<!-- bryant-content-generator:start --> # The equally childish mistake runs in the other... > The equally childish mistake runs in the other direction, turning every human homicide into a little Darwinian bedtime story. A mother in psychosis is not calculating inclusive fitness. A murderous husband is not absolved because another species uses coercion. {{Evolutionary explanation is not acquittal, and analogy is not diagnosis.}} The point is harsher than any excuse: the{The{ behavioral repertoire into which madness, jealousy, humiliation, desperation and rage can fall was not invented last Tuesday.}} {{Human pathology does not enter an angel and mysteriously manufacture a beast. It enters a beast that was already there, already equipped, already rehearsed, and it simply removes the last few inhibitions that were holding the teeth apart.}} {{Mental illness does not turn an angel into a beast. There was never an angel. There was an animal with a good reputation.}} **Source:** [[books/Chimping Out|Chimping Out (a new book under development)]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “The equally childish mistake runs in the other direction, turning every human homicide into a little Darwinian bedtime story. A mother in psychosis is not calculating inclusive fitness. A murderous husband is not absolved because another species uses coercion. Evolutionary explanation is not acquittal, and analogy is not diagnosis. The point is harsher than any excuse: the behavioral repertoire into which madness, jealousy, humiliation, desperation and rage can fall was not invented last Tuesday. Human pathology does not enter an angel and mysteriously manufacture a beast. It enters a beast that was already there, already equipped, already rehearsed, and it simply removes the last few inhibitions that were holding the teeth apart. Mental illness does not turn an angel into a beast. There was never an angel. There was an animal with a good reputation.” — Bryant McGill https://bryantmcgill.com/passages/passages-equally-childish-mistake-animal-good-reputation ``` <!-- bryant-content-generator:end -->