Of Mycelium and Men
What drives people to violence?
Across the world people are watching and commenting on the famous Australian mushroom trial, and a verdict was delivered this afternoon. The woman in question has been convicted of poisoning three of her in-laws by feeding them death-capped mushrooms during a family lunch.
Many are ruthlessly following this case, but I am not one of them. If you are hoping for a nuanced analysis, you’ll have to go read a million other soon-to-be-published think pieces. They will undoubtedly spread like spores.
Yesterday I started reading Alain De Botton’s book The News. Straight off the bat De Botton points out the arbitrariness of popular news stories. He points out that because news is often reported in short and quick bursts, we as consumers are unlikely to ever fully grasp the entire story. De Botton talks about improving news literacy. Wouldn’t it be nice if every time we read or watched a news story we could understand the bigger picture. As I considered the media around the mushrooms, I found this from the book quote particularly thought provoking.
”It is for news organizations to take on some of this librarian’s work. It is for them to give us a sense of the larger headings under which minor incidents belong. An item on a case of petty vandalism one Saturday night in a provincial town (‘Bus Shelter Graffitied by Young Vandals in Bedford’) might come to life if it was viewed as a minuscule moment within a lengthier drama titled ‘The Difficulties Faced by Liberal Secular Societies Trying to instil Moral Behavior without the Help of Religion’. Likewise, an indigestible item about yet another case of government corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo (‘Kickback Accusations in DRC’) could be enhanced by a heading that hinted at its grander underlying subject ‘The Clash Between the Western Understanding of the State and the African Notion of the Clan’.
In terms of interest, this mushroom case was fairly, ahem, digestible. When we are gripped by an interesting story it makes it easier for us think about the larger context of it all. What would De Botton write for the broader title of this case and why it has rocked the world?
For me it’s the question “what drives people to violence?” (The luncheon’s details and the unique ways she later went about hiding the evidence were also pretty riveting, but my theme is violence tonight, so work with me please.)
I remember a Common Ground event we held last year on the day before ANZAC day all about war. We had University of Newcastle lecturer Philip Dwyer on the stage with several other panelists. Philip has spent his career researching the history of violence. We discussed how up until very recently violence has always been a part of society and while the psychologist Steven Pinker believes it’s declining, Philip has written a book refuting this claim. He finds that even in “developed” nations, if you look closely and consider different ways to define it (take suicide for example) we are still highly violent.
Last week a friend and I were discussing what makes a person do bad things. She and I both don’t want to accept that violence is inevitable.
I read a beautiful NPR article earlier this year that stresses the importance of remembering that most people are good. It seems this does tend to be the case, particularly in wealthy societies where people have access to resources, community and a non-corrupt justice systems.
Tonight in my family group call my Dad reminded me of the exact opposite idea to “most people are good.” Alternatively we have “original sin” which is the theory that all people are born evil, and it is through religion (Christianity) that they can become good. It all goes back to the Garden of Eden. Then my brother reminded me (as he often does) that when he was 3 and I was 5, I took a pair of scissors to his side and cut a chunk out of his skin, and he still has the scar. I like to believe most people are good, but not even my own track record is great.
Some people have some serious disadvantages towards not being violent. Consider this fascinating Atlantic story on child psychopaths. I’ve read several stories of how brain tumors and mental illness have turned people to violence. This heartbreaking New Yorker story tells of a grief-stricken man named Patrick Clancy, whose wife killed their three young children before attempting to kill herself while experiencing what her lawyers are calling “postpartum psychosis.” Here is an interesting study from 2018 exploring violence perpetration and IQ in the UK. Lower IQ was associated with more violence perpetration. From what I understand, the crux of the mushroom case came down to whether the woman poisoned her guests intentionally or accidentally. When I took a chunk out of my brother, I had no idea it would cause him pain, but to this day he is very clear with me that for him it was an act of violence.
Again I defer again to De Botton: What are the bigger questions we must ask when we read these stories?
Hanlon’s razor says “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” In Steinbeck’s classic novella, Of Mice and Men, (spoiler alert) the main character Lennie, a large man with an intellectual disability, accidentally breaks the neck of a woman after she offers to let him touch her hair. I guess in the real world this would be considered manslaughter. Should we consider manslaughter, and other unintentional actions that cause pain and suffering, violence? Preventing these types of occurrences has less to do with “fighting evil” and is more about being pragmatic, everyone looking out for danger.
I liked this quote from Wikipedia about Of Mice and Men.
“Of Mice and Men can be associated with the idea that inherent limitations exist and despite all the squirming and struggling, sometimes the circumstances of one's existence limits their capacity to live the fairy tale lives they wish to.”
Sometimes life just ain’t fair.
When we hear news and stories of violence, whether it’s an intentional mushroom poisoning or an accidental neck break, let’s look for how it fits into a broader narrative. Let’s think about a bigger question it might answer. We gotta think about a whole lotta things if we want to improve civilization.
