# It is the end of the world as we know it, let the murders and rapes begin? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945 "2014-04-12T17:06:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/41 "2014-04-13T21:43:34Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > lol > > Why just the other day I saw a roving band of post-apocalyptic Road Warrior thugs raping their way down 5th Avenue. I don’t know how we survive here. > > (No, no, I really want to see you argue that New York City is virtually law free.) > > Just so you know, “The Warriors” is not a documentary. Plus since 1988, the island of Manhattan has been under the control of the United States Police Force. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/42 "2014-04-13T22:54:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Loach** > > Nowadays were there used to be a hooker every 10!feet in Times Square now there is a cop or two. A hooker ever 3.6 million feet doesn’t sound too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/43 "2014-04-14T00:24:35Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Typically it’s much simpler than that. At some point some leader of a roving bandit gang decides that you can only raid a village kill all the occupants and steal their stuff once. If you stick around and let the people live so they can farm and work, you can collect protection money every year. Until the village goes and hires seven defenders… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/44 "2014-04-14T02:21:52Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > A hooker ever 3.6 million feet doesn’t sound too bad. Depends on the hooker. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/45 "2014-04-14T02:31:19Z")
The Second Congo War was bloodier than all of the wars in the 21st century combined and it still didn’t get much press in the US (although the European and some of the Asian press did cover it.) so there’s nothing going on today that’s even close. Hell, World Wars 1&2 and all of the various communist-inspired and colonial conflicts made the 20th century the bloodiest in human history. Again, even more so than anything which is occurring now or which may ever occur again in the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/46 "2014-04-14T03:18:29Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > AFAIK You have a highly idealized an inaccurate view of ape behavior, which cannot be generalized among various ape groups within the same species let alone among different species of ape. Of course, if it makes you feel better to think this way don’t let scientific ape research bring you down. Challenging my positions sans cites is amusing, but uninspiring. I find your assertions as smug and shallow as your general tone toward me, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/47 "2014-04-14T03:33:16Z")
> [@SirGalahad](#): > > Challenging my positions sans cites is amusing, but uninspiring. I find your assertions as smug and shallow as your general tone toward me, personally. Not trying to be smug, that’s what the AFAIK is all about. I could be convinced of your position, but at the moment I am not. You only gave one cite, and it doesn’t seem to support or necessarily agree with your assertions, but I could be wrong that’s all. I am not an expert on ape behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/48 "2014-04-14T05:59:56Z")
A story I heard. After Katrina in New Orleans a group of tourists, mostly white, were stuck in a downtown hotel. They had heard that outside the hotel authority had broken down with all the looting and such but they needed to get out to a safe spot. So they worked on a plan to walk, as a group, on a certain route to a safe area where they could get connections to the outside. As I said they would walk in an organized formation where the men walked on the outside while the women in the group stayed in the middle. There would be no loitering, no stops, and no running. They didnt make eye contact with anyone but walked in a “confident” manner to show they were not looking for trouble but were not scared either. They made it to safety. ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/49 "2014-04-14T21:56:15Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > Not trying to be smug, that’s what the AFAIK is all about. I could be convinced of your position, but at the moment I am not. You only gave one cite, and it doesn’t seem to support or necessarily agree with your assertions, but I could be wrong that’s all. I am not an expert on ape behavior. Fair enough. I’ve given you one cite, you’ve provided none. I’ll disregard your further dismissal of my opinions, respectfully, until you give me a relevant cite that supports your opinion of my position specifically … otherwise, you’re just making unfounded assertions. I’ve been around apes, but I’m no expert. They are so human-like, especially Chimps, that I can’t really stand to be around them in captivity. It depresses and saddens me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/50 "2014-04-15T00:18:34Z")
> [@SirGalahad](#): > > Fair enough. I’ve given you one cite, you’ve provided none. I’ll disregard your further dismissal of my opinions, respectfully, until you give me a relevant cite that supports your opinion of my position specifically … otherwise, you’re just making unfounded assertions. > > I’ve been around apes, but I’m no expert. They are so human-like, especially Chimps, that I can’t really stand to be around them in captivity. It depresses and saddens me. My opinion is somewhat based on the documentary “Stress, Portrait of a Killer,” that I mentioned upthread. I’m not really trying to make a solid position against your position, just asking questions to get greater clarity on what your particular take is on the OP. Most of my opinions about ape behavior are based on things I have read and heard over the years, so I do not have any particular expertise in the area. I’m not trying to dismiss your opinions, but I am not convinced yet you have made a solid case. Is there a primatologist in the room? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/51 "2014-04-15T04:05:43Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > A story I heard. > > After Katrina in New Orleans a group of tourists, mostly white, were stuck in a downtown hotel. They had heard that outside the hotel authority had broken down with all the looting and such but they needed to get out to a safe spot. So they worked on a plan to walk, as a group, on a certain route to a safe area where they could get connections to the outside. As I said they would walk in an organized formation where the men walked on the outside while the women in the group stayed in the middle. There would be no loitering, no stops, and no running. They didnt make eye contact with anyone but walked in a “confident” manner to show they were not looking for trouble but were not scared either. They made it to safety. Uh huh. And is this supposed to prove that if they had walked in a different way that they _wouldn’t_ have also made it out safely? ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/52 "2014-04-15T04:13:03Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Uh huh. And is this supposed to prove that if they had walked in a different way that they _wouldn’t_ have also made it out safely? I’d recommend any group of White folks walking through Central City to follow “urbanredneck”'s advice. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/53 "2014-04-15T21:47:46Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I think the people who are by nature good will not do evil. The people who are by nature evil or just act good during civilized times would commit crimes. That’s my guess. I think the majority of people wouldn’t start raping and pillaging, but I do suspect a large minority would help themselves to a flashy new car and take a joy ride. As someone above mentioned, it would depend quite a bit on the details. For example, say it’s the asteroid collision scenario, and we find out about it with 24 hours to spare, and astronomers agree that it’s 99.99% certain that there will be few human survivors. Contrast that with 3 months and 80% certain. What would be the differences? I’m not sure, but I bet there’d be differences. In the short term case, the economy would tank but who would care? In the long term case, how man of us would keep on keeping on, either due to doubt or not knowing what else to do? > [@SirGalahad](#): > > We’re literally apes. Strip us of structured armed authority, and we will behave like apes, because we are apes. We’ll gather into groups led by the ballsiest apes and rape/ make sweet love, kill/ eat bananas until the clever/ rich/ powerful among us decide it’s more profitable to establish serfdom. Then, we’ll be civilized again. Literally, different kinds apes behave rather differently, and we might be the outliers. Furthermore, we’re cultured, intelligent apes, so many of us would act like cultured, intelligent apes. What would cultured, intelligent apes do? Hard to say. I suspect that a small but significant number of us would act very much unlike apes, doing terribly radical things. How many apes go on killing sprees? How many apes kill themselves? Saying we’d act like apes isn’t a particularly informative answer. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/54 "2014-04-16T04:40:25Z")
You guys all know that the Stanford Prison experiment and Lord of the Flies are pure fiction right? Much more likely, people stranded on an island would be like the people on Lost. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/55 "2014-04-16T04:57:46Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Uh huh. And is this supposed to prove that if they had walked in a different way that they _wouldn’t_ have also made it out safely? No, but I bet it helped. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/56 "2014-04-16T05:09:11Z")
What kind of apocalype are we talking? An asteroid is going to smash into Earth and destroy the whole planet tomorrow? Or there’s been a pandemic and 3/4 of the population has died and industrial civilization has collapsed, but everybody who’s left might survive for a long time if they get enough food? Or something else? Whether I become a rapist or killer or someone’s dinner needs to be put into the specifics of what’s happening around me. ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/57 "2014-04-16T05:37:09Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > Literally, different kinds apes behave rather differently, and we might be the outliers. > > Furthermore, we’re cultured, intelligent apes, so many of us would act like cultured, intelligent apes. What would cultured, intelligent apes do? Hard to say. > > I suspect that a small but significant number of us would act very much unlike apes, doing terribly radical things. How many apes go on killing sprees? How many apes kill themselves? > > Saying we’d act like apes isn’t a particularly informative answer. - " … different kinds apes behave rather differently …"\* Than each other? Agreed. How does that contradict what I said? _“What would cultured, intelligent apes do?”_ I predict the cultured ones would learn to draw on cave walls and the intelligent ones would use weapons as they band together in violent, clannish groups. \* “How many apes go on killing sprees? How many apes kill themselves?”\* While you’d have to look for some cites that support the notion that suicide is unknown to other apes, I will concede that, because I’ve never seen that information anywhere. Regarding killing sprees, Chimps, having no weapons, tend to do their killing in groups. I posted a cite that describes killing groups attacking and “murdering” younger males (possible competitors?) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/58 "2014-04-16T12:30:31Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > You guys all know that the Stanford Prison experiment and Lord of the Flies are pure fiction right? Much more likely, people stranded on an island would be like the people on Lost. The Stanford prison experiment was [real](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment). ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/59 "2014-04-16T12:54:41Z")
> [@SirGalahad](#): > > - " … different kinds apes behave rather differently …"\* > > Than each other? Agreed. How does that contradict what I said? I’m not contradicting you. My point is that your point is pretty vague, since different kinds of apes behave very differently. We’re a different kind of ape, so we’d act differently from other kinds of apes, as well. Of course there are clues as to possible human behaviors among ape behaviors, but only clues. I agree with your generalization that many would gather into groups, etc., but we can draw that conclusion without referring to apes. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945/60 "2014-04-17T00:46:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The Stanford prison experiment was [real](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment). Sorry, _results_ were fiction. The false results were then fictionalized into several movies that supported the incorrect outcome. I don’t know how we got to monkeys, but I would vote this as one of the best tangents/thread hijacks ever. Monkeys make _everything_ cooler. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-let-the-murders-and-rapes-begin/685945.md?page=4)