We are merely 21st monkeys...... (507 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 0.97 on 23 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Ex Lux Astrum (View user info) at 2010-03-09 15:25:45 EST
"...That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
Shakespeare
For millennia, mankind has been annihilating each other in the name of religion and their various bullshit gods, the insatiable accumulation of wealth, and the selfish pursuit of self-aggrandizement over the common good. How depressing.
It’s all about money, greed, power, and control…those who “have” perpetuate by controlling and bleeding the “have-nots”. So it has been since our earliest recorded history. I am loathe to use the term “civilization”, for it implies being civilized. I scoff at the notion of “evolution “, other than ultimately meaningless, superficial evidence: Behold! I am less hairy than my ancestors; I have language (but am prone to bullshit so that I may better seduce and bilk the naïve and less fortunate); I have opposable thumbs, hence I am a tool builder…watch me make a hydrogen bomb.
For all of our technological evolution, there has been a paucity in the evolution of sociological and ethical empathies, nor a significant flowering of a pan-cultural compassion, that we as humans proclaim as the hallmark of our humanity. I am reminded of this daily, every time I read or watch the news. Our capacity for greed and violence negates whatever beauty we are capable of. To think we are enlightened is self-delusional.
Indeed, when I view the world today, my minds-eye sees reruns of that scene from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, where a clan of screeching apes in the first light of the prehistoric dawn are mesmerized and fearful of a mysterious black, monolithic slab. And ultimately, they end up beating each others’ brains in with the bones of the dead.
User Reviews
Submitted by Cakes (user info) at 2010-03-11 09:08:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2010-03-10 09:47:32 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
"pan-cultural compassion"
Would mean an end to all advancement.
//
Yes, an end to all greed-driven enterprises, an end to all materialistic/consumer mall clones, the end of corrupt politics, the end of self-serving Wall Street criminals... I could keep this list going for hours.
And it would be the beginning of a society based not on materialism/capitalism, but upon seeing oneself in others and others in oneself, a world based upon love---a quaint word in this upside down, fucked up world.
That little line that appears regularly on the Uberboard “We must become the change we want to see in the world” IS about, and only about, compassion.
Simply watching the news for 10 minutes can scare anyone. You like what we have now? The Earth periodically readjusts itself, and it’s about to happen again. Gotta go.
Submitted by Cakes (user info) at 2010-03-11 07:44:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by DrogoRoch (user info) at 2010-03-10 09:49:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I like the monkey picture
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2010-03-10 09:47:32 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
"pan-cultural compassion"
Would mean an end to all advancement.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2010-03-10 08:40:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I have no idea what this is about.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2010-03-10 07:58:34 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Original thinking...
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2010-03-10 07:27:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Totally agree. You should all be ashamed of yourselves and try to act more like me.
Submitted by TuTs (user info) at 2010-03-10 03:53:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool picture.
Submitted by Yozz (user info) at 2010-03-09 22:13:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Can't argue with that. Nope, not one bit.
Submitted by snagglepuss (user info) at 2010-03-09 20:11:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I am saying that whatever "plateau" we ultimately reach, we will always be ruled by our basest desires- greed and violence. No matter how sophisticated and evolved and refined we convince ourselves we have become, the chattering chimp is always just one "provocation" away.
I give you a banana, you want more-you want mine; ultimately we will tangle ....one will dominate, and one submit..............
Submitted by laika (user info) at 2010-03-09 19:49:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
You should be a lot more clear about what you are saying. It seems like more of a muddled complaint than a relevant opinion.
First of all, just about everyone would probably agree that we are better off now than we were 100,000 years ago. So evolution has worked at least somewhat.
So is your complaint that we have reached a plateau and won't advance further?
Are there really no solutions to the issue? You haven't even explored the potential solutions to the problem or even clearly identified what you are saying.
Submitted by Wildman (user info) at 2010-03-09 18:39:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah man, I know what you mean. Happens every time when you watch too much PBS.
Submitted by RoadSong (user info) at 2010-03-09 18:34:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The words and illustration tell the tale of the time before time...
*wanders off wondering why monkeys have a better phone than mine*
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2010-03-09 18:24:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Where is the Army of the 12 Monkeys when you need them?
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2010-03-09 18:19:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
human
Submitted by snagglepuss (user info) at 2010-03-09 17:15:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
...."We are merely 21st century monkeys...."
..... I guess I should fuckin' proof-read my babblings...
Submitted by Cakes (user info) at 2010-03-09 16:24:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
These are the visible and tangibles of a race that has arrived at this moment because of the greed and various lusts you speak of, and we’ve done so for the most part whilst living “unconscious,” forever creating more sparkling distractions that keep us looking always outward rather than inward: for love, for God, compassion, peace, bliss, while all those things are already inside of us all, just forgotten.
You present one side of an equation that extends beyond our world and time into infinity, yet you speak of this dark, insanely constructed world beautifully.
Submitted by willartstorg (user info) at 2010-03-09 15:57:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2010-03-09 15:49:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
So you're saying you can't compete for food or shelter or mates because you're not strong or cunning enough, or maybe your fur is asymmetrically patterned?
*clubs woman on head, drags her back to cave, mates, eats, mates again, sleeps*
==============
Skrap knows to drag them by the hair so they don't fill up with dirt. . .
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2010-03-09 15:57:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I am win.
Submitted by Procon (user info) at 2010-03-09 15:54:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
This would have been a +2 I guess, if I hadn't been forced to visualize the fat guy below fucking an unconscious broad in a cave, twice.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2010-03-09 15:49:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
So you're saying you can't compete for food or shelter or mates because you're not strong or cunning enough, or maybe your fur is asymmetrically patterned?
*clubs woman on head, drags her back to cave, mates, eats, mates again, sleeps*
Submitted by SkullBiter (user info) at 2010-03-09 15:31:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Hell for twenty dollars I'll go call him a chicken fucker.
Submitted by willartstorg (user info) at 2010-03-09 15:30:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
So, whaddaya tryin to say?