You never know what you might find wandering around the internet. Came across an interesting term the other day while checking to see if the Wikipedia entry for monkeypox is locked (it is). The term was
kleptoparasitism, or parasitism by theft. From Wikipedia….
Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when food is scarce or when victims are abundant.
Remember that last line, it will be important.
I saw this term in the article about the
crab-eating macaque. Yeah, I hadn’t heard of them either. They are monkeys that eat crabs but this was interesting in the section about the interactions with humans.
The macaques have also developed a reputation for actively stealing items from humans (cameras, eyeglasses, hats, etc.), then refusing to return their stolen goods until given food in return. This unique form of kleptoparasitism (known as “robbing and bartering”) has primarily been observed in smaller groups of macaques living near Hindu temples and tourist-heavy areas, suggesting it is a learned behaviour within social groups, in response to realizing that humans would trade food for their possessions back.
What these monkeys have figured out is that it is easier to steal from a human who will then trade them food in order to get their hat or camera back than it is to go forage for food in the wild.
They have become a partially parasitic, rather than a symbiotic, organism. There is no benefit to their victims in trading their food to get their own possessions back. It entirely benefits the parasite. Typically a parasite also causes some harm to the host. A single tapeworm or a tick causes modest harm to a host but if you get too many of them? They can cause major harm or even death.
Humans being biologically speaking the highest order of animals have always had our own parasites, at least once human societies became more advanced and widespread. You can see this in early writings like the Bible where sloth is condemned. As our societies have grown more affluent and altruistic, the parasitical class has steadily grown as civilization has been able to absorb more and more people who take rather than produce.
It manifests in many forms. We know the old stand-by of the Cousin Eddie types, the ne’er-do-well who is always begging money from friends and family. I imagine these types have been around since time immemorial, the member of an extended family who just can’t or won’t get his shit together.
Or outright bums and vagrants getting handouts on street corners. Beggars have long been a fixture of human society, as people either through poor decision making or personal tragedy have been reduced to asking for alms to survive. If you are a leper or have been horribly maimed in an accident in ancient times, you were left with begging or worse if you didn’t have family to support you.
When the “Great Society” and “War on Poverty” took shape, a new permanent parasite class formed: people, usually single mothers, who rely in part or in whole on government payments. As the decades have gone by this has become multi-generational with grandmas, moms and then their daughters living in public housing, paying for food with food stamps and receiving cash assistance.
Along came the roaring 1980s and the advent of a new category: the managerial-professional parasite class. It was the age that saw the rise of financial shenanigans, hedge funds and weird investments and of course the famous insider traders like Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky and Dennis Levine. At the same time corporations began filling up with deadweight staffers, employees who did nothing to increase profitability or efficiency. This is epitomized by the explosion in “human resources” staffed by mostly women who have no idea how their employers make money and really don’t care (see:
The Parasite Class). When I left my last corporate job it was clear that a substantial percent of my co-workers were in this parasite class, not customer facing jobs but behind the scenes roles from human resources to “project managers”. No one seemed to know what these people did or why we needed them but everyone was sure we did.
My point being that an increasing percentage of the adult population in the West contributes nothing of value and is instead a parasite that survives (and often thrives) on the productive members of society.
But kleptoparasitism is a somewhat different beast in that this form of parasitism comes with either the implied threat of violence or overt violence to compel the host to support them. While a beggar on the street appeals to your sense of humanity, the kleptoparasite demands your wealth.
It isn’t especially new, the Mafia protection racket is a form of kleptoparasitism where business owners were required to make payments to the Mafia in return for “protection”, perversely protection from the very people you were paying the protection money to in the first place. Those protection rackets were somewhat limited to larger urban areas with a Mafia presence and, more critically, they were not given official sanction and blessing.
That isn’t true today.
Kleptoparasitism has become a cottage industry of sorts, started by people like “Reverend” Jesse Jackson and “Reverend” Al Sharpton and carried on by the new race hustler class of activists and clergy like Shaun “Fake black guy” King and Benjamin Crump, the “civil rights” attorney who shows up whenever a black person dies and money is to be made. Crump seems to arrive on the scene half a step before the Grim Reaper, he has some sort of weird sixth sense that enables him to sidle up to the family, bringing the obligatory t-shirt emblazoned with the visage of the deceased for their family members to wear at press conferences. This sort of kleptoparasitism has widespread official support, from government to entertainment to big business.
The “civil rights” parasites have begun to wantonly morph into kleptoparasites. Instead of stealing cameras and demanding food in return, they have been stealing from society with the threat of violence. The familiar refrain of “No Justice, No Peace” is a form of kleptoparasitism. Give us want we demand and keep giving it to us and maybe we won’t burn down your city. They don’t simply ask or cajole, they threaten. Give us what we want and we will give you your hat back and/or won’t riot and block highways.
