I came across a disturbing news report in the morning daily a few days ago: A 55 year old man rapes a 4 year old. Unfortunately, it is a shame to admit that it wasn't so disturbing as the first time I had read similar news a few years ago. But, it got me thinking on what the world has become or is in the process of becoming. Increasing rape cases is one of the problems that perturbs India. There is chaos and severe human cruelty in Gaza. Just last week, a Malaysian flight was hit by an air missile apparently from Russia (also apparently unintentionally). Every corner of the world is confronted with problems created by humanity and this is a humble attempt to try and analyze what and why all of this chaos is happening. This is truly a rough post, written in one stroke as my thoughts flow--so, I haven't exactly made an analysis and there is not a guarantee of a conclusion, but I wonder if there is an explanation for such an occurrence.
I have two primary reasons to believe that humanity is capable of the best and the worst :
(1) Humans have the ability to make choices unlike many of the other creatures on the planet.
(2) Humanity has evolved from monkeys to apes to some human-monkey like creatures to the Homo Sapiens to present-day modern man living with luxuries. All the Science around us wasn't born out of nowhere. Man has studied Science (of all kinds) and manipulated it to his advantage and use, putting in the process his thoughts.
I just looked up the meaning of evolution on Google and out of the two definitions that Google showed me, I choose to report the following here: the gradual development of something.
Now, to think about development, I see how current generation thought process has evolved, for instance. I will not do the boring science talk that most people come up with when we talk about present day developments. How about the Human Being? Picking Brokeback Mountain or Milk as movie examples that showed the early-days-journey of Homosexuals, today they have rights and are warmly accepted by most part of the Society. This is development, indeed or evolution if otherwise termed.
The British ruled India for 3 centuries! Now, that's a long time and I wonder, (if perhaps) back then, did they even realize that they were being ruled by foreigners. After all, the Maharaja was simply replaced by another form of anarchy, to them. For the most part, they were unaware of their rights. Maybe the concept of rights was even foreign because the trust and respect to the Maharajas were utmost. Today, we fight against the Government for our rights. Introduction of Right to Information Act 2005 (India) is a fantastic example of the result of such a struggle. This also is evolution.
Parents supporting their children who become victims to human crimes is also evolution, in contrast to the old ages when the victims were hushed to honor the prestige and the pride of the family. Philosophers and Scientists of the 16th and 17th centuries were threatened to be killed, or in many cases, killed if and when they made a hypothesis that did not resonate with the higher authorities of the Church. Ironically, in many cases, they were proved to be right in the later centuries. Today, we are planning a mission to Mars, another planet altogether and keeping the word "impossible" out of dictionary. This is evolution too!
The disturbing question: Is the rape of the innocent minor mentioned in the opening of this post, evolution too? I have read and heard of several cases of child abuse--I wonder if that falls in the evolution too. Consistent (abrupt) bombing incidents in some countries that is reported of now and then (in contrast to organized wars in the past for a reason they thought valid), the man who beats up his wife regularly assuming her to be weak (Women were at a lower position perhaps in the olden days, but not today), human killings for greed of excess wealth/money (Money was only a means of livelihood, really long ago), all of these events-- are they part of the evolution process?
One aspect common to the incidents from the beginning of this post until so far is : FREEDOM. Not the freedom that the society or the community or the Government or the law has given, but the freedom that we have given to ourselves. Whether it is the freedom to ask our very own parents why they made a certain decision which we ascertain as a wrong doing (the positive) or the freedom to light a fire on another human being (the negative), eventually, we have made a pact with ourselves that we are going to give ourselves the freedom to do something that we feel like doing.
And like I mentioned, I am not going to attempt on the correct extent of freedom that one should give to oneself, but certainly, it looks like I made a successful analysis without a hypothesis (atleast I think so).
P.S: This is truly a one-time rough post that I have written on a random, boring Sunday afternoon. I have thought of several cases in my mind (even if I have not mentioned all of them here), but it looks to me like I have a decent conclusion. Please share your comments and feedback, if you have an opinion on this topic.
I have two primary reasons to believe that humanity is capable of the best and the worst :
(1) Humans have the ability to make choices unlike many of the other creatures on the planet.
(2) Humanity has evolved from monkeys to apes to some human-monkey like creatures to the Homo Sapiens to present-day modern man living with luxuries. All the Science around us wasn't born out of nowhere. Man has studied Science (of all kinds) and manipulated it to his advantage and use, putting in the process his thoughts.
I just looked up the meaning of evolution on Google and out of the two definitions that Google showed me, I choose to report the following here: the gradual development of something.
Now, to think about development, I see how current generation thought process has evolved, for instance. I will not do the boring science talk that most people come up with when we talk about present day developments. How about the Human Being? Picking Brokeback Mountain or Milk as movie examples that showed the early-days-journey of Homosexuals, today they have rights and are warmly accepted by most part of the Society. This is development, indeed or evolution if otherwise termed.
The British ruled India for 3 centuries! Now, that's a long time and I wonder, (if perhaps) back then, did they even realize that they were being ruled by foreigners. After all, the Maharaja was simply replaced by another form of anarchy, to them. For the most part, they were unaware of their rights. Maybe the concept of rights was even foreign because the trust and respect to the Maharajas were utmost. Today, we fight against the Government for our rights. Introduction of Right to Information Act 2005 (India) is a fantastic example of the result of such a struggle. This also is evolution.
Parents supporting their children who become victims to human crimes is also evolution, in contrast to the old ages when the victims were hushed to honor the prestige and the pride of the family. Philosophers and Scientists of the 16th and 17th centuries were threatened to be killed, or in many cases, killed if and when they made a hypothesis that did not resonate with the higher authorities of the Church. Ironically, in many cases, they were proved to be right in the later centuries. Today, we are planning a mission to Mars, another planet altogether and keeping the word "impossible" out of dictionary. This is evolution too!
The disturbing question: Is the rape of the innocent minor mentioned in the opening of this post, evolution too? I have read and heard of several cases of child abuse--I wonder if that falls in the evolution too. Consistent (abrupt) bombing incidents in some countries that is reported of now and then (in contrast to organized wars in the past for a reason they thought valid), the man who beats up his wife regularly assuming her to be weak (Women were at a lower position perhaps in the olden days, but not today), human killings for greed of excess wealth/money (Money was only a means of livelihood, really long ago), all of these events-- are they part of the evolution process?
One aspect common to the incidents from the beginning of this post until so far is : FREEDOM. Not the freedom that the society or the community or the Government or the law has given, but the freedom that we have given to ourselves. Whether it is the freedom to ask our very own parents why they made a certain decision which we ascertain as a wrong doing (the positive) or the freedom to light a fire on another human being (the negative), eventually, we have made a pact with ourselves that we are going to give ourselves the freedom to do something that we feel like doing.
So, after all, it looks like I have a conclusion: The process of the evolution of human thinking and behaviour is a function of the FREEDOM that a human being keeps giving to her/himself.
And like I mentioned, I am not going to attempt on the correct extent of freedom that one should give to oneself, but certainly, it looks like I made a successful analysis without a hypothesis (atleast I think so).
P.S: This is truly a one-time rough post that I have written on a random, boring Sunday afternoon. I have thought of several cases in my mind (even if I have not mentioned all of them here), but it looks to me like I have a decent conclusion. Please share your comments and feedback, if you have an opinion on this topic.
