This morning I did my usual round of the internet and, as usual, I’ve suffered my first bout of brain overload for the day.
There is just so much stuff out there that is must-read that it is completely impossible to read it all. Frequently I’m confronted with hundreds of article some of which have two hundred plus comments of wildly varying quality. And the next day there are hundreds of new articles and comments about new crises, new calamities, new wars, new discoveries... Give me a break!
In my confused mental state, suddenly I imagined that one day, the doors to blogger’s homes would open and, en masse, they, dressed in motely trackie-dacks, would start running towards the nearest cliff and hurl themselves over it in a dramatic lemming-like gesture while crying out, "No more! No more! My brain is sore!"
Being a seeker of truth I immediately clicked onto Wiki and checked out lemmings. Wouldn’t you just know it? Wiki debunked the notion that lemmings commit mass suicide, yes it did.
Apparently these rodents do breed at an alarming rate when things are good and food is plentiful. Then, if the supply dwindles, they migrate to find new pastures. If they are confronted by a cliff they stop until hunger or the pushing of those behind them convinces them to press on. So over the cliff they go. If they survive the fall they will start swimming and either they make it to the Promised Land or they won’t. So yet another of my underpinnings has gone and the dramatic idea of a mass of mice-like creatures engaging in a friendly mass suicide for the good of their species is gone forever.
Could humans ever get to the stage of committing mass suicide for the common good unlike those treacherous, non-suicidal lemmings? What about if nuclear war and global warming don’t happen and eventually population growth pushes us to the stage that there are wall-to-wall humans, you know, like standing room only, as in a crowded lift. Could you handle it? I know I couldn’t. I enjoy humans in small doses and find cities alarming, rather frightening places what with road rage and muggings and one-way streets and pollution and all.
Would humans ever meet together and say, "Listen, there’s far too many of us. Something must be done. How about, next Sunday, we meet at the Gap and, in a gesture of love and caring for our fellow men and women, throw ourselves over the edge?" I consider it highly unlikely. I think there would be an uneasy silence, a shuffling of feet, some clearing of throats, a sudden remembering of an appointment, but no more.
No, humans are instinctively self-centred creatures. They might engage in lots of self-destruction like drinking excessively, engaging in unsafe, deviant sex, driving too fast, taking drugs, telling their spouse they’re fat, hang-gliding, but to sacrifice themselves for the common good, no way, Jose!
O.K. if we accept that humans are largely self-centred then next question that could be asked is: could they be re-educated to be more socially-responsible, to become selfless, to become generous towards and caring of their fellows as are ants or bees? I remember in a Sociology course I did hearing about a tribe where respect and prestige was based purely on how much you gave away. Not much room for capitalism there, eh? But after you gave it all away, wouldn’t you be a pauper and not much use to anyone including yourself? No matter, it was an uplifting concept and worthy of praise.
Suffice to say that humans surely could be educated to be less selfish and to see themselves as being part of the human race rather than part of a small family group or a community or a nation. If we could achieve that then people the world over might work together for the common good (as they once did in some societies) before capitalism and self-glorification became the predominant paradigm.
But I won’t hold my breath!
http://www.dangerouscreation.com