Tuesday 2 February 2010

Beware of the Human - a rant.

I’ve been quiet lately, but it doesn’t mean I’ve been doing nothing. I’ve been so busy thinking and reflecting that my brain is worn out.

Man’s inhumanity to man has, once again, surprised me. How does it keep doing that? Am I really so gullible as to believe, honestly, that human beings are inherently nice or good? You know, I taught Lord of the Flies to my students for years, and absolutely hated it for the brutality in it – the probe into the Beast that lurks within, just beneath the humane, civilised veneer we like to think sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Somehow, though, I refused to believe that such a Beast really existed.

And then that massive earthquake flattened Port-au-Prince.

The law of the jungle is alive and well and living in Haiti. The biggest, meanest desperados get the frightfully limited quantities of whatever aid happens to reach the people. The rest don’t stand a chance. Nice guys finish last.

The opportunists take whatever they can and don’t care who they stomp on to get it. Escaped felons from the flattened gaol run amok - they rape vulnerable women because that’s the kind of lowlife pieces of shit they are – what a way to say ‘fuck you’ to the system. People steal children who may or may not be orphans, and try to spirit them out of the country. The trade in human flesh is always only a heartbeat away.

Scum rises to the top. People suck. The Beast lives.

3 comments:

Jimmy Nightingale said...

Hi Sue,

That you care has to mean something.

Golding was right though. As civilised as we think we are, the veneer of humanity can be stripped away in an instant. New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Poland during the Second World War are just a few examples.

Why we, as a species, can so quickly dispense with our humanity is the big question. Yet many of us do care, so that gives me hope for the future.

PS - Don't go and see "The Road".

Sue said...

Jimmy, you shouldn't have said "don't go and see 'The Road'", coz now you've piqued my curiosity *grin*.

All those examples you mentioned - see, that's exactly it - I know about that stuff, and every time something like that happens, I'm disgusted afresh, and I wonder how I could've thought people were actually nice - and I feel as if I've learned nothing about humanity from all the other examples and I suppose I'm cross with myself for my - what is it, gullibility? Or is it just boundless optimism and faith that there ARE good people around? I just hate it when people disappoint me...

I suppose people turn in different directions when times get tough - and depending on the kind of person you are, difficulties will bring out the best - or the worst - in you.

lemmiwinks said...

Forget seeing it, don't read the book by Cormac McCarthy! Hollywood special effects are no competition for your imagination (even though his lack of punctuation is very irritating). It's a very depressing read.