B

in 1966 dr. harry harlow
brought some monkeys into his university
he split them into two groups
one set of baby monkeys went with their mothers
the others were put alone into similar cages
with little contraptions made of fur and chicken wire
they were kept warm and fed but nothing other

when something would scare a little baby monkey
it would hide behind its chicken wire mother

the monkey babies who were raised without real mothers
even when the test was over and they were reunited
were found to be unable to be social
they could not enjoy being with other monkeys
what they lost could never be recovered
they weren't just traumatized, but permanently fucked-up
when nicholson told me this it made lots of sense to me
i think i've known some chicken wire babies