As if to imply that mankind has entered its next stage of evolution, leveled up as if in some sort of game or opened its third eye and transcended into the ubermensch, many people proudly declare that human beings are substantially more intelligent and better informed today than they were hundreds and thousands of years ago. Thus, comparisons between us and the slack-jawed Cro-Magnon are inappropriate.
Intelligence may be able to construct better roads, create better vehicles, and reduce the infant mortality rate, but it does not make us substantially different from our ancestors. In fact, we are still tethered to our predecessors in all of the truly relevant ways. We are still vexed by the same problems. Not the issues of how do we prevent this river from flooding or how can we prevent disease, but the truly human problems that arise in all cultures in every time all over the world. Problems like the terrors of war, unrequited love, perils of pursuing vengeance, death and old age, commitments to your loved ones, having a boss you despise, the heartache of loneliness, the difficulty in telling the truth, and the pain in growing distant from your friends.
It should be startling, and a great relief, that you can read The Iliad and recognize the humanity in Hector's wife running him a bath that we, the reader, know that he will never take, as by that evening, Achilles will have killed him. You should both revel and reflect on Cato the Younger denouncing the youth and their loosely-belted tunics and insufferable arrogance.
You are wholly alien to stories from ancient Egypt, as a field mouse in the Eurasian steppe would be alien to a blue whale in the Atlantic Ocean. Those stories are over 7,000 years old, from a place you've likely never been to, from a people that have long since disappeared. Yet, the stories still make sense to your ears. Set betraying his brother Osiris still rings true to us as evil, and we feel hope for Horus as he battles his uncle and cheer for him in his victory. Indeed, stories written for someone other than you, when anyone recognizable to you as your ancestor even existed, can still be understood and appreciated for what they are.
So, is it so surprising that the Roman Republic had its version of our neo-conservative warhawks, appending every statement with a call to war against Carthage? Is it so surprising that Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, sought to undermine his father's public image by claiming that Solomon's manhood was of underwhelming size? Is it so surprising that Liu Bang disseminating a false tale about slaying a giant venemous serpent endeared him to the public and helped propel him to the seat of the Emperor? Is it so surprising that as recently as the Temperance movement, sophistry and prescriptive attitudes have dictated domestic policy?
What we claim is decisively modern is almost always a product of our own human imaginations and basic desires. Our behavior is more predictable than we'd like to admit, since "history repeats itself." Perhaps we would be better to recognize our own place in the great wheel of time. A foolish person believes themselves smarter than their mother and father - after all, they are their mother and father by nature and by nurture.
The advent of political violence has doomed more than one republican government. There was never a time in all of history where two perspectives weren't pitted against one another. Even so, never was there a time where history decided what was "right." Yet, people who have so much to gain from eliminating their opponents claim that this time is different, that this time the enemy really is malicious, or at the very least an idiot. To advocate violence over politics is to repeat these very human mistakes. To dehumanize your fellow man or believe things would be better if only we were in power and we could do whatever we want, has a very special place in history indeed. Perhaps once the horrors of violence and revolution break down our doors and cave in our chests with impunity, will those so eager for violence finally be compensated.
But is there hope then? Is there a solution to anything? I would direct you to the Parable of the Fool's Suggestion, if you are so inclined to learn my opinion.
Intelligence may be able to construct better roads, create better vehicles, and reduce the infant mortality rate, but it does not make us substantially different from our ancestors. In fact, we are still tethered to our predecessors in all of the truly relevant ways. We are still vexed by the same problems. Not the issues of how do we prevent this river from flooding or how can we prevent disease, but the truly human problems that arise in all cultures in every time all over the world. Problems like the terrors of war, unrequited love, perils of pursuing vengeance, death and old age, commitments to your loved ones, having a boss you despise, the heartache of loneliness, the difficulty in telling the truth, and the pain in growing distant from your friends.
It should be startling, and a great relief, that you can read The Iliad and recognize the humanity in Hector's wife running him a bath that we, the reader, know that he will never take, as by that evening, Achilles will have killed him. You should both revel and reflect on Cato the Younger denouncing the youth and their loosely-belted tunics and insufferable arrogance.
You are wholly alien to stories from ancient Egypt, as a field mouse in the Eurasian steppe would be alien to a blue whale in the Atlantic Ocean. Those stories are over 7,000 years old, from a place you've likely never been to, from a people that have long since disappeared. Yet, the stories still make sense to your ears. Set betraying his brother Osiris still rings true to us as evil, and we feel hope for Horus as he battles his uncle and cheer for him in his victory. Indeed, stories written for someone other than you, when anyone recognizable to you as your ancestor even existed, can still be understood and appreciated for what they are.
So, is it so surprising that the Roman Republic had its version of our neo-conservative warhawks, appending every statement with a call to war against Carthage? Is it so surprising that Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, sought to undermine his father's public image by claiming that Solomon's manhood was of underwhelming size? Is it so surprising that Liu Bang disseminating a false tale about slaying a giant venemous serpent endeared him to the public and helped propel him to the seat of the Emperor? Is it so surprising that as recently as the Temperance movement, sophistry and prescriptive attitudes have dictated domestic policy?
What we claim is decisively modern is almost always a product of our own human imaginations and basic desires. Our behavior is more predictable than we'd like to admit, since "history repeats itself." Perhaps we would be better to recognize our own place in the great wheel of time. A foolish person believes themselves smarter than their mother and father - after all, they are their mother and father by nature and by nurture.
The advent of political violence has doomed more than one republican government. There was never a time in all of history where two perspectives weren't pitted against one another. Even so, never was there a time where history decided what was "right." Yet, people who have so much to gain from eliminating their opponents claim that this time is different, that this time the enemy really is malicious, or at the very least an idiot. To advocate violence over politics is to repeat these very human mistakes. To dehumanize your fellow man or believe things would be better if only we were in power and we could do whatever we want, has a very special place in history indeed. Perhaps once the horrors of violence and revolution break down our doors and cave in our chests with impunity, will those so eager for violence finally be compensated.
But is there hope then? Is there a solution to anything? I would direct you to the Parable of the Fool's Suggestion, if you are so inclined to learn my opinion.
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