Yeah, this isn’t going to be one of those uplifting posts, unlike my review of the film that I saw yesterday, The Amazing Spider-Man. Good movie, by the way. But as I was leaving the theater, there was something that caught my attention. There was a guy, wearing shorts, out at the theater with his girlfriend. They were a cute couple. Here’s the interesting part – the guy had two fake legs! Below the knee, both legs were prosthetic. That is…awesome. This guy walked perfectly. You’d never know that he didn’t have real legs if he wasn’t wearing shorts. He was rocking a movie with his girlfriend with his prosthetic legs, and having a good time. Good for him. It looked really cool.
At the same time that I was reflecting on how cool that was, a story by Source Fed caught my eye. It told about a man with a cybernetic eye who was assaulted at McDonald’s in Paris. This man needs this eye to see, and when the staff asked about it, he showed them documentation that it was a necessary prosthetic, and they seemed to be totally cool with it. Problem was, they weren’t. After sitting down with his family to eat, a bunch of employees came over to the table and accosted him about the cybernetic eye. He showed them the documentation, but they ripped it up, and tried to rip the glasses off of his head. Problem – they are fused to his skull. So, they broke the glasses.
Unlucky for them, they were stupid enough to break the glasses, which means that the images that were seen by them were stored in the memory, instead of getting erased, as was what normally happened. So, this guy uploaded all of the images onto his blog. The reason he did this is because the French government is staying away from this, and McDonald’s won’t answer his calls. At the very least, he should sue McDonald’s. This hardware can’t be cheap, and they should have to pay for replacing it.
A lot of people have been speculating that this was the first cybernetic hate-crime. I agree with Source Fed when I say that no, it isn’t. It is merely a bunch of jerk employees who didn’t like their pictures being taken assaulting a man. They should go to jail, and McDonald’s should be sued for damages, along with pain and suffering. I am not one of those people who jumps on the “sue them” bandwagon, but in this case, it is 100% understandable. These people did something wrong, now they need to pay for it.
But what does come to mind is interesting – will there be cybernetic hate-crimes someday? The answer is obviously – yes. The reason for this is simple. People suck. A lot. It is part of human nature to jump to hate. When people see something that they see and don’t understand, one of the first reactions is to hate it, fear it, or resent it for existing. It’s not because of religion or because of social environment that people hate. Granted, parents do teach hate to kids, and religion does teach a lot of hate. That can’t be ignored. But at the same time, the source for hatred comes from something much more primal than we give it credit for.
It is interesting to see people who want to believe that humanity has risen above its human nature the way that we do. We are a species so convinced of our own superiority that we believe that we are better than the forces of nature that we both live with, and make us up. But the fact is that we aren’t. We are still controlled by our nature. It is the reason that people are so retrograde. We are a species controlled by emotion, unable to set aside personal agendas for a large cause. You think that’s because of social climate? No, it’s deeper, and the fact is that we are never going to get past it. Not unless we can engineer people who don’t have these problems. Lots of ethical and moral arguments associated with that.
This is a cautionary thought process for the liberals in America who are just sure that we are eventually going to overcome homophobia and racism in this country. As we have seen, there is an ebb and flow to racism and hatred. There was a time, once upon a time, where being openly gay wasn’t something to be ashamed of, and was celebrated as love. Race was also a totally different issue. Social evolution doesn’t mean social progress. What is bigotry today could be totally bad tomorrow, and what is totally socially awful today could be in vogue tomorrow.
Hate is just one of the many reasons why humanity is its own worst enemy. The simple fact is that it is much easier for people to simply hate and fear people than it is for people to love other people. To accept and understand, that takes more effort than we like to admit. To dismiss something as wrong and worthy of hate is easy. And that’s the ultimate enemy of humanity – we are too lazy to try and learn and understand. We are just too lazy. For those who think that there is a bright star at the end of humanity’s tale, there isn’t. You cannot save the world, and you cannot stop hatred. If you want to try, good for you, but you are fighting windmills. Sorry, but it’s true.
I wish I could hope for a better tomorrow for humanity. I wish that I could say that we have some wonderful ending to our species. I wish that I could believe that we will rise above what controls us. But the fact is that it isn’t going to happen. We are screwed, as a species. The best that you can do is to make the most of your life, and stop fighting to change the world.
It is a doomed effort. I’m sorry, but it’s true. It’s just how it is.
Lefty on the Left 
Comments on: "Is Hate Human Nature?" (4)
So what you’re posted is that we should all be mindlessly fanatical conservatives who should always resist change. If we always do that, we won’t be able to grow. For your information, change is a part of life. If we didn’t accept any of it, we wouldn’t progress.
How dare you suggest that we shouldn’t fight for change. What are, a blind follower who can’t think for himself or herself?
What you posted here is hypocritical in that you criticized the Catholic church for being corrupt but suggested that we shouldn’t do anything to change the world. Self-righteous much?
In case you haven’t noticed, change can be good. Also, this world is changing whether you like it or not. You just have to accept it. If you don’t, you won’t have a very good life.
Wow, that was the most uninformed comment I’ve gotten in a while. And you clearly didn’t read what I wrote. But what can I expect from a user named “anonymous”? So yeah, not even worth my time to comment.
You make some great points and some very cynical ones too. What if we can actually save the world? What if doubt is part of the larger scheme to keep us “in chains”? To keep us from living up to human virtue’s full potential. It certainly wouldn’t happen over night but I don’t think it is impossible to fathom a world where violence and hatred are no longer what we resort to. In light of the evils that we are witnessing globally today, I hope that everyone is thinking “fight back” in whatever capacity they can, in furtherance of peace, equality, human dignity and respect for all. Martin Luther King Jr once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I agree. A disharmonious world makes for a disharmonious home. And vice versa. So I don’t think we can simply look away and live a blissfully ignorant life. Other people’s misery will catch up to you and affect your life as well. I appreciate you for writing this blog post and sparking a very important discussion. Thank you, Lucien.
This helped a lot with an essay i’m required to write, major props to you.