Are We and Trump Like Animals?

Two hours ago, as I was enjoying the morning sun and reading The God Delusion of Richard Dawkins, I watched from a far a sheep walk toward a five-day calf, Linda, that was quietly enjoying the sun too close to her mother, "120".

When it reached Linda, the small sheep started to sniff the newborn's nose - a way of shaking, embracing or initiating a friendship or acceptance among animals. As she was doing that, another calf, quickly came and dissociated the sheep from Linda by scaring the sheep away, as if it was committing a taboo. The calf seemed to be saying, "get away, you're not our type."

One may wrongly think that the revulsion to the friendship exhibited by the other calf was in this case due to difference in species - between a sheep and a cow. No. It is also be intra-specific. Whenever you introduce a new cow into the herd, it will spend a month or longer before it gets fully accepted, especially if it has a different feature like colour or from a different breed. It will always be greeted by an initial aggression. A stray bull suffers most. It is quickly surrounded by the herd's bulls and scared away from the herd.

Are we humans different or similar to these animals when we exhibit this form of behavior in spite of the degree of civilization we have attained and the appeals of our religions and the law?

Do not just think of Donald Trump, who wants America to be the monopoly of Americans and treats every 'outsider' with contempt.

No. Think of how in our boarding secondary schools, newcomers are bullied by grave aggressive acts on the night of their arrival. The poor souls are lined up and each receives a heavy punch from each of the dozens of seniors that came to 'welcome' them.

Think also of how prior to colonization, and still in some states, people restrict their businesses and homes to their ancestral land, never crossing a stream or hill to live in a neighboring community of a different tribe.

Think also of how we treat strangers even of our nationality who choose to live in our midst. We tag them. We restrict their rights and draw them lines - even in our constitution - that they must never cross, even as they do not pose any threat to us.

Think of how religion separates us so brutally, declaring the other - even if only different from us in sect - infidel and fit only for death.

Think of how it is taboo in many situations to marry from another nationality, tribe or religion.

Are our social barriers an expression of the separation gene we inherited - or share with - lower animals like cows and sheep? Was the behavior of the intolerant calf typical of members of the animal kingdom that includes us?

In other words, is sociology, dictated by biology, if we will give serious consideration to the cow-sheep incident we witnessed on this farm this morning? If yes, does it mean that we cannot stamp out the segregation gene with all its ongoing deadly, social manifestations which we witness today but can only moderate it through the moral appeals of religion, law and civilization?

Think about it. Trump may not be typically wrong after all. All of us - as members of the animal kingdom - stand equally guilty. What a coincidence that this happened when I was reading Dawkins.

(Photo: Linda, the newborn calf, the sheep and the "bully" calf)

Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
21/2/17