A comment...
Nov. 12th, 2003 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseThis was originally written as a comment on a friend of mine's blog. He was expressing a large amount of anger over the ending of a relationship, anger at the flaws in the human race, and a desire to obliterate said race. My reply contains a lot of ideas I've been bandying about for a while, but haven't actually put down, so I'm posting it here.
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{Proposed legislation: When a person spends an hour and a half composing a reply and then loses it thanks to a browser error, a Microsoft executive should be made available for them to strangle with all due haste.)
Yes, life sucks. Yes, breakups (especially when they're not technically a breakup but pack all the emotional wallop of one) suck. Yes, women suck, and I say this with all the knowledge that being a member of my gender gives me. More often than not, we are userous bitches who seem pretty close to incapable of being open and honest about their motives. Part of this is several hundred years of societal conditioning. Part of this is probably the inherent differences between intuitive versus direct thinking. I often try to avoid this, but from observing my past patterns I've found that I usually just suppress my actual feelings, giving myself the illusion of honesty. Until it all comes crashing down, anyway.
Yes, humanity sucks. We are capable of so much, and yet we squander our time and resources in things like consumerism and fighting stupid wars. Yes, human relationships often mirror this to a large extent - people are unwilling to put forth the effort involved in maintaining a worthwhile relationship, or perhaps they're willing to do so, but instead become too busy pushing each other down in a vain effort at self-defense, or simply out of pure spite. Some of the more masochistic of us push ourselves down in a pathetic attempt at self-flagellation for ever letting someone get close enough to hurt us in the first place.
Why, then, do people pursue such relationships, if all they ever cause is pain? Why do people insist on putting forth all this effort if the only effect is to hurt themselves and others?
The truth of the matter is, it's because there's not much else worth living for. True, nothing can make you feel more like an utter shit than another person, but by the same token, interacting with someone with whom you share mutual trust, respect, and compassion gives you a feeling that no artificial high can compare with, be it from artificial substances, endorphins, or anything else.
Because of this, I find your attitude toward humanity to be contemptible. I believe strongly in the idea of free will, and that no one should be told how to live, so long as they are not affecting others negatively. If people are going to defend themselves by refraining from entering meaningful relationships, that's their business, though I don't envy them the life they will have. If people are going to try and create that sort of relationship, they are going to mess it up - that's human nature - but there's also a chance that they will find the joy in it as well. You have no right to deny someone that opportunity. Just because your own relationships haven't worked out doesn't mean you can pass judgement on all of humanity. Can you know for certain that we will all fail? Yes, we are a flawed species, but our greatest achievements come in the face of that, which makes them all the more spectacular. Your attitude of "I can't have it, therefore no one can" stems directly from the aspect of humanity you claim to abhor. The hypocrisy here disgusts me.
Our evolutionary history dictates that humanity performs best under duress. This is why wartime is often so productive - we have a goal to achieve, and a feeling of unification to go with it. To a lesser extent, this is why capitalism works better than most economic systems - we are all driven by the desire to get higher up on the socioeconomic ladder, even though many of us never make it. During "peacetime" little is accomplished because there is no concrete reward for such, just an abstract idea of "self-realization." Expecting humans to be productive and happy in a civilization that offers no long-term reward goes against our inherent programming. So instead of expecting humans to live in an inherently utopian system, and then condemning them to death because they are unable to live up to it, consider this: What if the Earth was attacked by another race from outside our planet? A race far superior technologically? Many movies have dealt with this concept, but the aspect that very few of them really point out is that it would bring a sense of unification to our planet - in essence, it would achieve world peace, simply because our biological mechanisms are geared toward survival first. We would have to stop squabbling amongst ourselves and unite to fend off the attacker, or else perish (in which case, your goal would be accomplished anyway). Think of the technological advances we could come up with under that kind of pressure. Think of the achievements we could make.
That's what humanity needs. Not obliteration. A good kick in the arse.
@->--Rose
----
{Proposed legislation: When a person spends an hour and a half composing a reply and then loses it thanks to a browser error, a Microsoft executive should be made available for them to strangle with all due haste.)
Yes, life sucks. Yes, breakups (especially when they're not technically a breakup but pack all the emotional wallop of one) suck. Yes, women suck, and I say this with all the knowledge that being a member of my gender gives me. More often than not, we are userous bitches who seem pretty close to incapable of being open and honest about their motives. Part of this is several hundred years of societal conditioning. Part of this is probably the inherent differences between intuitive versus direct thinking. I often try to avoid this, but from observing my past patterns I've found that I usually just suppress my actual feelings, giving myself the illusion of honesty. Until it all comes crashing down, anyway.
Yes, humanity sucks. We are capable of so much, and yet we squander our time and resources in things like consumerism and fighting stupid wars. Yes, human relationships often mirror this to a large extent - people are unwilling to put forth the effort involved in maintaining a worthwhile relationship, or perhaps they're willing to do so, but instead become too busy pushing each other down in a vain effort at self-defense, or simply out of pure spite. Some of the more masochistic of us push ourselves down in a pathetic attempt at self-flagellation for ever letting someone get close enough to hurt us in the first place.
Why, then, do people pursue such relationships, if all they ever cause is pain? Why do people insist on putting forth all this effort if the only effect is to hurt themselves and others?
The truth of the matter is, it's because there's not much else worth living for. True, nothing can make you feel more like an utter shit than another person, but by the same token, interacting with someone with whom you share mutual trust, respect, and compassion gives you a feeling that no artificial high can compare with, be it from artificial substances, endorphins, or anything else.
Because of this, I find your attitude toward humanity to be contemptible. I believe strongly in the idea of free will, and that no one should be told how to live, so long as they are not affecting others negatively. If people are going to defend themselves by refraining from entering meaningful relationships, that's their business, though I don't envy them the life they will have. If people are going to try and create that sort of relationship, they are going to mess it up - that's human nature - but there's also a chance that they will find the joy in it as well. You have no right to deny someone that opportunity. Just because your own relationships haven't worked out doesn't mean you can pass judgement on all of humanity. Can you know for certain that we will all fail? Yes, we are a flawed species, but our greatest achievements come in the face of that, which makes them all the more spectacular. Your attitude of "I can't have it, therefore no one can" stems directly from the aspect of humanity you claim to abhor. The hypocrisy here disgusts me.
Our evolutionary history dictates that humanity performs best under duress. This is why wartime is often so productive - we have a goal to achieve, and a feeling of unification to go with it. To a lesser extent, this is why capitalism works better than most economic systems - we are all driven by the desire to get higher up on the socioeconomic ladder, even though many of us never make it. During "peacetime" little is accomplished because there is no concrete reward for such, just an abstract idea of "self-realization." Expecting humans to be productive and happy in a civilization that offers no long-term reward goes against our inherent programming. So instead of expecting humans to live in an inherently utopian system, and then condemning them to death because they are unable to live up to it, consider this: What if the Earth was attacked by another race from outside our planet? A race far superior technologically? Many movies have dealt with this concept, but the aspect that very few of them really point out is that it would bring a sense of unification to our planet - in essence, it would achieve world peace, simply because our biological mechanisms are geared toward survival first. We would have to stop squabbling amongst ourselves and unite to fend off the attacker, or else perish (in which case, your goal would be accomplished anyway). Think of the technological advances we could come up with under that kind of pressure. Think of the achievements we could make.
That's what humanity needs. Not obliteration. A good kick in the arse.
@->--Rose
