No, the Humanity
In the film Brainstorm, there is a scene where the hero slips on a headset of a brainwave activator, and in a fraction of a second realizes its content and rips it off his head. I had a similar experience reading a Nicholas Kristoff article about what has been going on in the Congo. I was four sentences in, reading about a particular horror when I jabbed my mouse to take me off of the page.
Kristoff is a fine thinker and writer, but the words he put in that article should have been preceded by a warning to readers. Ultimately he was writing about the heroic attitudes of those who have resisted and stayed to help others, but getting there he was describing behavior that should have been beyond human imagination. (That said, some of the most popular video games also plumb these depths.)
We sometimes term the worst of our species as animals, though animals aren’t sadistic, and the number of people we read about acting this way seems to be soaring. Has anyone tracked the number of suicide bombers who have slaughtered thousands of civilians in Iraq? Not to mention the millions killed in the Congo, Rwanda, and elsewhere on the Dark Continent. Or think about the Nigerian who tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day, after he’d spent hours sitting among fellow human beings, some of whom had undoubtedly been at least gracious to him in the preceding hours?
Religion and political oppression are the root causes of most of these revolting incidents. So how do we defuse the terrorist minds before the people they operate go over the edge and commit atrocities that are impossible to read about?
First, Washington must stop aiding governments and sanctioning multi-national enterprises whose activities instigate foreign terror. Second, we must stop selling all arms abroad. Third, we must reduce the Earth’s population by five billion.
No, I’m not holding my breath, but I will also never give up on this noble human enterprise.
©2010 SetonnoteS
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