Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches

1. Practical Needs Drive Seemingly Irrational Lifestyles

I contend that the solution to each of the riddles examined in this book lies in a better understanding of practical circumstances.

Beyond the Surface. Many customs and beliefs that appear irrational or inexplicable at first glance are, in fact, rooted in practical, material conditions. To understand these lifestyles, it's crucial to look beyond the surface-level explanations and delve into the underlying needs and circumstances that shape them.

Material vs. Spiritual Explanations. Often, elaborate "spiritualized" explanations are valued more than down-to-earth material ones, obscuring the real reasons behind cultural phenomena. By focusing on practical circumstances, we can uncover the banal, vulgar conditions that drive even the most bizarre-seeming beliefs and practices.

Mystified Consciousness. Our ordinary state of mind is often profoundly mystified, isolated from the practical facts of life. Ignorance, fear, and conflict contribute to this mystification, preventing people from understanding the true causes of their social life. To explain different patterns of culture, we have to begin by assuming that human life is not merely random or capricious.

2. Cow Love in India: An Economic and Ecological Strategy

Cow love with its sacred symbols and holy doctrines protects the farmer against calculations that are “rational” only in the short term.

More Than Just Religion. The Hindu taboo on cow slaughter, often seen as a prime example of irrational behavior, is actually a practical adaptation to the specific conditions of Indian agriculture. Cows are not just symbols of life; they are integral to the economic and ecological system.

Multifaceted Utility. Cows and oxen provide low-energy substitutes for tractors, serve as a petrochemical industry by producing manure for fertilizer and cooking fuel, and contribute to household flooring material. They are also a source of milk and leather, making them valuable assets for poor farmers.

Long-Term Survival. The taboo on slaughter and beef eating may be a product of natural selection, protecting useful animals against slaughter during bad times like droughts and famines. This ensures that farmers will be able to plow their fields when the rains return, contributing to the long-term survival of the community.

3. Pig Hatred in the Middle East: An Environmental Adaptation

I think that the Bible and the Koran condemned the pig because pig farming was a threat to the integrity of the basic cultural and natural ecosystems of the Middle East.

Ecological Incompatibility. The Jewish and Islamic abhorrence of pork is not simply a matter of religious dogma, but an adaptation to the arid environment of the Middle East. Pigs are ill-suited to the hot, dry climate and compete with humans for resources.

Resource Competition. Unlike ruminants like cattle, sheep, and goats, which can efficiently digest grass and leaves, pigs require grains and tubers, putting them in direct competition with humans for food. They also require shade and water, which are scarce in the Middle East.

Public Health Perspective. The divine prohibition against pork constituted a sound ecological strategy. The nomadic Israelites could not raise pigs in their arid habitats, while for the semi-sedentary and village farming populations, pigs were more of a threat than an asset.

4. Pig Love in New Guinea: Balancing Resources and Warfare

Pig love is honoring your dead father by clubbing a beloved sow to death on his grave site and roasting it in an earth oven dug on the spot.

Communion Between Man and Beast. In New Guinea and the South Pacific Melanesian islands, pigs are holy animals that must be sacrificed and eaten on important occasions. This pig love includes raising pigs as family members, but also obligatory sacrificing and eating of pigs on special occasions.

Ecological Integration. The Maring people of New Guinea hold pig festivals (kaiko) every twelve years, which are integrated within a complex, self-regulating ecosystem. This cycle effectively adjusts the size and distribution of the human and animal population to conform to available resources and production opportunities.

Ancestral Influence. The ancestors' craving for pork encourages maximum effort at pig raising but also ensures that the pig population does not become "too much of a good thing." The kaiko helps keep the pig population from destroying the women and the gardens.

5. Primitive Warfare: A System-Regulating Mechanism

Primitive war, like cow love or pig hate, has a practical basis.

Beyond Irrational Motives. Primitive warfare, often attributed to irrational or inscrutable motives, is actually a cutoff mechanism that helps keep human populations in a state of ecological equilibrium with respect to their habitats. It is not capricious nor instinctive.

Population Pressure. Warfare breaks out at a point where production and consumption are booming, and the pig and human populations are building back up from the lows reached at the end of the previous fight. This helps to maintain the carrying capacity of the region.

