Once Nietzsche killed off God with our permission, some were forced to find a new faith. It’s just our nature: we are condemned to religion. Dylan got it right when he sang you Gotta Serve Somebody. And if it’s not transcendent, it’s probably going down the road of the profane. Once you mix in some good, old procreative impulses with a counter-cultural pleasure seeking ethos, there you have it: an overly sexualized culture.
As Bruce Charlton notes, while “we inhabit a culture which, while dominated by sex, simultaneously denies the power of sex.” For many, it’s no big deal. And if you’re getting in the way of it and c---blocking me, you’re the problem.
We have become so arrogant these days that we aren’t even aware how crazy we can be without proper constraints.
Every so often (or maybe too often), I’ll encounter a female who I find especially attractive on the subway. I will then muster enough will power to not glance over to her again. Not so much to avoid her noticing and thinking I am some sort of creep, although that is a partial motivation, but to see if I can really do it. And guess what? I fail most of the time. While this may be an innocent enough vice I am partial to, it does confirm the strength of this tendency.
Some of our ancestors from the Greeks on were very aware of this, and were able to instill constraints through norms, laws, and religion. I recall reading a book about Marriage and Civilization, where the author William Tucker says “In almost all species, males spend most of their time fighting among themselves for access to females. The unique social contract of monogamy— a male for every female, a female for every male— lowers the temperature of sexual competition and frees its members to work together in cooperation. It is at this juncture that human societies— even human civilizations— are born.”
But here’s the interesting point, while “Monogamy does not maximize the interests of every participant. What is does is optimize everyone’s individual outcome in a way that maintains the integrity of the entire society.” So while our natural state may lean more towards polygamy (or just screwing around), there is a strong bonding-effect to a community when we are organized around families.
(Genghis Kahn and other uber-alpha males are probably the exception here. Interesting stat: approximately 16 million people can claim descent from Genghis and his male relatives.)
So with the family and trustworthy local communities losing ground the last several decades, what will that mean for us going forward? It’s shaky at best without hallowed ground.
