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Elaboration 10

There is only one natural grouping and that is the family. We wholly agree with Rousseau here, whatever his absurdities (37.1). The tribe may then be regarded as a large family or a conglomerate of some families and has the natural equivalent in the herd. But with the tribe, or the herd, as Spencer explains excellently, a new element appeared. No longer was the individual need (hunger, etc.) determining behaviour, now, it became the control of the individual, the chief and his inferiors, the mob and its members, that made behaviour. In the herd, the animal world, where irrationality is meaningless, this worked well, but in the case of the human animal, who had an extra degree of freedom in ideation, it became stupidity in individuals, in groups, in the chiefs, the whole organization of society. In both groupings, tribes and herds, war remains possible when factions can split off. It is therefore that we can only allow the simplest form of family, parents, and children, to exist officially, and have the right of seclusiveness. We cannot do away with the rights of the kids. All larger groupings though, must be open, i.e. no membership restrictions, no closed doors in meetings, no secrecy (37.2). In this way, it remains possible for a pigeon- or tennis- enthousiast, to meet his likes, but contempt (is war) dies a natural death.

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Ven 2007-09-11