Chapter 20 idol duty

Roman Polanski was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977.Since then, the US judiciary has paid attention to him for a long time, but the media has played another card: Polanski has made so many good movies, and it has been so long, let him go!However, what would happen if this was replaced by a passer-by, a nobody, someone with no reputation at all?Will the media turn a blind eye?At that time, the newspapers will probably write such words as "rape has no excuse", and those who commit crimes must accept legal sanctions. Two famous Belgian tennis players - Yania Wickmeyer and Xavier Maries - flouted doping tests.Prior to this, Maris had missed a test.As a result, both players were sentenced to a one-year suspension.This time the newspaper exploded!How dare they condemn these two athletes?What if the culprit was an unknown person who lived on a certain street corner?The newspapers will still say that they are allowed to continue to participate in the competition. Shouldn't the rules be so strict?

Ascher Weisel, a player of the Belgian Standard Liege 1st Division Football Club, deliberately kicked the leg of the Polish player Maxin Wasleski during a game, and Wasleski was unable to play for a long time because of this. In the last game, he walked with a limp for several months, and he looked like he could no longer walk normally.As punishment, Weisser was suspended for only ten games, and his sentence was "commuted" later.What the newspaper wrote was: "After all, he is an important player of the national team, and he cannot be easily ordered out." What if Xiao Yang of the Xiaocun team committed the foul?Can he get away with it too?

The other protagonist of the story is Luke Verstengist.He is the boss of Rixel and the former chairman of the Belgian Association of Companies. To put it bluntly, he is a great Belgian entrepreneur.Just before the auction of the disintegration of Fortis Bank, he was accused of operating stocks in the dark, and ended up in jail.There wasn't a single article in the papers shaming it, declaring for Verstenguist that he was really just trying to spread some stock information, or saying that a business tycoon couldn't just be thrown in jail.On the contrary, the tone you can taste in many comments is: "Finally caught a big fish, haha!" This is a world away from the previous three examples.

What does this have to do with evolutionary psychology and behavioral biology?It's a big deal.It is no coincidence that the movie and sports stars in the above examples were quickly tolerated by public opinion, while the wealthy businessman was about to be hanged.All this confirms a relationship that has existed for hundreds of thousands of years, that is, the relationship between ordinary people and powerful people.That's right. Aggressive behavior in humans is largely determined by evolution, and this is true in cultures around the world.We rank each other on the basis of strong efficacy.These people are taller than me, and those people are not as good as me.Grading is based on a wide range of factors, such as height, money, appearance, IQ, knowledge, political efficacy, or cultural performance, and there are always people who are better or worse than you in these areas.In our ancestral populations, as in many other animals, dominance hierarchies must have exerted powerful controls.People who are smart, knowledgeable, and experienced can make a lot of contributions to their group, and all members of the group will benefit from it.The easiest way to settle a quarrel may be to bring the most powerful person over to persuade the fight.And this man is a natural leader, a lot of power.Everyone is quite familiar with the leader of the group, even his or her daily behavior.

Today's human society is too complicated, such a simple system is no longer enough.Our groups are no longer just a few dozen people, and power can come in many forms, and being knowledgeable and smart doesn't mean dominance in politics, sports or the arts.However, the principle of "whoever is strong, who is famous" still remains in our brains.As a result, this principle is turned upside down in the same brain, whoever is famous is powerful.Those who are originally of little significance to society may become famous through the media, thereby gaining a higher status.They might have a pretty face, they might have committed a crime, they might have gotten muddy at an off-road race, the list goes on and on.It sounds strange, but it can be explained in our ancestors.Whoever passes from one group to another (which must happen often) immediately realizes who in the new group has the most dominant positions, those who are the most famous and the most talked about.In today's society, this rule no longer applies.A cross-country racer might be on TV a lot, but that doesn't quite count as a leader.

Another old psychological phenomenon is that strong people are often seen as role models no matter the situation.What face cream did Nicolas Cage use?I also want. U2's Bono appeals to everyone to donate money to Africa?I donate too.For our ancestors, this was a good thing.Once a strong person makes a move, things will definitely succeed.They can have a strong position, and they should be attributed to the good things they have done.In order to get more opportunities in the group, people have to imitate those strong members.Even if there is no benefit, there is no harm. People like Polanski, Wickmeyer, Mariss, and Wessel have gained a powerful position not only through their own sacrifices (entertaining the masses) but also through their appearances in the media.We adore them and look up to them as role models.What they eat, where they go on vacation, the leader's choice is always good, at least not bad, so it can be forgiven by everyone.And what about the business tycoon?Why are we so cruel to him?Although he neither raped anyone nor kicked anyone's legs off.Because instead of entertaining us, he was just busy running the company and creating jobs for people.We didn't see any of that though - unless you were his employee, of course.He is not responsible for our entertainment.He was rich, powerful through an invisible means.We don't see him in movies, we don't see him in any competitions, we don't know how he got rich, which leads to jealousy.We don't think Weisser's money is an issue, because we appreciate the way he plays football (although he also kicks other people's legs), so he deserves to make money.Verstenguist was also rich, but was envied.Why is he rich and not me?We were all secretly happy that such a businessman fell off his horse.

Film directors, athletes, business people, these people are constantly present in front of us through the media, as if sitting in our living room, knowing us personally.Even if our distant ancestors dared to think, they could not think of such things as newspapers, television, and the Internet.What you can see at that time is right in front of you, within reach.If Polanski lived in that era, he would sit around the fire and chat directly with everyone.Sitting in front of the TV, our brains still perceive this to be the case, so we behave strangely in the presence of those on the screen: we admire some and gloat about others.It doesn't make sense at all, you are absolutely right, but our ancient brains haven't kept up with this advanced society.