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The first sign of civilization in a culture (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by j_roby@slrpnk.net to c/memes@slrpnk.net

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[Picture of text that reads:]
Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken the time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said

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[-] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 83 points 1 year ago

Wholesome, but not a meme.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 33 points 1 year ago

It's a meme in the original sense of the word meme:

an element of a culture or system of behavior passed from one individual to another by imitation or other nongenetic means.

I think we should share those memes too.

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think there could be a place for that, but the sidebar for this community does say 'When you need a laugh', so maybe we could create another community for that kind of meme?

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago

Or just change the sidebar description? But this is something for the mods of this community to decide. If they think this thread is off topic they can easily delete or lock it.

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago

Fair enough, and it did get quite a lot of upvotes to be fair.

[-] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

Your shirt is a meme.

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Also, she never said that and humans aren't the only animals who care for their injured. Pretty much a fail all around.

[-] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Had always thought this was real but it seems like it wasn't.

https://www.sapiens.org/culture/margaret-mead-femur/

[-] vettnerk@lemmy.ml 75 points 1 year ago

The takeaway, i guess, is that US healthcare only counts as civilized to those with money.

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

They'll fix your broken bone, they just won't provide any rehab if you don't have insurance.

[-] lemmus@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago

That’s why Libertarians haven’t taken over the planet.

[-] Mammal@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago

Very true!

"Me first! Fuck you! Every man for himself!" is a terrible basis for a society.

[-] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

But isn't that just survival of the fittest? /s

[-] niktemadur@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Also most are armchair weekend libertarians, nurturing their thousands and one prejudices.
"Libertarianism for me (muh guns! freydum!), not for thee (minority equality, gay equality, women's equality, etc.)."

[-] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago

If we accept this hoax as true, then we also have to accept that wolves have been forming a civilization for over a million years: https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/wolves-have-been-caring-for-the-pack-for-at-least-1.3m-years

Human exceptionalism is a dangerous joke.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

I'd argue that they show a degree of civilization amongst themselves. Note that I mean this as the adjective form, not the noun.

[-] SkyNTP@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Also, you know, people having invented bone healing, as opposed to entire species arriving naturally to bone healing through evolution over millions of years because it's a practical thing in the wild to have.

[-] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Dangerous how?

[-] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Human exceptionalism sets humans apart from nature, it's a belief that denies that we too are a part of the ecosystem and dependant on it, which leads to a lack of care for said ecosystem, which will lead to an inevitable collapse of said ecosystem (it can still collapse if we care for it, but if we don't, then it's inevitable and faster). Which will lead to huge problems for humans,because contrary to the belief of human exceptionalism, we are not exceptional, we are still very much dependant on nature and our environment.

I did a quick google search and there's loads of literature on the dangers of the human exceptionalism belief, so if you want to read more, just Google "dangers of human exceptionalism".

I consider myself a smart monkey, but it's not because I'm smart, that I'm no longer a monkey.

[-] XbSuper@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago

Sir, this is a meme page.

[-] psivchaz@reddthat.com 29 points 1 year ago

Me: Reads this and feels temporarily good.

Comments: This isn't a meme, it's fake, healthcare is expensive, murder exists.

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Maybe the person with the broken leg got it from jumping off a cliff to kill themself, but survived, and was kept alive by another because they were their favorite sex slave.

[-] bobby_hill@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

And thus, civilization was born

[-] j_roby@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 year ago

You pretty much summed up my entire experience with this post. Thank you. I see you, and appreciate you.

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 28 points 1 year ago

I'm down for the sentiment, but this certainly isn't a meme.

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 year ago

that's a very strange definition of civilization

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[-] Madison420@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Also geese will wait with injured friends so that's not all animals.

[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Well, I guess it's all animals that don't develop the first sign of civilization as defined in the quote. Congratulations, geese, you got over the threshold!

[-] stepanzak@iusearchlinux.fyi 5 points 1 year ago

Not a meme

[-] Akasazh@feddit.nl 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm on the fence.

I'm in the 'social media microblogging' is not a meme camp as well.

However I find the message in this one worth distributing, which is technically what a meme is all about

[-] wahming 2 points 1 year ago

Every meme starts somewhere

[-] Umbrias@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

So it's cute and could have some relative usefulness but there are some problems with this mythical anecdote:

animals heal broken legs all the time. It's not a guaranteed death sentence, if it were there actually wouldn't even be a way to repair it at all. See: brain, lungs, heart. All things which can very slightly repair themselves from minor injuries, not catastrophic ones.
bipeds are worse off, but quadrupeds can generally manage, poorly, with only three legs. There are exceptions, but that's one of the main benefits of having four legs.
a broken femur can already be a death sentence regardless of early medicine. Very easy to bleed out, the actual maiming is the least of your worries.

[-] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I'm with you until you say bound up the wound.

[-] emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de -1 points 1 year ago

I mean I'm not saying I could, (also not saying I couldn't) but also isn't it conceivable that a person managed to crawl back to their cave where they had food stored, bound their own leg, and was lucky enough to avoid infection? Nothing about a healed leg implicitly demands intervention from other beings.