We Are Not Civilized

Recently, I watched episodes from Pillars of the Earth and Big Cat Diary. While the former involves 12^th Century Englishmen, and the latter large kitties in modern Kenya, the subject matter is remarkably similar.

People’s delusion that modern humans are civilized blinds them to the truth.

Lions, cheetahs, and leopards hunt and kill in order to survive and reproduce. We, on the other hand, kill because we can. We mostly live in fancy caves with hot-and-cold running water. We think ourselves the height of civility because we can declaim on irrelevancies like Gaga, or who’s winning Dancing with the Stars, convincing ourselves–and sometimes others–that we know something important.

When confronted with realities of feral packs of teenagers (Examples: Chicago, Philadelphia) attacking ready made prey–people so attached to convincing themselves they are civilized by bleating against violence that they insist on acting ‘civilized’ despite imminent violence–our brainwashed synapses blow a fuse, enabling us to ignore reality awhile, until our self-imposed propaganda resumes control.

Next, rationalization occurs, where we blame an uncaring society, the victims, Republicans, et al for what occurred. Thus we aid and abet the downfall of what we consider civilization. We are more rationalizing than rational.

We are not civilized. Once you understand that, you and yours stand a better chance of surviving and even thriving. Paradoxically, therein lies the key to saving what’s often called civilization.