We know better. We claim to be better in empty rhetoric. In actions though, our species is made up of proud monsters, their enablers/worshippers, and their victims.
I’ve been saying this for years. The “civilized” world acts like we’re better because we’re not cutting people’s heads off for perceived crimes, but we’ve clearly just exchanged that for the far more sophisticated (and far more fucked up) mental and emotional torture.
Just look at how the US treats prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. We have never been “better,” it’s a fucking lie we tell ourselves to justify it all. The US especially is great at twisting language to justify it. It’s not “torture” it’s “enhanced interrogation.”
Everyone wants to be the hero of the story, fighting a righteous battle against the evil monstrous Enemy^tm.
The truth is no one is 100% a hero, and no one is 100% the villain. We all act within the confines of our humanity. For some this is monstrous acts, for others its righteous ones. But no one is exclusively one or the other, we all spend most of our time somewhere in between.
Definitely tending towards righteousness, but I would still say the majority of his life was spent being a regular human.
Which, I think, was the point of his show. He was just a normal man who could treat others with compassion. Putting him on a pedestal and treating him like a saint means that its nigh impossible to live up to him. And I think he would find that a terrible message to send.
We are all human. How we choose to show that humanity defines us, not the humanity itself.
I’ve been saying this for years. The “civilized” world acts like we’re better because we’re not cutting people’s heads off for perceived crimes, but we’ve clearly just exchanged that for the far more sophisticated (and far more fucked up) mental and emotional torture.
Just look at how the US treats prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. We have never been “better,” it’s a fucking lie we tell ourselves to justify it all. The US especially is great at twisting language to justify it. It’s not “torture” it’s “enhanced interrogation.”
Everyone wants to be the hero of the story, fighting a righteous battle against the evil monstrous Enemy^tm.
The truth is no one is 100% a hero, and no one is 100% the villain. We all act within the confines of our humanity. For some this is monstrous acts, for others its righteous ones. But no one is exclusively one or the other, we all spend most of our time somewhere in between.
Counterpoint: Fred Rogers
Definitely tending towards righteousness, but I would still say the majority of his life was spent being a regular human.
Which, I think, was the point of his show. He was just a normal man who could treat others with compassion. Putting him on a pedestal and treating him like a saint means that its nigh impossible to live up to him. And I think he would find that a terrible message to send.
We are all human. How we choose to show that humanity defines us, not the humanity itself.
When we’re hero worshiping, that’s also a projection of our shadows.
Friendly reminder that Ron DeSantis worked at Gitmo.