Now let’s look at the last line I pointed out earlier:
The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when food is scarce or when victims are abundant.
You see, it works and has been working for decades precisely because we are in the latter category: victims are abundant. There are lots and lots more productive potential victims than there are crab-eating macaques. It is way easier for society right now to simply give them what they want as a cost of doing business. We want to be able to go to the cities to watch sporting events or shop or work so we give Jesse Jackson a few bucks and he calls off the mobs.
But what happens when the number of crab-eating macaques gets too large in proportion to their potential victims or the victims get fed up with having their camera stolen over and over? Suddenly “No Justice, No Peace” stops working and the tourists say “Fuck it, burn the city down. I don’t care anymore”. The ecosystem is going to be in turmoil.
Heritage Americans have been the host for a plethora of parasites over the last century from various racial, ethnic and religious subgroups. It has been OK for the most part because there were so many of us and we were still an industrious and innovative people. Obviously not every member of those groups are parasites, and also obviously there are plenty of parasites among our own people, but we find ourselves in a situation where the host is running out of blood to be leached and is slowly dying from the sheer volume of blood loss.
Soon the parasites will outnumber the host and then things are going to get ugly. What is a nation full of millions of middle aged White women who have worked in HR all of their lives combined with racial minorities who don’t know how to support themselves going to do when the well runs dry? No one is really sure but it isn’t going to be pleasant.
“It isn’t going to be pleasant.”
Or, it could be exactly what we need.
A purge of parasites, flushing them out of our system and down the drain.
Excellent commentary! Plain truths that need to be told.
What I find especially sad is how few of the parasites even recognize that they are parasites. Point out to Karen from HR that if she were to fall ill and take off from her job for two months, there would be no need for anyone to "cover" for her, and that she could pick right up where she left off upon her return. I can guarantee an indignant reaction and an epic scolding with accusations that encompass sexism, misogyny, racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia and every other alleged MAGA trait that I hold near and dear.
Your typical HaRpy is utterly convinced that what she does is every bit as essential as what any technician or engineer at the plant does (and is twice as stressful). I have a DIL who is a proud, useless member of the HR sistahood at a medical concern, and she will be only too happy to tell you all about how she single-handedly holds the whole crumbling mess together with her mad superchick "skillz".
You can bet that those trans-generational single-mother parasites are equally convinced that their worth far exceeds the government subsidies they receive for shitting out the next generation of indolent wards of the state. Does a leach know it's a leach? Oh, hell naw. Every leach believes it was descended from kangs, yo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeypox
Here I thought Kleptoparasitism was going to mean stealing your parasites. 😀
I would also add two, related, kleptos. Government. Gov subsidized businesses.
Brandon is going to buy back some of the barrels of oil from China in the almost klepto department.
When the EBT cards run dry, which won't be happening as long as the banks get a cut, then they will take it by force.
Maybe if a few of the thieving degenerates were shot dead it would act as a disincentive to this behavior. I'm talking about the thieving monkeys, of course. Interpret that how you wish;)
As you said.
No matter who the TALKING HEAD on the boob tube, called that for a reason, it's about the money. I mean both sides do their schtick for the paycheck. They are only careful on one side lest they be cancelled. The upcoming festivities will clean that house like the brawney guy.
"…combined with racial minorities who don't know how to support themselves going to do when the well runs dry?" There was a book I read awhile back called "The Great Reckoning". It was 20 years off or so. But it had a chapter named "When the music stops", which details what'll happen when those EBT cards run dry.
There are generations of IPs (indigenous population) that have never worked, have a crappy education and not that high an IQ.
Gonna get weird.
You've been putting out some really good observations lately, Arthur. I think it's from hoisting all that iron and cardio sessions. M O A R !
Read Civil War II by Thomas Chittum.
Also written earlier, 30 years ago or so if I recall correctly, but has plenty of insight. The guy has been through similar overseas.
Once again, great post, Arthur.
I can't stand parasites, a/k/a nonproductive 'members' of our 'society'. Case in point: my disabled brother's 'girlfriend' (well, she's not really his girlfriend – she just mooches off my brother and mom). Thankfully, she doesn't live with them. You know the type: On the dole. Games the system (claims she's homeless, when she's not, in order to get government bennies). Goes to the ER for a headache. Has a couple five-figure settlements from being an accident 'victim'. Neither my mom nor I can stand her.
Ok, rant over, I gotta get back to work to support these parasites. Ever see that bumper sticker that reads, "Work harder – millions on welfare are depending on you"? Of course, these days, it's not politically correct to say "welfare". Screw PC, we need more people like Arthur to just tell it like it is.
It's Gods of the Copybook Headings time again.