When a student of animals describes a beast's behavior, it is
natural and accepted that he would speak of instincts and drives.
Some modern schools which would accent man's ability to reason and
minimize the role of preprogrammed directives dislike attributing to
men preprogrammed behaviors. The (expletive deleted) with them.
I'm going to talk of lions, wolves and men as sharing some basic
drives. I'll review a drive. I'll show how the presence of that drive
in moderation is healthy for the possessor and his dependents. In
most cases, it can be shown that the lack of such a drive is not
healthy, nor is an excess of that drive. When done, we'll have a
partial list of basic drives which might partially define 'human
nature'. At any time we can review our list of Wild West antagonists,
and see that they share in various degrees all these drives.
This section defines how men are alike. In the next section we will
examine cultures, and how the various Wild West antagonists twist the
common drives to adapt to varying conditions.
Let's start with an easy drive. All lions, wolves, and men get
hungry. Appetites result in eating, which is a healthy behavior. One
with a too powerful hunger might over eat, and get fat, which is not
so healthy. One with a weak hunger drive might not eat enough, which
is not healthy either. All our antagonists get hungry. On the
surface, hunger has nothing to do with the Wild West conflict, but we
shall see about that later. One who responds to his hunger drive by
eating in moderation might be a 'Good' man. One who stuffs his face
in excess, perhaps ignoring the needs of others, might be drifting
towards 'Evil'.
After hunger, let's move on to sex. There is a strong tendency among
lions, wolves, men and other beasts for males and females to get
together and produce young. At the center of normal acceptable
behavior, you get affection, protection, nurturing and growth out of
family behavior. At the abnormal extremes one might see rape,
domestic violence, and dysfunctional families. It's getting easier to
apply words like Good and Evil now, isn't it? Again, at first look,
the above Wild West scenario has nothing at all to do with sex and
family drives, any more than the hunger drive. Let's take a second
look. What happens if the families of the Indian chief, farmer,
cattlemen, or most anyone else has their supply of food threatened?
As we shall see, the adults will do as necessary to feed the
young.
On to the peer bond. While men (unlike wolves or lions) might hunt
alone, they do not act and stand alone. Men of the same gender and
age groups tend to gang together. Each Wild West antagonist in our
example is the leader of a group of men that shares a common life
style. Each member of each group might want to be a leader someday.
There is a competition for status among each group. There are various
traditions and prizes which determine who will lead should a crisis
arrive. In a well working group, this competition for leadership
might result in a more effective response to any external threat.
Such behavior might be Good. Of course, bickering or excessive desire
for status or leadership could divide the group or weaken it. Again,
we drift towards Evil. Finally, if a potential member of the group is
not inclined follow the group, it is weakened. Thus, the peer bond
can be too weak.
Finally, there is the territorial instinct. For wolf or lion, each
pack or pride must have enough land with enough game to feed the
family. If intruders come, they are sensed, rejected, and driven off.
It is easy to see the conflict for our western valley as an echo of
an animal skirmish for territory. For men though, just land is not
always sufficient. In a complex society, there are many resources
that might be necessary for the members of the peer bond and their
families to continue it's lifestyle. Would the cavalry fight to
protect an valued ore found in the hills? How much will the railroad
push for the smoothest possible grade on their projected route?
How can a man defending the land and resources necessary to feed his
family and continue his way of life not be seen as Good? How can the
outsider coming in to seize the homeland's resources not be seen as
Evil?
What then is the Good man? He loves and protects his family. He
protects the resources necessary that his family might thrive. He is
a member of a group which uses similar resources, and is willing to
defend them as necessary. What is an Evil man? He is a Good man, only
more so.