Why is it that we, as a culture, as a SPECIES, have a fascination with death? We're paranoid about it, we have countless rituals for it, thousands of movies and books about it. The human race seems to be obssessed with the fact that some day, we are all going to die.
Some want to prolong that moment. Some want to live on that edge of live and death. And some take death in to their own hands, to give it out, or to end theirs quicker. I've never heard of another animal doing this, intentionally killing itself. Most animals seem to go about life without a real thought about death. But we have myths about ghosts, zombies, vampires, everything that symbolizes death.
I read a book once, a fictional account of dragons. One of the things I remember most about the book was that they mentioned something about dragons not knowing hot to fight back against extinction, because it never occured to them to have to. As the biggest baddest predators around, so nobody messed with them. See, that's not humans. We've gotten to the top by way of invention and cleverness. We're the hunters now, but our genes still remember the feeling of being somewhere on the middle with a wood spear, and the paranoia that went with it. It's like we feel threatened by the existence of other species. We're not going to be pushed off, so damnit sorry pandas, we've gotta get rid of you.
I mean, jesus, we've got snuff films which can show you the death of others anytime you want. How...Just, I mean. Think about that. How CRAZY is that? You can have someone's death replayed over and over at your fingertips. It's like a god-complex, literally. You're controlling someone's life, in a way. Though it's a digital form, and they've already died. But that's rational, I think this goes much more subconciously.
One of the reasons that I've always wanted to meet an alien race was because I wanted to know if suciude was heard of in their race. Is it a human thing? Or maybe an intelligent life thing. Would another intelligent species be as paranoid and obsessed with death as we are? Would they be more practical, like some animals who just eat their dead, because hey, it's food. Or more spiritual and have their own version of religious views of the dead?
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2 comments:
Such an excellent topic.
Ok, so first of all, I could be pulling this out of nowhere, but I believe that there is another species that commits suicide - dolphins and whales. There are a couple articles about them purposely stranding themselves on beaches.
I think our cultures obsession with death is indeed a reference to our past as hunter/gatherers nearer to the bottom of the food chain, but I also think there is an egotistical element to it all. We made it to the top so why aren't we now invincible? Also, being at the top of the food chain, there is no one else to conquer. No one else to destroy in order to gain more power, so we begin to self destruct - THAT is what I've never heard of with any other species. The willingness to kill each other for no definitive reason. Sure there are animals that kill each other for mates, but it is out of a need to carry on their legacy and survive. It is not only death we're obsessed with, but the knowledge of others dieing while we survive. Everythings a contest. Everythings a game.
That just got a little to deep/cliche for my taste, but you get my point.
By the way, your blogs are awesome. Well done.
I looked up the dolphin whale suicide thing, and found this article.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Do-Animals-Commit-Suicide-63441.shtml
Think it's an interesting article.
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