There have been cultures which disallowed cousin marriage but still ended up rather closely related to each other by restricting marriage to within the clan, just not 'too close'. They would also marry out to create alliances. Some closely related Scottish clans fit this model. as did the Chechens, and traditional Korean and Chinese clans. There have been twinned Chinese clans, where members of one clan (surname) would only marry members of the other, and vice versa. And then there is India, which I haven't read enough about. There are thousands of jati, which are groupings based on occupation and social status -- but traditionally (and to this day) you could only marry within a jati. This has made the jatis genetically distinct, whether or not the region in India outlawed cousin marriage (parts do, and parts do not).
There’s a lot of money and power (status) to be had in ignoring, and coercing others to ignore, the results of selection. The problem is, even the dumbest human is still an amazing pattern recognizer.
There’s a tendency to assign hierarchical value, but a screwdriver is only superior to a carving knife in specific circumstances. That said, it’s often wise to store them in separate containers; and to consciously modify them before attempting cross-application.
Is there any evidence that the reasonably high trust environment of the trade between empires around 1200 BC would also have been due to reducing kin/clan based allegiances? [A recent You Tube video suggested that the "sea peoples" were really not raiders so much as middle and western Mediterranean family and social group refugees seeking better living conditions when their local areas experienced weather/climate change impacts on agriculture. Since times were tough all over, they had to fight their way into the Eastern Mediterranean.]
Can we infer from your remarks that the German groups with a "chose to serve" social norm would have already been "socially prepared" to accept the Roman and/or Church guidance on consanguineous marriages, thereby aiding the reduction in their tribal/clan based behavior?
Regarding the Bronze Age, have not read anything useful on the role of clans and kin groups. Clan networks can facilitate trade, in the right circumstances.
Yes, German social patterns absolutely had elements that gelled with the Church campaign against kin groups. You can read the Arthurian tales as a contest between Germanic chosen loyalty (the Round Table) and Celtic kin loyalty (the Celtic fringe, let by the House of Orkney).
Some people believe that the Germanic groups already had the restriction on kin marriages, and the Christians acquired it from them. Not sure what the genetic mapping of male lineages is showing, and if it can decide which came first or if it is all chicken-egg at that level.
The Latin Church sanctified the Roman synthesis. But there does seem to be have some interplay with Germanic patterns—including with becoming more restrictive than the Romans.
"Thus we see Somalis in Minnesota treating the American welfare state as Somalis in Somalia treat foreign aid: you say whatever you need to non-Somalis in order to get the outsiders to hand over money, that you then channel to your clan."
It's absolutely true that this dynamic is in play.
But there's one more factor: hawala. Somalis don't use a conventional banking system. When they want to send money from the U.S. to Somalia, they literally fill suitcases full of cash and a courier takes them to Somalia on a passenger plane.
Wouldn't that be a handy step in laundering federal funds through the Somali fraud mechanism, then moving it to Somalia in a suitcase, then finding ways to port it back into party coffers?
Isn't it possible that crooked politicians in the U.S. went to the Somalis and helped them set up their fraud machine, then used hawala as a way to route the funds back to their party, with everyone along the line getting a cut?
Isn't it possible that protecting this racket (and others yet to be uncovered) is why MN politicians are so overly zealous about thwarting ICE?
Sending activists to physically impede LEOs as they carry out operations that their political opponents promised to implement -- that's breaking the social contract! If you lose the election, you fight via political channels to stop the winners from getting very far with their agenda.
Something is very wrong in MN, and I'm guessing it involves 12 digits.
Taken straight from Jordan Peterson’s magnum opus, Maps of Meaning. He is not a scintillating writer, but he does give one much to ponder. Mythic power and patterns have made more sense to me, as I work my way through his book.
Can't wait for the next installment. I think one has to be a complete moron to believe in blank slate theory. Yet, all of the "experts" claim to believe it. Morons.
It's worth reading Professor Richard Tremblay's work on Chronic Physical Aggression in Children. It's a real curative to blank slate thinking or the mistaken belief that people are born good and innocent. The feminists were right to think that aggression had something to do with social construction, but their narrative came at the problem with assumptions which were diametrically opposed to the reality. Social construction doesn't cause physical aggression, it mitigates against natural biological aggression by varying degrees.
Tremblay's podcast interview with Jordan Peterson didn't go very well. He was obviously in ill health by then. Here is a rarely viewed YouTube video which sees him in better form.
