Torture As A Human Characteristic

Have you read the CIA torture report in some of its most gruesome details? Has the cruelty of Islamist groups made you sick? Have you been repulsed by the silence or justification given to cover up the bestiality every time it occurs?

We know how we became “human” whether you subscribe to the evolution theory or creationism stories. Either way, it is hard to find a unified definition or ethos for what it means to be a “human” today.

What identifies us from our animal ancestors are very specific traits: Walking up right, making tools and food, creativity, thought process, larger and more complex brains, social behavior, political and economic systems, language and symbols. Yet, some people surpass even monsters in their violent tendencies, both verbal and behavioral.

One significant human characteristic is changing the world, supposedly or the better; but as we stand divided into a million pieces, we cannot agree which is better or which is the worse.

Technology has revolutionized the world and turned it into a global village. We celebrated as we reached for the connectedness only to be blocked by the haters and the fundamentalists. They have their plans to take things back not forward. Indeed, as some wish to explore space, others invest in weapons of mass destruction, and there are those that long to rule the world with the sword of a Caliphate.

As we evolve, we become greedy and lose ourselves in the process. We went over the top with everything: population, food consumption, and environmental abuse. We dug in the earth for oil, we carved mountains for rocks, we asphalted roads to “modernize” our existence; we genetically modified our food and ourselves and called that “civilization.” We do not recognize ourselves anymore. Who are we, really? All our scientific advances cannot keep up with the destruction we cause, the diseases we spread and the backwardness some inflict daily.

While the US tortures, Americans are either poor too busy making both ends meet or too rich to care. While Muslims torture, their counterparts are either too superficial glued to brain-numbing entertainment or too busy building their plastic dreams to care.

The ground is left to the extremists to devise more diabolic ways to neutralize or eliminate each other.

Yes, we have come a long way in our evolution. We now walk upright but some of us bury their heads in the sand pretending not to notice our species’ heinous acts, while others bury our heads in shame at the inhuman lows some have sunk down to.