By Kevin Kaumans, Entertainment Editor
Call me a cynic, but I have a very low view of society. Notice how I say ‘society’, not ‘people’.
You see, despite not being much of an extrovert, I do actually enjoy the company of my fellow species from time-to-time. No, fellow reader, my issue is when you take a big enough group of humans to be considered a community.
“But why?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s simple once you think about it. Once a group of human beings become large enough to make up so much as a village, they begin to develop a hive-mind-like colony.
Why is it that most of the small towns in this area tend to lean toward the same political beliefs?
Sure, we can find a few left-leaning people around town every now and then. But the status quo is usually very much the opposite. This isn’t only a thing in Oklahoma, mind you.
Every state, red or blue, is filled with small towns that will generally have the same mindset. The cities are a little bit people, considering the fact that they have more people in them and thus have a bigger diversity of ideas. But that is also a double-edge sword within itself. Cities are more likely to form mobs, riot, and many other things.
What I’m trying to say is societies and communities will often do or think what they want regardless of the truth.
Take lynch mobs, for example. America has a history for people forming groups to kill people whether it’s due to their race, because they have been accused of a crime with no evidence, both, or something else entirely.
Another example – though on a lesser extreme – is how divided we have become as a nation on certain issues.
Dystopian authors will often look at how depressing our world is and write books of what our world can be in the future.
You probably have heard of “1984,” “The Hunger Games,” “Fahrenheit 451” and many other stories that are created from a simple concept like this. While the characters in these books serve completely different roles, all of these books deal with the same themes.
These books show us better than any historical document could just how selfish we as a species are.
The governments in these worlds do everything within their power to suppress the freedom of its citizens.
Even those who don’t work for those in charge usually have their own agendas and are willing to backstab you at the first chance they get.
We like to think that if we were trapped in a world where our neighbors could be arrested for the smallest of reasons, we would stick together and try to rebel against the powers that be.
Unfortunately, odds are that – when given the opportunity to do good – most people would most likely do whatever puts them in favor of the dystopian society.
When the topic of good versus evil comes up in scenarios like this, it is the sad reality that humans are more capable of cruelty than any other species.
We have no limit to what we are willing to do for ourselves.
Granted, I’m not claiming to be a master philosopher, I’m just pointing out what I hope most of us realize about the world.