A question of morality

grim — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:19:16 +0000

I have a dvd on my shelves called ‘McLintock’. It’s a sixties John Wayne comedic western, and despite being hugely sexist (very loosely based on ‘the Taming of the Shrew’) it is a favourite of my wife and daughters.
The point that is interesting to me in this movie is a speech written, or dictated by the fictional chief of the Comanche, (played by Australian Michael Pate) and spoken by the Duke at a hearing concerned with moving the tribe to Fort Sills. In part, he says:
“It is the Comanche law that no chief ever eats, until he sees that the pots are full of meat in the lodges of widows and orphans.”
In the movie, the chief’s name is Puma, not Quanah, and I have not been able to verify whether this is the true custom or not.
I would suggest this is a remarkably ‘human’ law. Predatory animals, like the great cats, can make instinctive calculations concerning economics. For instance, they will only chase their prey so far. They instinctively know that to expend too many calories on a lost cause (or on prey with too few calories) will weaken them too much for the next chase.
Equally, while a mother will defend her cubs fiercely and courageously, if pushed to the limit she will save herself; she has a better chance of surviving to have other cubs, than young cubs have of reaching breeding age.
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Avasay » economics

A question of morality