Wednesday, September 27, 2000

By BILLY MURPHY
Laugh Lines

I have never been an evolutionist, but I do subscribe to the idea of survival of the fittest in a lot of ways. And that is precisely why the Buckhead nightlife scene is thriving and no one will ever kill it.

Like so many other places in the world (South Beach, Miami, etc.) the Buckhead party district has become the mating ground for the upper echelon of our species, our city. It's the place where the beautiful people come to meet the beautiful people.

No matter how many mayors or minions try to deny it, homo sapiens like to divide themselves into different classes, consciously or not. Whether it is instinct or some genetic code, people always create places and regions to facilitate meeting other people just like themselves.

This is why, for instance, Indiana coach Bobby Knight could last 29 years as a physical and emotional tyrant with nary a complaint, except from outside his circle. As much as we don't want to admit it, there are many that are drawn to his antics, his "alpha-male" ways. It is easily seen by his cult-like following from both fans and players.

As chaos theorist Ian Malcolm from "Jurassic Park" repeatedly said, "Nature will find a way."

I used to be the program director of a high school summer camp program and my staff and I used to always marvel. The teenagers could arrive on Sunday afternoon and by that evening, the kids, total strangers before, would already be forming into their subgroups.

The scenario was always the same, the cool kids with the cool kids, the jocks with the jocks, the smart kids with the smart kids and the leftovers circling, usually unsuccessfully trying to enter one of the packs. And after years of observation, we could also never figure out how within the span of mere hours the "bad boy" and the "bad girl" would already be "hooked up."

Buckhead has become the same. Try to discourage or stamp out its "meat (sic) and greet" party scene and it will become like that ant hill in your yard. You poison and kill the mound, only to see another pop up 15 feet away.

This also explains the resistance to accept blacks into the area. Any differences in the makeup of on an individual will cause him or her to be seen as an intruder and the territory will need to be defended.

This rightly explains the attitude of the white UGA sorority girls who allegedly said they didn't want an African-American pledge as a part of their group because they wouldn't be as attractive to all-white fraternities and risked not being invited to their parties. And as we all know, the frat party is the mating ground for the college campus for a large population, sometimes literally.

Part of being civilized and human is overcoming our basic animalistic instincts and becoming better and better, more open, improved. This is what we need in Buckhead more than a better curfew. We need an acceptance of all and not be controlled by instincts or pheromones or maybe just too much beer.

I am sure we will find our way and through the Buckhead brouhaha emerge even more fit to rest atop the food chain, hopefully not just for the sake being on top, but that we will can live to the potential to which we know we can reach. We might even surprise ourselves and give new meaning to the words, "Beautiful people."

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