Congenital Defects
We live in a violent society. History books speak of wars and battles, but there is violence right here amongst us today, and it is sad to see that the billions of people who are against it in principle can do nothing to stop it.
People killing other people…mobs burning buses…terrorists detonating bombs in crowded places. Is it something that we were born with, a drive to destroy? Perhaps all this can be simplified to a single question — when a man sees a work of art or engineering, what goes through his head: an urge to destroy it, or curiosity as to how it can be improved? Maybe there is a middle path of complete indifference, where one follows the crowd in their merry acts of vandalism.
I, for one, fail to understand how so many of our species can engage in such acts without remorse. One might say that the fear of consequences is what keeps such acts in check, but to me, that is superfluous, a moat beyond the walls. Is there no passion for progress? The world is a giant machine after all; isn’t every step towards making it run smoother an achievement and a reward in itself?
Isn’t there a switch in the brain or the genes where the madness can be turned off?
Tags: Genes, History, Indifference, Mobs, Society