Biologists report that there is less than 5% difference between the genomes of human beings and chimpanzees. The discovery of the DNA is of a relatively recent vintage, but the fact that there is a lot in common between Homo sapiens and monkeys (using the term loosely) was obvious all along, and hardly required such an elaborate parade of science.
Of course, man shares many of his characteristics with other animals too. He habitually keeps saying things he hears without giving them as much as a thought, let alone after thinking them through. The verb ‘parrot’ is an apt description of a great deal of what the average man says, often presenting it (and believing it to be) his own brilliant insight. What is worse, it is a way of life for many to continually spew self-serving fiction and then start believing their own propaganda. This expertise in regurgitating and re-swallowing is reminiscent of cows, if one only replaces food with thoughts. The ease with which human beings can be led by their noses is another reminder of how closely they resemble cattle.
The well-known capacity for obstinacy on the part of many human beings is enough to give the most mulish of donkeys a real run for its money. By eating excessively and generally living as if there is no tomorrow, many human beings manage to pull off a remarkably accurate impression of swine. However, on account of man’s proclivity for imitating what he sees others doing, monkeys are the creatures that he bears most resemblance to.
In fact, man’s capability of imitation can easily put the most imitative of monkeys to shame. A cursory look back at the last few years alone ought to suffice to support this conclusion. The ‘Gangnum’ step, the dab, and the Kiki challenge, to name a few trends from the last decade – things that everybody just had to copy. Going further back, it was break dance steps that boys felt compelled to break into without any provocation or need of any sort whatsoever, and without the slightest regard to the occasion. Examples could be multiplied, but the bottom line is that a significant proportion of what the average man and woman do can be categorized under the verb ‘ape’.
There can be little doubt in the minds of even moderately observant souls, provided they are not given to blindly imitating the thoughts of their fellows, that human beings are busy imitating others much more frequently than the occasions when they can be said to be merely monkeying around.
Silly trends come and go, of course. But the most telling manifestation of monkey-like blind following is in the fashion and vanity industries as well as much of buying of goods and services that occurs in most other sectors. The beneficiaries – the owners and those working for such industries – are not complaining. Neither are the advertisers who know that all they need to do to make their patrons happy is show the public a supermodel using some product and leave the rest to the monkey-instinct so dominant in them.
Ladies are generally more insistent than men – usually to the extent of being obsessed – when it comes to ‘catching up’ with the others when it comes to buying things. (Who says women cannot match or trump men in any discipline?) This imitation is not limited to what one would consider the usual suspects: items such as ovens, furniture, carpets, jewellery, crockery, and what have you. For even if it is something like a coat-hanger – an item that could not be more alien for the needs of Pakistan – they just have to buy if they happen to spot it in another woman’s house. If they hear of somebody else’s children taking Quran-recitation lessons online while their own children learn the skill in the traditional way, they find it hard to sleep until they have arranged for them an online teacher.
Predictably, all this aping rarely comprises copying anything worthwhile; that is, anything that involves intellectual (or even physical) hard work. Imitation of a supermodel would typically involve enthusiastically buying a piece of clothing worn by her but never extends to following her workout and diet regimen. Similarly, hardly any man thinks it a good idea to imitate another by reading the Brothers Karamazov. This selective imitation ensures that the whole imitation business is much worse in its effects than it would otherwise have been.
There can be little doubt in the minds of even moderately observant souls, provided they are not given to blindly imitating the thoughts of their fellows, that human beings are busy imitating others much more frequently than the occasions when they can be said to be merely monkeying around. This much is true as far as they are concerned, whatever their views may be regarding the validity of the biological evidence typically presented in favour of the claim that the human beings share common ancestry with chimpanzees.
