Hi John,
>I read your post carefully. I'm not sure I can agree that humans are inately good.

Thanks, I wrote it carefully. (And it admittedly sounds esoteric in this medium.) I suspected you respond with something about the "are humans innately good or bad" issue. While I think 'good', I didn't assert that in my message. Rather, I did state that 'good' is innate in us. Likewise with the 'bad'. And all potentials.

> Barbarism always seems close to us. I once watched a celebratory concert turn into a riot down a city mainstreet. It happened in a matter of minutes; peaceful concert to widespread rampage. Decent-looking sober young boys and girls were smashing shop windows and stealing stuff. Cars were turned over and set alight.

Yep, another innate attribute is aggression. We all have it. A common primate model for ordering and directing it is "in-group vs. out-group" (You've read Desmond Morris). How else do we make a Nazi doctor? Your opportunity to witness the concert riot was a lesson from being neither a member of the in-group or out-group of the incident. It probably appeared chaotic and senseless from you perspective, as well it probably was. Likewise, consider it a portrayal of what is really happening behind the curtain in the next incident of aggression you encounter (i.e whatever is on the evening news). Most any military/politial conflict has the same amount of legitamacy and productivity as the concert riot you witnessed.


>It seems more likely that there is a strand of chaos/mob behavior within us all, than that some malign influence somehow caused all these otherwise law-abiding people to turn into thieves and rioters.
>

Familiar with Jungian ideas? This is the Shadow. Impulses deemed unacceptable by your contemporary set of comforming pressures are split off and neglected in favor of impulses judged acceptable/useful by your peers. (See the "Road to Athens" myth.) But they do continue to exist...and in an undeveloped, uncultivated form. When they inevitably emerge from time to time, the form of expression will be quite primative as a result of the neglect. This is the 'repression' model that's so popular. Marie Louis von France suggested that we not exorsize our demons, but educate them instead. Neitche warned that we be careful about casting out or demons lest we get rid of the better part. There is some fine energy behind the behavior of those rioters. It's a shame it was wasted in destruction. They should've chosen a better enemy (out-group).

>However, I have no idea whether it matters to the job market in Southern California!

haha! No doubt! Regardless, thank you for your consideration of my previous message...

Steven-