Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Vicious

Many years ago I read about a science experiment in which a few rats were placed in a large enclosure. Initially, the rats were very peaceful toward each other. But as their population grew and the enclosure became crowded, the rats began turning against each other. They began attacking each other, and as their population continued to grow their attacks became increasingly vicious.

When I was born, the US population was 141 million. Now it is 326 million. Over that period of time, many people in America have become increasingly vicious and increasingly callous in their behavior toward their fellow humans. And they go to extremes to justify their behavior.

Are people no smarter than rats? Sure we are, in some ways. And no we’re not, in other ways. That is something we must struggle to overcome if we want to survive as a species.

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