One for one and one for one
10:25 a.m. on 2005-09-02
I'm going to talk about this and then I'm solidly in denial. A man called Kropotkin wrote a book called Mutual Aid, mostly in response to Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest". Kropotkin's reasoning was that, while competition among groups of people and individuals is definitely prevalent in society, the human race would never have survived if it were not for our ability to band together and help each other out in times of crisis, and even just in the course of every day life. At least that is how I remember the book, though it has been several years since I have read it. Kropotkin's theory should not need elaboration, and I won't set forth proofs or examples here. It is self-explanatory and self-evident to anyone with a brain that humans are social beasts and that, for the most part, we need each other. However, it appears we are forgetting this. We have abandoned the aid and companionship of other human beings in favor of electrical gadgets to help us in our daily lives. And when these electrical gadgets fail, society fails. In this country, at least. I am so, so sorry that all those poor souls that live in the Gulf Coast are having to go through this bullshit. Are those of us that survive, indeed those of us that have to suffer no physical discomfort, only the emotional discomfort of hearing about this disaster and seeing the images on television, are we going to learn anything? That's rhetorical. Of course not.
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