[Continued from HERE.]

The issues three hundred years ago and the issues faced today have different veneers but the same old essential, "human nature" tag for behavior that is really sub-human. It’s sometimes even sub-animal. Animal behavior tends to be logical, as it is all about survival not greed, ego and judgment. Our behavior around the world today is truly Yahoo. Poor Gulliver. He knew it, even in 1714.

To illustrate my point, let’s take a look at the first country Gulliver visited. Please forgive the puddles of sarcasm that tend to collect under my dripping parallels (parenthetically noted) between the real-life inspirations of Swift’s characters and the modern inspiration he would find should he take a walk around town today. Considering Swift’s style, sarcasm seems only fitting.

The Royal Court was a satirical parody of good ol’ King George I and his Courtly Royals (and wouldn’t do too badly for our own King George W. and his Royal Court, or in the larger context, the Royal UN Court.)

Internal party struggles were between two groups distinguished by the different heights of their heels (hmm, does that mean there was one party that was ‘well-healed,’ and another wore the same fine quality of shoe but with shorter heels in order to appear more ‘down to earth?’ Gosh, we don’t have anything like that in our system.)

The war between this country and their neighbors was caused (gasp) by differences of theology: one cracked their hard-boiled eggs on the little end (little-enders) and the other on the big end (yep, you guessed it, big-enders.) In real-world terms, the satire was pointed at England and France and the power struggles between Protestantism and Catholicism (we would know nothing of religious conflicts and misunderstandings in our modern times, right?)

The population of this country, even those most disenfranchised, just went along with it and were not in any way interested in hearing Gulliver’s outsider’s perspective or to understand the way things worked anywhere else. They were the way they were. That was their nature, what did Gulliver expect?

It has often occurred to me, especially in the past five years, how often we fall back on "human nature" as our excuse for why we do the things we do. That isn’t just in America but rather, in every place I’ve been including America. "I’m not a prophet, I’m just a human being," was the excuse given for mistakes and bad life choices on the East African Coast. In America, we tend to pull the "human nature" card, as in, "What do you expect me to do, I’m only human."

Why are greed, weakness, revenge, violence, treachery and fear "human nature" attributes that we so willingly own? Are these the things that we feel make us so much better than all the other animals? I thought the bit that set us apart from the other animals were reason and our capacity to learn.

I look around at the depravity in the world we have created for ourselves today, the state of it, including our own country and, more importantly, the role we play in the larger world and I see some disturbing things…
… Apathy where there should be outrage.
… Outrage where really exists ego and fear.
… Fear in situations that would be better served by attempts at understanding.
… Revenge where it is really time to let go, forgive and move on.
… ‘Transparency’ used as a buzz-word Band-Aid for covering the wounds of hypocrisy.
… And, worse yet, judgment still based on gossip, hearsay, ignorance and inherited biases from days better left behind.

You may be wondering why I am bringing all of this up now. "It’s a New Year! Why is Jupe spouting all this gloom and doom? Does she have a nasty champagne hangover?" No, I do not (though I wouldn’t mind one, really.) I am not trying to be negative but it seems to me it is a time for candor not sugar coating, and yes, a chance, once again, to draw a line in cement this time and not sand. Past this line, we will not regress into our lower selves, but will find a way to make genuine, lasting, positive change and growth through learning and innovation rather than following and burying our heads in the sand behind the line.

How do we do that? I am not sure of any long-term plan for our evolution from Yahoo, as I think that should be as dynamic and fluid as human beings are. I do, however, have a place for each of us to start.

[Continued…]