Originally posted by AWingAndASigh
There've been numerous posts on ATS lately about the poor and the terrible things that should be done with them. There are also a large number of posts about the cops and increasing violence committed by them. Crime is rising. We're at war. We're more uncaring about others in our communities.

So I have to wonder what's making us so mean. Even if Republican policies were at it's root, that begs the question regarding what drives Republican policies.

Could we be seeing issues related to population pressures? Someone told me once that preference for male children is a subconscious evolutionary tactic to reduce populations. This attitude is most prevalent in countries like India and China, who also have the world's largest populations.

Populations in Mexico and the Southern Hemisphere are rising, and violence in those areas is growing. Drug cartels are becoming so out of control that Mexico recently switched suppression of their activity from the police to the military. In addition, efforts to reduce illegal immigration into the US is being met with increasing hostility.

I've often thought that war and violence are driven as much by subconscious populations pressures as they are geopolitical events.

These are just a few examples of recent changes in our world that could be related to burgeoning populations and reduced resources.

What effects do you see increasing populations having on world events?

We're not really getting meaner per capita. There's just more of us, so there's more problems in total. There has always been scarcity, there has always been war, there has always been brutality by authority, and there has always been a lack of care for the poor. If anything, for the average person, things are no worse, and often better than how the world has been for the past thousand years. There are more starving people, because there are more people, and the solutions to their problems are no better than those implemented in the centuries before now.

Things will continue to stay about the same until either our problems begin to be solved, or we undergo a massive energy crisis and developed society collapses.

Just look at the history of humans and you'll see mean all the way from the beginning. From cave men days were the weakest were stomped on and killed. To witch hunts, slavery to trying to wipe out entire races. Humans are jealous creatures and have always resolved our problems with anger, abuse, and down right murder. We may be evolving and doing alot of things different but as long as there is competition there is jealousy. Emotions are a wild thing in us human beings. Emotions of love can calm the wildest beast until another comes into the picture and then love turns to jealousy to resentment to hatred and to revenge. Some people can overcome a love lose or a fight that ends with them hurt but not down. Others can't handle it and seek revenge. It makes me wonder if anyone has ever lived their lives without one single mean thought in their mind. Everyone as far as I know has hated someone in their life. Someone has had to think of killing someone whether they just thought it or actually did it. I wonder if this behavior was given to us for a reason or are we just another dinosaur ready for distinction?