Volume 3, Issue 11, November 2022
Craig Hartglass
Pages 72-88
Notes From The Struggle
Why does society seem to support the leadership of bully strongmen? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator is visiting his friend Tomas. They have been of-and-on friends for years, but now Tomas is dying. Over drinks, they reflect on their lives while Tomas retells the story of a baboon tribe he read about. The baboon tribe was run by vicious leaders and violence was common. Until, one day, they found a trash heap. The largest, most dominant members ate from the heap, while the less aggressive were denied access. Eventually, the trash gives the baboon’s tuberculosis, and all the aggressive males die off. The passive males reform the tribe as an egalitarian paradise of sharing. As soon as baboons from the outside tribes try to enter, they quickly learn they will be pushed out unless the adopt the kinder ways. This goes on for six generations. Plato argued humans were too stupid to trusted with voting in a democracy. The baboons might tend to agree.