Thugs and mindless violence

Another day, another researcher with a notebook. I scratch my arse, he takes a note of when I do it, how long I do it for, with which wing I do it and whether I smell my wing tip afterwards.

One of the great things about evolution is that even if you don't have what you need, nature can always co-opt something to make up for the lack. Take hands. We don't have them so reading books is always difficult. You keep dropping them! Especially thick ones! But we are very social and hardly agressive at all at this time and invariably what happens is that another penguin will be close enough in front of you so that you can rest your book on his back and stop it falling with your chest. You then just turn the pages with a wing/flipper. Neat, huh? You just have to pay attention when it's time for everyone to shuffle round and move closer to the middle or the periphery.

Now I don't normally read newspapers much. It's all so depressing. War, famine, repression, Keira Knightly etc. It does make you a little out of touch with what's going on but I'm usually miserable enough without adding to it. Today, for the first time in ages I picked up a newspaper to see what delights the UK's Chancellor had served up in yesterday's budget. Usual stuff. Beer, wine, spirits, cigarettes, cars...all up! As I was flipping through, I came upon a story of a small gang of youths who had beaten up a young man and kicked his girlfriend to death for seemingly no other reason than they were dressed differently.

Now that coming on top of the previous night's reading (the behaviour of Soviet troops towards German women during the assault on East Prussia in 1944 in Davies' account of the Warsaw uprising, truly harrowing) made me think. How come I've never met anyone remotely like this? Nor can I recall having met anyone who's met anyone remotely like this.

I don't understand violence, I once tried to hit someone, in self defence, when I was eleven - I missed! I can honestly say that I have never intentionally hit anyone, even when four sheets to the wind. I can see circumstances where violence is a 'natural' option for men (or women): self defence; real anger; alcohol fueled frustration etc and while I wouldn't condone it I can sort of see why. But mindless thuggery? Kicking a defenceless woman to death? Where do these people hide during the day? Can people get so disturbed that another human being is no more than a football? But more importantly, if they are so disturbed, why does nobody notice anything until the brown squishy stuff hits the round twirly thing?

It quite obviously isn't a modern phoenomeon. I just wonder whether the same mentality of turning the 'Nelson eye' to gang rape and 'reverse' crucifiction in East Prussia by officers who DID know better doesn't apply here - the psychological disturbance is noticed just no-one does anything about it. I really hope not but I remain to be persuaded.

There was a nice story in the paper today about some whales and a dolphin but I'll leave that until tomorrow, mainly because there are a few misconceptions to be corrected about the 'ah bless' nature of the story.