Great post. One observation on the Somali/Minnesota issue from someone with a bunch of Minnesotans via marriage in my family, and why in my view there couldn’t be a more disastrous location for their settlement…Minnesotans are the most passive people I have ever met in the face of unpleasantness or getting taken advantage of. They hate interpersonal conflict and will take almost any slight silently rather than be openly confrontational. So importing a bunch of aggressively grasping clannish primitives to this state led directly to them brazenly ripping off taxpayers while also becoming a political power center. None of my relations regardless of politics have ever had anything good to say about Somalis over the past 25 years but now that Trump is going after them they are suddenly “members of our community” that are being unfairly maligned. It obviously doesn’t register that Somalis most certainly do not recognize white Minnesotans as members of their own community or any group they should treat with respect.
Killing off ones Alpha Males, or castrating them psychologically in schools has the effect of making all vulnerable to outside alpha males and the criminal element within society.
Who are then crushed by Alpha males, or not but they may come to power and then perhaps rule responsibly.
Also getting rid of Aggressive Alpha males gave us all the explosion in Romantic Fantasy- “Romantsy “ novels about women being ravaged by monsters , etc. It’s good to see female literacy being put to honest use. I’m seeing the point of Islam on this matter more all the time.
Working class concerns led to Australia being able to defend itself … for the moment?
By working class does that mean not college educated? Perhaps?
The good news is more “Alpha males” are coming at least in America. Not that it’s good news for Karens, but they were never going to end well.
What Australia does is Australia’s business.
The Yookay needs a Cromwell if not flat out Fascist King or it’s dead.
28 Days Later in Lazy Beige tones or Bad Uncle as King, too late for any middle way.
Do hang onto and cherish your “working class” down under, good luck.
As usual, an insightful critique of the technowonks who have been cramming blank-slate policies down voters’ metaphorical throats for decades. (I will admit that the line about “toxically incompetent universities” hits my confirmation bias like the dart finding the bullseye.) Sowell would say incentives matter; Dale and Warby add the crucial qualifier that culture often drives very different responses to the same incentives. Hanlon’s Razor would say that much of the resulting damage is likely driven less by malice than by credentialed blindness. My retort: the technowonks have shown no ability, or even willingness, to learn from more than two decades of failure - their only response appears to be “more cowbell”. Blindness or malice: Time for new management.
Does "Kinship Index" mean cousin-fucking?
Sometimes.
There have been cultures which disallowed cousin marriage but still ended up rather closely related to each other by restricting marriage to within the clan, just not 'too close'. They would also marry out to create alliances. Some closely related Scottish clans fit this model. as did the Chechens, and traditional Korean and Chinese clans. There have been twinned Chinese clans, where members of one clan (surname) would only marry members of the other, and vice versa. And then there is India, which I haven't read enough about. There are thousands of jati, which are groupings based on occupation and social status -- but traditionally (and to this day) you could only marry within a jati. This has made the jatis genetically distinct, whether or not the region in India outlawed cousin marriage (parts do, and parts do not).
There’s a lot of money and power (status) to be had in ignoring, and coercing others to ignore, the results of selection. The problem is, even the dumbest human is still an amazing pattern recognizer.
There’s a tendency to assign hierarchical value, but a screwdriver is only superior to a carving knife in specific circumstances. That said, it’s often wise to store them in separate containers; and to consciously modify them before attempting cross-application.
BZ, Warby. Thoroughly enjoyed the thinking required to absorb and consider your writing and its contentions. Very well presented.
Excellent read, thank you. I will share broadly.
Great Post.
Is there any evidence that the reasonably high trust environment of the trade between empires around 1200 BC would also have been due to reducing kin/clan based allegiances? [A recent You Tube video suggested that the "sea peoples" were really not raiders so much as middle and western Mediterranean family and social group refugees seeking better living conditions when their local areas experienced weather/climate change impacts on agriculture. Since times were tough all over, they had to fight their way into the Eastern Mediterranean.]
Can we infer from your remarks that the German groups with a "chose to serve" social norm would have already been "socially prepared" to accept the Roman and/or Church guidance on consanguineous marriages, thereby aiding the reduction in their tribal/clan based behavior?
Regarding the Bronze Age, have not read anything useful on the role of clans and kin groups. Clan networks can facilitate trade, in the right circumstances.
Yes, German social patterns absolutely had elements that gelled with the Church campaign against kin groups. You can read the Arthurian tales as a contest between Germanic chosen loyalty (the Round Table) and Celtic kin loyalty (the Celtic fringe, let by the House of Orkney).
Some people believe that the Germanic groups already had the restriction on kin marriages, and the Christians acquired it from them. Not sure what the genetic mapping of male lineages is showing, and if it can decide which came first or if it is all chicken-egg at that level.
The Latin Church sanctified the Roman synthesis. But there does seem to be have some interplay with Germanic patterns—including with becoming more restrictive than the Romans.
Excellent
"Thus we see Somalis in Minnesota treating the American welfare state as Somalis in Somalia treat foreign aid: you say whatever you need to non-Somalis in order to get the outsiders to hand over money, that you then channel to your clan."
