humanity.
thursday as defined by the oxford dictionary and www.dictionary.com:
humanity - noun - (1) the quality of being human; human nature. (2) the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.
what drives a person to go against all that is rational and our most primal of feelings to go on and do unto others what we would never wish to ever do. how does one get so detached from the empathy that is our semi-conscience?
its understandable how the recent shootings in virginia tech has shaken a nation and how the reverberations are slowly creeping across the world. yet how do we react to such an event when we are so far away? so distant from the actual event yet it all seems so real from all that is shown by the mass media?
for one, taiwan reacted in a way that's pretty uncommon over here - they sat up and took notice. we know how americanized taiwan is, the sports they play, the places they go for overseas studies and the multi-influences of hollywood and the media in general.
today's news was all about how a certain legislative council member reacted:
sometime during the late morning, 55 police officers rushed to national taiwan university (ntu) because of a supposed gun-totting maniac situation. even though it was supposed to be a drill of sorts (planned and conducted by him), the university's principal wasn't informed at all. thus, lots of classes got interrupted, exams were disrupted and basically it was a farce.
the legislator is unapologetic (not was because he still hasn't apologised), even going on to say "well, if i did inform the school then it wouldn't be realistic would it?". and watching the news, i must say it was pretty disgusting to see a lawmaker barge into the middle of a classroom and asking students how would they react if it was a real situation; with the students laughing and thinking it was all a waste of time. and another part where he grills a junior officer who had just arrived at the "scene", demanding to "know what's going on".
well. generally if you ask me, i'd agree with the majority that the "drill" didn't serve any purpose. it wasted precious resources (55 police officers! not to mention the number of cars and scooters the police use), disrupted students from taking their exams and even causing parents to be upset since their kids were directly affected.
so back to the question. how does one get driven to reject one's own humanity? i'm not one to provide the answers but i certainly have my own views on it. for someone to go so far and do something so drastic, one has to be pushed beyond his or her limits and i can relate to it simply because i've been there before.
back in sec 3, i was very close to throwing a classmate off the 4th floor all because he threw something which hit a chair that subsequently hit me when i was minding my own business. he being unapolegtic and even challenging me to a fight didn't help. but like i said, i was at my limit and that happened to be the one that caused me to cross the line to do something i'd never want to do again. if it wasn't for common sense, i think i would have flung him over the parapet without any second thoughts, living to regret that decision in jail and asking myself why did i do it.
it's a variety of factors that come together to push someone so far. just like how over time, stress builds up within somebody but he just cannot find an outlet of sorts to let it all out. when he finally crosses the edge, the results are often unpleasant. it's been said many times over, that the quiet people tend to be the one who become violent once they're pushed past their limits. so perhaps it's a good thing that the majority of us have at least one source of outlet to release all the pent up frustrations, the stress and the emotional baggage.
but finally, it's all philosophical isn't it? what defines humanity is not merely a dictionary, but each individual's own values and expectations. and that, is by itself another topic to talk about some other time.
It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. - Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)
humanity - noun - (1) the quality of being human; human nature. (2) the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.
what drives a person to go against all that is rational and our most primal of feelings to go on and do unto others what we would never wish to ever do. how does one get so detached from the empathy that is our semi-conscience?
its understandable how the recent shootings in virginia tech has shaken a nation and how the reverberations are slowly creeping across the world. yet how do we react to such an event when we are so far away? so distant from the actual event yet it all seems so real from all that is shown by the mass media?
for one, taiwan reacted in a way that's pretty uncommon over here - they sat up and took notice. we know how americanized taiwan is, the sports they play, the places they go for overseas studies and the multi-influences of hollywood and the media in general.
today's news was all about how a certain legislative council member reacted:
sometime during the late morning, 55 police officers rushed to national taiwan university (ntu) because of a supposed gun-totting maniac situation. even though it was supposed to be a drill of sorts (planned and conducted by him), the university's principal wasn't informed at all. thus, lots of classes got interrupted, exams were disrupted and basically it was a farce.
the legislator is unapologetic (not was because he still hasn't apologised), even going on to say "well, if i did inform the school then it wouldn't be realistic would it?". and watching the news, i must say it was pretty disgusting to see a lawmaker barge into the middle of a classroom and asking students how would they react if it was a real situation; with the students laughing and thinking it was all a waste of time. and another part where he grills a junior officer who had just arrived at the "scene", demanding to "know what's going on".
well. generally if you ask me, i'd agree with the majority that the "drill" didn't serve any purpose. it wasted precious resources (55 police officers! not to mention the number of cars and scooters the police use), disrupted students from taking their exams and even causing parents to be upset since their kids were directly affected.
so back to the question. how does one get driven to reject one's own humanity? i'm not one to provide the answers but i certainly have my own views on it. for someone to go so far and do something so drastic, one has to be pushed beyond his or her limits and i can relate to it simply because i've been there before.
back in sec 3, i was very close to throwing a classmate off the 4th floor all because he threw something which hit a chair that subsequently hit me when i was minding my own business. he being unapolegtic and even challenging me to a fight didn't help. but like i said, i was at my limit and that happened to be the one that caused me to cross the line to do something i'd never want to do again. if it wasn't for common sense, i think i would have flung him over the parapet without any second thoughts, living to regret that decision in jail and asking myself why did i do it.
it's a variety of factors that come together to push someone so far. just like how over time, stress builds up within somebody but he just cannot find an outlet of sorts to let it all out. when he finally crosses the edge, the results are often unpleasant. it's been said many times over, that the quiet people tend to be the one who become violent once they're pushed past their limits. so perhaps it's a good thing that the majority of us have at least one source of outlet to release all the pent up frustrations, the stress and the emotional baggage.
but finally, it's all philosophical isn't it? what defines humanity is not merely a dictionary, but each individual's own values and expectations. and that, is by itself another topic to talk about some other time.
It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. - Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)
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