Humanity needs to change.

Since the dawn of time, man has fought his fellow man, be it a murder of passion or a war in the name of God or to fulfil selfish needs. The idea that man is inherently good is absurd, yet as is the ideal that man is inherently evil however despite of this it would appear that humanity as a whole chooses to be evil. The world as we know it today is ravaged by conflict, fear, poverty, immorality and the most heinous of evils, the greed for money and power.

This I would argue is as a result of the evolution of the basic instinct for survival, we all have an innate will to live and survive, we all by our very nature value our own lives more than another’s. It stands to reason that man always values one’s self over another; this originally was a need for shelter, food, water, warmth and so on. Ancient man would fight over food or for a cave all selfish endeavours this over time has evolved creating man as a naturally selfish being but as a collective this selfishness is now evil. It is not the individual who should be viewed as evil, individuals can do grate deeds, it is the collective of the society that is evil.

Our selfish needs have collectively led to an avoidable imbalance between those who have and those who do not at an individual level. By our very nature humans are pack animals, we are required to work in collaboration, if man was unable to work together our achievements as a species would never have realised. All of the individuals within the pack are selfish, yet the dependency on the pack dulls these selfish desires yet they persist, however the selfish desires of the pack as a collective are multiplied determined for the pack to survive. Today our packs have grown, we are now grouped under a flag, the survival of the state is all that matters and to survive the state has to be stronger than its adversaries.

We fight now to ensure the survival of our states, and in doing so the few have triumphed and the few have suffered. The money is in the hands of the few who use it to wield power over the few, the same goes for the land and political power. With this we have tens of millions who are starving all because they were born into the wrong pack, the wrong state. Tens of millions of children are starving around the world yet because the selfish states of the EU are at risk they will provide a 1 Trillion bailout package for anyone in their pack who needs help, yet at the same time will not provide the same funds to provide all those starving children with food, shelter and water.

If we ever needed evidence that man is truly evil look no further than what is happening right now in the financial markets. The rich are prepared to shower the rich with more and more money to keep them rich. That money should be used to save the third world, not prop up our corrupt bankers. It is as a result of our collective selfishness born out of our need for survival that we have become evil like this, we are all guilty of being part of this evil system and it must change, humanity much change.
It would be a truly ignorant man who was to declare that true world peace could ever truly exist, but only as humanity exists today. If we abandon our selfish way, our pride and our evil corrupt leaders it could be achieved. Wars are fought because man in our current form is inherently evil no matter how noble the cause may appear the use of death to create peace is never going to work. You can’t kill your way into achieving peace between the Taliban and the west or between Israel and Palestine. Man has being trying to use war as a means to keep the peace for thousands of years and so far its not been working it is born out of our selfish desire for survival. One man’s selfish desire, perhaps born out of the need for survival, leads to him assaulting his fellow man, who in turn strikes him back and then in turn he counter attacks with more venom. Today we see this playing out as our collective states, and the tit for tat approach to the road to peace has so far failed, this again has to change.

I know too many what I am writing hear is more of a dream like utopia of perfect rather than realistic view as to what humanity is capable off. To many the idea of true world peace is a incomprehensible but it is only incomprehensible because of how humanity exits today. Why does the dream only have to be a dream, why can’t it become a reality? Why is it that we feed our corrupt bankers with yet more money yet we let our poor starve why can’t we bring about a ideology of peace rather than ideology after ideology that only promotes yet more and more death. Perhaps if man’s need for survival was fuelled by peace and not by selfishness this change would be realised.

reply to post by OtherSideOfTheCoin


These topics are often too overlooked, people accept war and greed as an unchangeable fact of life.. I'm sick of people having to settle.. it's not right.

I'm with you x(infinity)

reply to post by ConspiraCity


Exactly my point, humanity it would seem has just accepted that war, greed and the evils that go with it are inevitable. We seem to just ignore the idea that something as mythical as true world peace could ever be a realistic possibility and as such we make no attempt to change in order to allow it to happen.

reply to post by OtherSideOfTheCoin


It sucks that greed is a genetic trait that we all as humans have and have to fight within. Darwin spoke the truth when it came to survival of the fittest, and it is truly very sad.

reply to post by Unvarnished


I suppose it does come down to survival of the fittest but has humanity not now moved past that point in evolution where survival of the fittest by the systematic killing of our fellow man and wilful neglect of the needy is necessary.

Seldom do I reply to a thread without having read all the responses. However, in this case, because you bring up some extremely salient and provocative points, I want to respond right away to what you have obviousy put lot of thought and effort into writing.
First, though I agree with much of what you say, I do not agree that we as a human species are inherently designed to respond as a pack, but as individuals, which you so accurately describe in our seeking ti survive and this being our strongest Drive. It is surely a paradox, for our individuality is one of the things that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom, and this diversity is, in fact, directly responsible for our survival as a species.
Having said that, I think we live in contrived circumstances, and that even our genetics may have been contrived as well, but certainly our cultural and subliminally contrived circumstances are meant ti divide and conquer us, ti make us, as a group, more malleable. We are taught to compete, when it isn't necessary, just for the sake if ego. In todays world, when we aren't fighting each other for a dry cave or fire or berries in a field or prey for dinner, it means we will glorify and reward with subtle social status cues that we should sabotage our coworker, when our job security isn't even dependent upon it. Just for the hell of it, or because it shows you are just that slicker, or smarter whatever. Just an example, there are many.
This created atmosphere of competition instead of aligning ourselves and looking out for one another bleeds over from an individual level into politics, domestic, and governing, and foreign policies and how coutries relate to one another.
Another factor, and perhaps the biggest, and perpetually reinforced globally, is control.
We cannot, as a species, seem to grasp the essence of free life. All the time, I see people talk about free will. It isn't even remotely possible in a species that cannot yet grasp living and letting live.
Just my ten cents......

reply to post by tetra50


Thank you for that thoughtful and interesting response this threads was intended to promote some discussion amongst members, unfortunately it has failed to do so as the rest of ATS is too busy as usual discussing Ron Paul.