At 08:12 AM 9/9/03 -0500, Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Mon, Sep 08, 2003 at 11:15:31AM -0700, Tim May wrote:
"Dogs can't conceive of a group of cats without an alpha cat." --David Honig, on the Cypherpunks list, 2001-11
Cats always have an alpha cat. And they often have pissing contests to determine the pecking order. This is just as true of house cats as it is of lions.
First, many cats (e.g., mountain lions) do not form social groups beyond the mother raising the cubs. Female African lions reportedly do hang out together. Second, if you examine the context of the original post, the statement was a metaphor about leaderless ("anarchic") assemblies such as this list. In particular, the Feds (dogs) haven't historically understood that this list is the equivalent of a grad lounge or spontaneous beach party: there are multiple conversations, no one is moderating or otherwise choreographing squat. When cats encounter each other by chance, they may assert dominance, (linguistic pissing contests are not unheard of here :-) but their lives are not structured around following, or smelling the higher-up's ass. --- "While acknowledging himself an Anarchist, he does not state to what branch of the organization he belongs" ---Discussing Leon Czolgosz' shooting of President William McKinley