this is already getting too long.
My basic point is that modern society makes it easier for us to buy into the narcissistic myth that we are always right and for us to create a false reality based around that idea.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Thank you for reading
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This is an awesome post-- in a way, exactly what it was my hope Steemit would "be about" when I decided to give it a shot.
My wife is a life coach and focuses heavily on the spiritual... as I was reading this, I kept thinking about how she says she can sum up the total of her teachings in one simple short sentence: "Don't be shitty!"
The veneer of so-called civilization is extremely thin, and it seems like it gets ever thinner as the natural evolution of the species is overtaken by the ever accelerating speed of technological change. Out natural adaptive abilities simply can't keep up with the changes... and so-- indeed-- we end up with these Gorillas In Suits. I observe myself watching what's happening in the world and thinking to myself... "Wow, that's like tribal stone age thinking!"... and maybe it really IS.
I don't consider myself "above" it, but possibly "aware" of it. The only way in which I might possibly be above anything is in recognizing that I am not fit for what is "expected" of me, and I don't care to compete for that. I'd just as well have a smaller life and sit here and grow vegetables and have a couple of chickens-- "striving" does not suit me. But the paradox arises... in that the world sees my desires as "primitive and regressive," while I see the world as "getting ahead of itself."
Anyway, I don't believe society's path is "right," and I probably don't know what I am talking about, either. But I do believe in "do no harm;" and that informs my choices, as long as I remain awake and mindful. Whether that makes me "a freak" or "enlightened" remains to be seen.
Thanks for a thought provoking post!
Thanks for an awesome answer:) I think "Don't be shitty" is perfect as a summary for how to behave in life!
This is a tough one.
Having been trained in Zen for a few years, one can come to learn that they are both infinitely important and simultaneously infinitely meaningless. The flaw, perhaps, in this narcissistic worldview that you speak of is the imbalance. It's fine to understand that you are the center of the universe, but also that everyone else is, too, and even bugs and blades of grass and grains of mud, also. There is a transcendent moment that is very powerful in modern man when he learns to use his ears as much as his mouth.
Upvoted
@shayne
Thanks, good points :)
Sorry I missed this. I was not about the last couple of days.
The initial payout cycle has already finished, but I am going to resteem this anyway because I find it to be of great relevance.
I don't actually believe in evolutionary theory, as I think it is just a bullshit lie propagated to justify the man eat man nature of modern society, so I won't touch on the initial part of your post.
But, I think you make some extremely good points about the state of our current affairs. I actually wrote an article not too long ago on here that was my first ever trending post, and I touched on a few of the same things you do, mainly about the predictive algorithms and how they are perpetuating division.
It does seem that everywhere you look now there are systems of confirmation bias tailored specifically for you, and the more we get comfortable with this sort of thing the harder it will become for us to accept the truth when we are wrong, or to communicate productively with others who hold differing opinions.
I don't know what can be done about it at this point. It really comes to down to everyone making a personal choice to challenge their beliefs as often as possible and not hold to tightly onto their current ideals.
Just trying convincing someone of that though...
Excellent post.
Thank you. Well we can't always agree on everything and it is better if we don't lol! Thanks for your kind words.
@thecryptofiend I thought you're a doctor? This is so much of a shrink's thoughts!
or in Steemits case - mud ..
thrown to another person who's done you not only err but many goods but because one loses control of his or her emotions - like an ape they go bullistic using writing as a weapon against that other person aiming and believing that what they are doing is right and therefore should be done .. even believing its the ultimate truth -
forgetting that even the coin has not just one or two sides .. the many usually just find the head and tails - but overlooking the edge. Then like you wrote - they become the hero in their own story but actually the story screams "I'm a victim" to the reader and it only fends and push people off.
In the end the tactic used backfires against them ... and what's going to be next? A blame game? Or like what you wrote up there - a self destruct.
Zig Ziglar once said ...
surely, I don't want to find out that am seeing a narcissistic gorilla in suits in me .. so I'll take hid of your advice - to surround ourselves with pips that could challenge our opinion and stay open to what they have to say besides ..in the end I'll still be taking the main responsibility.
Great points:) I love the Ziglar quote.
The Ziglar quote reminds me of something I said to Leo, my older son on how to see other people. I told him:
In fact, most decisions people make are not based on logic, but emotions. This has been well documented. People like to think they are logical but they are not. This is a hard pill for most to swallow.
Exactly very few decisions are based on logic, - emotional reasoning tends to play a very strong part but I think most people are not honest with themselves about that even if they are shown the research.
I have to be very vigilant about this because I have a tendency to become embroiled in heated thought, which is driven by emotions. One of the practices I do is artistic expression of emotions, which tends to clear out my circuitry. I make art when I feel overloaded, and I try to do this instead of arguing with others to make them "see my point." My art does the story telling, and people then can choose to voluntarily "see my point". It helps me maintain more of a balance. It also helps me to see all sides of an issue better because I also get to see my own perspective through time. This process allows me to see my faults and also my mental shortcomings. Blogging helps also......but sometimes I feel that arguing to prove a point does more damage than good......
Yes for sure.
"This in itself is based on the preposterous idea that nobody should ever make a mistake and that someone must be responsible for everything that happens." Great line from a felicitous post.
Thank you:)
You're well on your way to being a whale, and that will be a good day to behold.
Thanks not sure about that though. There is a long way to go. I would rather we took Steemit and Steem mainstream:)
The only thing that separates man from the animals is - man.
We are what they are.
It is only our need to be different, important, elevated, that sees us try to make out that we are better than the beasts of the field and forest.
We are just animals - very clever animals (we some of us are) but still just animals, mortal, frail, flawed and quite fascinating.
Acceptance of that is not defeatist, it's liberating. It allows you to understand yourself in primal terms to know why. It doesn't remove the veneer of civilization, but it does allow you to see it for what it is.
I am an animal, and I'm proud! :-)
Yes exactly thank you:)
Great info Sir.
Thank you:)
what a fantastic story - i think you should be the no. 1 psychologist here
You are very kind:)