How We, as Beasts, Differ from Animals

One of the most confusing aspects for me regarding the personal question of how to maintain a functional inner world in harmony with a functional outer world has been the conflict in my mind of two realities. The necessity of random and explosive violence in the natural world between species stabilizes the environment and ecosystems of those species and, in turn, the planet itself.  On the other hand, a similar random and explosive violence among humans has the opposite effect.

Any ambush predator will tear a weaker species to shreds in a horrific and unsettling way—lions, alligators, hawks, sharks. It’s almost impossible to watch. Yet in completing this action on a regular basis herds are culled, the food chain keeps all species alive, plant life regrows, every living thing involved benefits in a primal way. The earth remains balanced.

A ferocity and aggressiveness toward species of plant and animal life exists among humans as well, but it encompasses all species. We don’t live with nature, we struggle against it, and this struggle is no more prevalent than the internecine way we struggle with each other. Human predation accomplishes the exact opposite of natural animal predation. Through the negative power of our emotions, we have created a human phenomenon and that is the explosion of random violence without reason as an acceptable way to accomplish material goals or show displeasure with the actions and statements and ethnicity of other people. We believe some entitlement or right exists to make others suffer for things that are either beyond our control or cause us nothing more than a minor convenience.

Some people are able to excuse their deranged individual actions by juxtaposing their actions against collective rules that allow societies to exist—things that they feel violate personal freedom, like disease prevention rules or desegregation laws. These people suffer serious moral and ethical flaws and lack either the intellectual ability or the will to correct them. Others may simply be insane. I suppose in some instances both criteria could apply. Whatever the reasons, I believe we have reached a point where we need to stop excusing or minimizing the effects of this behavior with caveats like “it’s just a few people” and “changing laws will be a slippery slope for the rest of us good people” and “that’s just a bad part of human nature” and “I understand their frustrations” and “some people can’t help themselves.” Why? Because the behavior is increasing and will continue to do so. Radical directions may sometimes need radical course corrections.

Obviously, this observation of mine is simplistic and subjective. Like my father said “Boy if you were half as smart as you think you are, you’d be twice as smart as you really are.” You don’t have to agree with what I’m saying here. But can we at least agree that a few things that went on in the year 2021 have nothing to do with individual rights or the Constitution’s admonition that everyone deserves life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

As I sit here and watch the river flow by and think about how my life has flowed by the past seventy-three years, I am finally beginning to realize that the problem lies in this delusion of freedom without responsibility. Animals will slaughter other animals for food to survive and for the planet to survive. It’s instinct and a singular drive. Americans slaughter each other over entitlements and suffer the misconception that all out carnage is necessary because each of us has a right by virtue of simply living in a democracy to be offended if we don’t get our way. Liberty allows us to do what we want to and have everything we desire. For some people, that delusion takes precedent over everything else. It seems to dominate individual actions more and more these days as external pressures from the world around us increase.

Obviously, if we cannot control our impulses and desires, we will be unable to remain a civilized society. I fear that random violence is becoming an entitlement to many people in America. The more we see violence as an extension of our freedoms in a democracy, the more we risk losing that democracy. Why? Because our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is predicated on allowing our neighbors the same freedoms.

None of us have these rights listed below, and this is nowhere near a complete list of what we are not entitled to in a free country:

This is from the past year or so and is not an all-inclusive list.

1. Shoot a Wendy’s employee in the head because he forgot to put barbeque sauce in a bag.
2. Randomly slaughter our classmates because we feel picked on.
3. Buy our children guns for school because they feel picked on.
4. Beat an old man to death on the street because he is Chinese.
5. Shoot up a Taco Bell because they were out of hot sauce.
6. Push people in front of trains because it’s funny to watch them get hit.
7. Call the police on a stranger because he’s black.
8. Shoot a black person because he turned around in your driveway.
9. Rape a woman because you can’t get a date.
10. Burn a mosque or take hostages in a Jewish synagogue.
11. Keep people from voting.
12. Loot and burn stores in your neighborhood when there’s a protest march.
13. Attempt to overthrow the government when you don’t like an election result.
14. Mug a restaurant hostess because she tells you to wear a mask
15. Steal as much as you can because you got elected to office.
16. Draw a gun and threaten a barista in Starbuck’s with death because you didn’t get enough cream cheese for your bagel.
17. etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum