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The nature of the beast
When I was a first-year Ph.D. Student in Sociology at Oklahoma State University, I was taking a criminology class and the professor asked the class why man is still so violent and reactionary after thousands of years of socialization not to be. I replied that it was the nature of the beast and a second-year student laughed at my response. In Sociology, we're taught we are who we are because of all the experiences we have from birth right up to death's door and I subscribe to that theory. But I also remain committed to the nature of the beast theory too because it's hidden and sometimes not very deeply, in the psyche of all men.
Imagine living in the days of the caveman; before knowledge or intellect, before values or morals, where every day was a struggle just to survive. Man is born with the ability to either fight or flee; we confront the danger or we get as far away from it as we can as fast as we can. And there have always been two kinds of people; those who fight and those who flee and it was no different in the days of the caveman. In addition, divisions of labor were based on perceived abilities to do the job, not sexism or racism. That's why men became the hunters and the warriors while women took care of the homes and raised the children. It wasn't always the correct job assignment but it served most of the people well most of the time.
Many thousands of years later, we still see the fight or flight syndrome emerge in practically every human being from time to time because the nature of living in a totally unpredictable world demands it. So when we're pushed up against a wall and all our escape options are taken away, do we fight our way our or beg our assailant for forgiveness and understanding? Whichever road we take at least partly makes up the definition of who we are.
Research has proven over and over again that poor people and uneducated or undereducated people are more likely to fight than flee. For example, in every major city in the United States, a handful of addresses account for a lions' share of calls to the police every year. And these calls don't come from affluent addresses or even middle- class ones. They come from lower class addresses where someone struck out at another first without thinking about the consequences.
That's what finally happened in this year's presidential election. The nation was literally divided into two camps separated by education and income. Those with low income and little or no education became rabid Donald Trump supporters because they wanted a change from the status quo. They didn't want political correctness anymore. They didn't want more laws and more regulations. They didn't want higher taxes, regardless of where that tax money was going to go or how it was going to be spent. As the newsman on the famous film 'Network' said on camera one night, "I'm madder than hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." A significant slice of Americans felt that way too and were finally given a candidate who was the furthest thing from a politician we've ever had running for President and they voted for him. And there were enough of them to outvote the affluent and educated voters who had cast their lot with Hillary, even though many didn't like her. That was never the case with Trump supporters. They liked him to the point of almost worshipping him so gaffe after gaffe made by him during the campaign which would have immediately been the death blow to anyone else's chances at getting elected actually helped his because he was seen as sticking it to the politicians and the elite who had been in charge for far too long. Of course, this brought about a level of vitriol never seen before in a modern presidential campaign because of the vicious words and violence spewed by many of the Trump supporters and backed up by Trump himself. They were going to stand their ground and fight and he was going to be right there with them every step of the way.
They did and he did and that's why he's the President. It's the most unusual way we've elected a President in a long time but he's the one for the next four years, come hell or high water. Trump supporters think these will be the best years this country has seen in a long time and opponents aren't sure the Republic will survive.
As always, time will tell.
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