Driving on the Beach

The opening credits of the film "The Boys are Back" (BBC2 last night)  shows Clive Owen driving a 4x4 accross a public beach. The bathers are shouting at him;  he justs smiles and says "What's your problem? Relax" . Out of context it looks like very anti-social behaviour. We later realise that it is his way of dealing with bereavement and of bonding with his son. He creates a child-centred chaotic household with lots of risk but lots of joy. It breaks down when, in his absense, the house is invaded by dozens of teenagers intent on partying. Individual freedom also leads to crime and violence.

Ghandi said "Live simply that others might simply live." Great wisdom, but a wisdom which will only appeal strongly to some people and has little attraction to many of us. This seems to me the central problem of all the notions of the simple life, the communes, the eco villages etc. Returning to  the idea in my last post, that the Bonobo ape genes in us represent our empathetic side (political Left) and the Chimpanzee genes the autocratic (political Right), I would suggest that the simple life has great appeal to the Bonobo but none to the Chimp, and precious little to young humans.

For the young, life wants to be in the fast lane - full of  noise, speed, excitement, danger - and many of us continue to live our lives in this way until the physical limits of age intervene. When this translates to anti-social behaviour (eg the bankers) our reaction depends on our position on the bonobo/chimp spectrum. If we tend to the right we will tend to tolerate anti-social behaviour if it is seen as an expression of individual freedom and increases wealth. If it is seen as an attack on property or respectable society it will be condemned.  The left will wish to protect the interests of the community against anti-social behaviour by selfish individuals. Individual freedom is to be curbed for the benefit of society as a whole. The horror of the right is the nanny state, and its antidote is individual freedom. Given the choice, for example, between population limitation by a one child policy or starvation for some and 10 children for others, the right would choose the latter, providing it was someone else doing the starving. The left would choose whatever is seen to be best for the community as a whole.

In our society the usual response to individual violence against it is to inflict violence on the individual.  Many of us can see why this is a bad idea, but we often fail to see any positive side to our violent impulses. Yet, without those impulses we would not be here; we would have been selected out like the dodo. We need the killer instinct and should not be ashamed of it.  If any of us are to survive the looming catastrophe we have to be able to accept and make use of all our instictive behaviours. If we believe profoundly that our political opponent is wrong, we have to understand why he (in my case it is nearly always he) thinks the way he does. If we can't change how he thinks we must find a way to work round it.