Female Infanticide. Warfare increases the rate of female infant mortality, and thus despite the demographic insignificance of male combat deaths, warfare acts as an effective regulator of regional population growth. This is because intense, recurring intergroup combat places a premium upon rearing male rather than female infants.

6. Male Supremacy: A Consequence of Armed Conflict

In human societies, sexual dominance is not settled by which sex is bigger or innately more assertive, but rather by which sex controls the technology of defense and aggression.

Technology of Aggression. Male supremacy, often attributed to innate biological differences, is actually a consequence of armed conflict. The sex that controls the technology of defense and aggression is more likely to gain dominance.

Warfare and Sexism. As soon as males begin to bear the burden of intergroup conflict, women have no choice but to rear large numbers of fierce males of their own. This leads to a positive feedback loop, where fiercer males lead to more warfare, which in turn leads to a greater need for such males.

Yanomamo Example. The Yanomamo, a warlike and male-oriented society, exhibit extreme forms of male chauvinism, including violence against women and a monopoly over hallucinogenic drugs. This is linked to the need to maximize the number of combat-ready adult males.

7. Potlatch: Redistribution and Resource Management

The economic system of the Kwakiutl was not bent to the service of status rivalry; rather, status rivalry was bent to the service of the economic system.

Competitive Feasting. The Kwakiutl potlatch, often seen as a maniacal form of conspicuous consumption, was actually a mechanism for assuring the production and distribution of wealth. Status rivalry was bent to the service of the economic system.

Ecological Adaptation. Potlatch functioned aboriginally to transfer food and other valuables from centers of high productivity to less fortunate villages. This was advantageous from the standpoint of the regional population as a whole.

Beyond the Surface. The overt competitive thrust of potlatch, it functioned aboriginally to transfer food and other valuables from centers of high productivity to less fortunate villages. Because of the competitive thrust, such transfers were assured.

8. Cargo Cults: A Response to Colonial Exploitation

The natives are waiting for a total upgrading of their lives.

Beyond Primitive Minds. Cargo cults, often dismissed as the ravings of primitive minds, are actually a rational response to colonial exploitation. They represent an attempt to understand and gain access to the wealth and power of the industrialized world.

The Secret of Cargo. Native theories about cargo evolve in response to continually changing conditions. The natives are waiting for a total upgrading of their lives. The phantom ships and planes will bring the beginning of a whole new epoch.

Yali's Journey. The story of Yali, a New Guinean leader who initially collaborated with the Australian authorities but later became disillusioned, illustrates the complex interplay between cargo beliefs and the struggle for economic and political autonomy.

9. Messiahs: Hope Amidst Colonial Oppression

Primitive peoples go to war because they lack alternative solutions to certain problems—alternative solutions that would involve less suffering and fewer premature deaths.

Military-Messianic Tradition. The Jewish belief in a messiah, a savior who would liberate them from oppression, was a central feature of Judaism at the time of Christ. This belief was rooted in the practical struggle against Roman colonialism.

Jesus and the Zealots. Jesus actively began to preach his messianic doctrines about 28 A.D. At that time a “shooting war” was being fought, not only in Galilee, but in Judea and Jerusalem as well. The Jesus cult was neither the largest nor the most threatening of the rebellious situations with which Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who decreed Jesus’ death, had to contend.

Peaceful Messiah. The image of Jesus as the peaceful messiah was probably not perfected until after the fall of Jerusalem. During the interval between Jesus’ death and the writing of the first gospel, the groundwork for a cult of peaceful messianism was laid by Paul.

10. Witchcraft: Suppressing Dissent and Maintaining Power

The witch mania was radical military messianism in reverse.

Beyond Superstition. The European witch craze, which resulted in the execution of hundreds of thousands of people, was not simply a product of superstition. It was a tool used by the governing classes to suppress dissent and maintain power.

Shifting Blame. The witch mania shifted responsibility for the crisis of late medieval society from both Church and state to imaginary demons in human form. This exonerated the authorities and made them indispensable as protectors against evil.

Radical Military Messianism in Reverse. The witch mania dispersed and fragmented the energies of protest, pitting neighbor against neighbor and isolating everyone. It drew the poor further and further away from confronting the ecclesiastical and secular establishment with demands for the redistribution of wealth and the leveling of rank.

Last updated: March 2, 2025