To understand the shitshow that is currently going on, you have to understand the dynamics of power. To put it briefly, the nature of hierarchical power is to accept that legitimate violence can only occur at certain levels. Or, more simply, someone controls the ability to do violence.
This idea came from the very roots of civilization and its sense of ‘safety’. So bear with me a moment as we look at the technology that makes cities possible: farming.
In gardening, you plot a lot of things in a family plot. If a deer breaks in one evening, maybe it gets the tomatoes, but it won’t get to the plants you put behind the row of chili peppers. Gardens are easy to guard and replenish if you’re paying attention.
Maybe get a dog, put up a sturdy fence, maybe some netting. Because it’s diverse, animals will go after their favorite first and that enables you to built up layers of protection so you still have something to eat.
This isn’t an unusual arrangement. Think about blackberries for a moment. Lots of juicy fruit, buried in sharp thorns. Some things might get to nibble at the edges; hardier animals might be able to dig deeper in. But they’ll always miss some of those delicious bits needed to perpetuate the blackberry bush from one generation to the next.
Farming, in order to be efficient, is rows and rows of the same thing. Because of that, it is a food source under constant siege from all sides. If an animal gets in, and gets enough, it’ll come back with its family… and the next generation, and the next.
It’s a war between who gets the food: humans, or everyone else. What this sets up is the need for a very severe and thorough guard system, because if you fail, you starve.