Taking advantage of those who surround us is according to Dawkins the most natural and even expected behavior for living and conscious organisms. Through the rest of chapter 10, You Scratch My Back, I'll Ride on Yours, more theories of how individuals take advantage of groups are explained. Like the Zahavi Theory, where you demonstrate why the predator should NOT go after you. You make your neighbor look bad or unhealthy in some cases so that the predator sees how hard it would be to get, but how easy it would be to get that someone else. I can relate to this with bullying. When there is a bully in the playground, the last thing you want is to be picked on by him or her. There are many options when it comes to what to do to avoid this, and one of them is to pick on someone else, making them look weak. This way the bully will probably join you in picking at that unlucky fellow instead of choosing you as the target and victim. Same principle for self preservation that gazelles and other animals in the world use.
Dawkins has made it pretty clear throughout the whole book that our nature is to be selfish. acts of kindness aren't normally genuine. There's always reason for them. something that inspires kindness in someone usually means that it can provide something they need, they're just gonna have to help you in order to get a hold of it. It's like prices. Everything has a price and sometimes the price is your safety or well being.
"What's in it for the workers?" (pg. 173). This question is asked when talking about carers and bearers, but it can also relate to individuals and herds. Help will be given, all you have to do is pay up.
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