It's absolutely true that this dynamic is in play.
But there's one more factor: hawala. Somalis don't use a conventional banking system. When they want to send money from the U.S. to Somalia, they literally fill suitcases full of cash and a courier takes them to Somalia on a passenger plane.
Wouldn't that be a handy step in laundering federal funds through the Somali fraud mechanism, then moving it to Somalia in a suitcase, then finding ways to port it back into party coffers?
Isn't it possible that crooked politicians in the U.S. went to the Somalis and helped them set up their fraud machine, then used hawala as a way to route the funds back to their party, with everyone along the line getting a cut?
Isn't it possible that protecting this racket (and others yet to be uncovered) is why MN politicians are so overly zealous about thwarting ICE?
Sending activists to physically impede LEOs as they carry out operations that their political opponents promised to implement -- that's breaking the social contract! If you lose the election, you fight via political channels to stop the winners from getting very far with their agenda.
Something is very wrong in MN, and I'm guessing it involves 12 digits.
Yup, at least 12.
Enlightening essay. Thank you. Godspeed.
Excellent work.
"We humans cognitively map significance, not facts."
You may have already written about this: if so would love a link. I agree with this but would love further reading on the topic.
Taken straight from Jordan Peterson’s magnum opus, Maps of Meaning. He is not a scintillating writer, but he does give one much to ponder. Mythic power and patterns have made more sense to me, as I work my way through his book.
Thanks, I already have this book but still working up energy to read it. cheers
Can't wait for the next installment. I think one has to be a complete moron to believe in blank slate theory. Yet, all of the "experts" claim to believe it. Morons.
It's worth reading Professor Richard Tremblay's work on Chronic Physical Aggression in Children. It's a real curative to blank slate thinking or the mistaken belief that people are born good and innocent. The feminists were right to think that aggression had something to do with social construction, but their narrative came at the problem with assumptions which were diametrically opposed to the reality. Social construction doesn't cause physical aggression, it mitigates against natural biological aggression by varying degrees.
Tremblay's podcast interview with Jordan Peterson didn't go very well. He was obviously in ill health by then. Here is a rarely viewed YouTube video which sees him in better form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOAi-yyGSJ4
Great post. One observation on the Somali/Minnesota issue from someone with a bunch of Minnesotans via marriage in my family, and why in my view there couldn’t be a more disastrous location for their settlement…Minnesotans are the most passive people I have ever met in the face of unpleasantness or getting taken advantage of. They hate interpersonal conflict and will take almost any slight silently rather than be openly confrontational. So importing a bunch of aggressively grasping clannish primitives to this state led directly to them brazenly ripping off taxpayers while also becoming a political power center. None of my relations regardless of politics have ever had anything good to say about Somalis over the past 25 years but now that Trump is going after them they are suddenly “members of our community” that are being unfairly maligned. It obviously doesn’t register that Somalis most certainly do not recognize white Minnesotans as members of their own community or any group they should treat with respect.
Fascinating. The Minnesota/Sweden parallels were clear, but now make more sense.
Exceptional, thank you
“what is so scary about psychopaths—part of that primed cognitive architecture is just missing.”
Almost as if they were the blank slate.
Killing off ones Alpha Males, or castrating them psychologically in schools has the effect of making all vulnerable to outside alpha males and the criminal element within society.
Who are then crushed by Alpha males, or not but they may come to power and then perhaps rule responsibly.
Also getting rid of Aggressive Alpha males gave us all the explosion in Romantic Fantasy- “Romantsy “ novels about women being ravaged by monsters , etc. It’s good to see female literacy being put to honest use. I’m seeing the point of Islam on this matter more all the time.
Working class concerns led to Australia being able to defend itself … for the moment?
By working class does that mean not college educated? Perhaps?
The good news is more “Alpha males” are coming at least in America. Not that it’s good news for Karens, but they were never going to end well.
What Australia does is Australia’s business.
The Yookay needs a Cromwell if not flat out Fascist King or it’s dead.
28 Days Later in Lazy Beige tones or Bad Uncle as King, too late for any middle way.
Do hang onto and cherish your “working class” down under, good luck.
As usual, an insightful critique of the technowonks who have been cramming blank-slate policies down voters’ metaphorical throats for decades. (I will admit that the line about “toxically incompetent universities” hits my confirmation bias like the dart finding the bullseye.) Sowell would say incentives matter; Dale and Warby add the crucial qualifier that culture often drives very different responses to the same incentives. Hanlon’s Razor would say that much of the resulting damage is likely driven less by malice than by credentialed blindness. My retort: the technowonks have shown no ability, or even willingness, to learn from more than two decades of failure - their only response appears to be “more cowbell”. Blindness or malice: Time for new management.