Average Association

In German language there exists a term 'Kaninchenzüchterverein' that literally means an association of rabbit breeders, but in philosophical and political context this term is used as reference to an average group of people similar to the Average Joe as often used in American English. It is probably a predominantly German phenomenon that average people believe that by a membership in an association they can enhance their own importance significantly. This has been mocked by many authors. Most famously by Kurt Tucholsky in his poem //deutsche Neigung// (//German inclination//) by which he already sensed that this is a dangerous behavior connected to the rise of German fascism only a few years later.

Thus the term Kaninchenzüchterverein gained importance among German intellectuals in discussions about irrational behavior in social groups whenever the roots of German fascism become an issue. In the following paragraphs we will introduce fauceir analysis of social group behavior. We will learn how it is controlled by processes similar to natural selection, and how it overrides, enslaves, genuin human instincts.

Lets start by an thought experiment and for the sake of simplicity and generalizability lets take an association of rabbit breeders. The association is a social fauceir whose elements are the members and whose container is an environment made up by other similar associations, associations of cattle and poultry breeders to name only a few.

Now if pressure is exerted on the association for instance by competition for consumers who value quality most, the association of breeders will adapt by electing a leader who appears to be the most competed in quality. If on the other hand the pressure comes from other associations that try to attack, a better fighter is selected. By changing its leadership an association is capable to adapt to changing environmental requirements. All this comes quite naturally as natural selection. And possibly similar to natural selection too, those associations incapable to adapt rapidly enough, will fail in competition and will be eliminated. A stubborn leader incapable to give up causes its members to leave the association and to form a new one.

But adaptionally changing leadership and maybe the articles of the association is only part of the story. The members of an association are fauceirs to and capable to adapt to their environmental changes. The members will improve their knowledge about breeding quality or their aggressiveness according to their groups demand. This adaption occurs partly because they strive to become leader or because it is demanded by other members of the group. (Here is why politicians always change their mind if the political situation changes.)

Hence a human's behavior in a group is determined by group interest. Inadvertently an individual assumes those interests. Several factors influence the degree by which an individual adapts group interests.

1. The involvement in other social groups. Humans are mostly members of more than one social fauceirs, and different groups usually have different interests and exert different pressure on an individual. For instance an association of rabbit breeders will probably not cajole a member into a criminal act against a competitor as all members are also members of a society whose law threaten with punishment. Criminal acts are common in those groups whose members are kept in social isolation. Recently that became obvious in a fascist group in Germany.
2. How deeply imprinted other human values are, also has an impact on how much an individuals behavior can be changed by group interests. For that reason the Red Khmer employed children for mass executions.
3. Finally personal factors may influence. Usually people flinch from acting against personal interests. Not all people can be brainwashed to such a degree that they become suicide bombers. Se also the Romeo and Juliet conflict.

The better a group controls its members, the better their enslavement, the more successful the group appears in competition with other groups. This is the rule of ever increasing enslavement. That has its limitations. Examples how far an individual's human interests can be distorted by group interests, history offers abound. Groups are capable to commit crimes so cruel that nobody can imagine the same cruelty among animals. But if out animal ancestors shy at such cruelties, we may assume that such cruelties not evolved among biological fauceirs they are rather the product of social fauceirs. Therefore to prevent social crime it is not enough to punish the human perpetrator who merely acted in behalf of the group - the group will always create new perpetrators, but instead the group as a whole has to be punished. See social corrective measures.