“That fellow needs a lesson,” he said.
“You want to give it to him?” Douglas asked.
“Not particularly.”
“Ha!—man!—you afraid!” the Lani taunted. His voice was thick and harsh. “All men fear me. All Lani, too. I am boss. Come close again man and I kill you!”
“Are they all that stupid?” Kennon asked. “He sounds like a homicidal moron.”
“He’s not stupid,” Douglas said. “Just uneducated.”
“Why is he so murderous?”
“That’s his training. All his life he has fought. From childhood his life has been based on his ability to survive in an environment where every male is his enemy. You see here the sublimation of individuality. He cannot co-operate with another male. He hates them, and they in turn hate him. George, here, is a perfect example of absolute freedom from restraint.” Douglas smiled unpleasantly.
“His whole history is one of complete lack of control. As an infant, being a male, his mother thought she was favored by the gods and she denied him nothing. In fact we were quite insistent that she gave him everything he wanted. By the time he was able to walk and take care of himself, he was completely spoiled, selfish, and authoritative.
“Then we took him and a dozen others exactly like him and put them together.” Douglas grinned. “You should see what happens when a dozen spoiled brats are forced to live together. It’s more fun. The little beasts hate each other on sight. And we stimulate them to compete for toys, food, and drink. Never quite enough to go around. You can imagine what happens. Instead of sharing, each little selfish individualist fights to get everything he can grab. Except for one thing we don’t punish them no matter what they do. If anyone shows signs of co-operating he is disciplined severely, the first time. The next time, he is culled. But other than that, we leave them alone. They develop their personalities and their muscles—and if one proves to be too much for his fellows we transfer him to a more advanced class where the competition is keener, and he learns what it is to lose.