2008 Woodie Awards
Horrors of Human Nature Stem from Mass Numbers
When intelligent and rational individuals are in large groups their basest characteristics take over.
Jami Furo
Issue date: 4/14/06 Section: Opinions
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The human race is a funny one. We say that we are different than other animals, though in some ways we are very much the same.
It's difficult to tell where the line is sometimes. In what way are we animal, and in what way are we something more?
The answer lies in numbers. People, as individuals, are intelligent, for the most part. They have reasoning capabilities. They have morals (though they don't always use either of these abilities.) They have the ability to learn, create, organize, and speak. They have the ability to create technology, civilizations, governments, art, music, literature, drama, mathematics, and the multitude of other intellectual subjects that we associate with humanity. They have souls, as they are created in the image of God.
That is us. That is who we are. We are the chosen species with opposable thumbs and high IQ's.
Because of our abilities, when you speak to or learn about individual people, you can recognize their intelligence. When you speak to your professors or classmates about calculus or Hemingway, the discussion is centered around facts, theories, and ideas. It is hopefully thought-provoking, opinionated, and, maybe, even argumentative.
People create beautiful works of artistic expression. They create medicines that save millions of lives. They make scientific discoveries that change life as we know it. That is what people do, and that is who they are.
But it is not always that way. Just because people are inherently intelligent does not always mean that they use that intellect.
When people are in groups, their intelligence dwindles. The more people there are, the less intelligent they seem.
When people are in a group, individual ideas cannot be expressed-only the opinion of the group. So the message must be simplified. Also, when in a group, rational thinking is more and more difficult to articulate because logic must be expressed one person at a time in order to make sense. However, emotion can be expressed en masse. Emotion can be in the form of shouting, laughing, crying, burning, throwing, ripping, destroying, exploding, sign-waving, picketing, and other means that provide a simple message that is not lost when large groups are expressing it at the same time.
It's difficult to tell where the line is sometimes. In what way are we animal, and in what way are we something more?
The answer lies in numbers. People, as individuals, are intelligent, for the most part. They have reasoning capabilities. They have morals (though they don't always use either of these abilities.) They have the ability to learn, create, organize, and speak. They have the ability to create technology, civilizations, governments, art, music, literature, drama, mathematics, and the multitude of other intellectual subjects that we associate with humanity. They have souls, as they are created in the image of God.
That is us. That is who we are. We are the chosen species with opposable thumbs and high IQ's.
Because of our abilities, when you speak to or learn about individual people, you can recognize their intelligence. When you speak to your professors or classmates about calculus or Hemingway, the discussion is centered around facts, theories, and ideas. It is hopefully thought-provoking, opinionated, and, maybe, even argumentative.
People create beautiful works of artistic expression. They create medicines that save millions of lives. They make scientific discoveries that change life as we know it. That is what people do, and that is who they are.
But it is not always that way. Just because people are inherently intelligent does not always mean that they use that intellect.
When people are in groups, their intelligence dwindles. The more people there are, the less intelligent they seem.
When people are in a group, individual ideas cannot be expressed-only the opinion of the group. So the message must be simplified. Also, when in a group, rational thinking is more and more difficult to articulate because logic must be expressed one person at a time in order to make sense. However, emotion can be expressed en masse. Emotion can be in the form of shouting, laughing, crying, burning, throwing, ripping, destroying, exploding, sign-waving, picketing, and other means that provide a simple message that is not lost when large groups are expressing it at the same time.