Michael Kasper 6.10.

2019

During my 4 years as a high school student, I’ve pondered over several ideas and
concepts that we regard so highly (or not so highly) throughout society: reproductive rights,
the status of minorities, and a variety of controversial government practices; but that which I
captivate myself more with is the people behind these ideas and concepts: the political
parties, the religious factions; the individuals. The mindsets of another individual human
being fascinate me, regardless of how different they are from my own; the mind provides
insight into their personal lives, allowing one to connect more deeply with their experiences;
and one need not judge physical appearance to gain an appreciation for how the mind
works, because it is both unique and similar amongst our species; regardless of skin colour,
regardless of sexuality, regardless of religion, regardless of any social stigma we dare to
conjure up in our incessant drafting of lies and excuses to maintain superiority; it still works
in measurably similar ways. Consider, for instance, the development of homogeneity in
political parties: many conservatives tend to be older, white, Christian males, and often less
educated, while liberals tend towards the opposite end of the spectrum; this presents for us
one of many such examples of human tendency; to remain a collective, yet also seek
individuality; to differ, yet be the same. It is habitual, as we have evolved from social beings,
to be social beings; and neither nature nor society have any intention of changing this.

When pondering this, I often take inspiration from both the famed psychologists and
intellectuals of yesteryear, and how society has commandeered the world around me; both
converging into a cynical viewpoint toward humanity. Such intellectuals include Thomas
Hobbes, Sigmund Freud, and Richard Dawkins, several of which held cynical views towards
humanity and it’s various urges and tendencies. Hobbes was an Enlightenment philosopher,
and implied misanthrope; his most famous work, Leviathan, being a commentary regarding
the necessity of some sort of guiding hand to regulate human behaviours, such as a king.
Freud was a psychoanalyst, and one of several reasons I wanted to pursue a career in
psychology. He was famous for his works regarding the subconscious and unconscious
desires of the human mind; he also investigated the mysteries surrounding sexual and
destructive urges, concluding, among other things, with seduction theory and the Oedipus
Complex (A child’s unconscious sexual attraction towards their parent of the opposite sex;
the negative complex manifests as innate homosexuality. In males, this is experienced as
castration anxiety, and penis envy in females.). Dawkins is an outspoken atheist, and his
ideas, along with other atheists, have opened my eyes up to skepticism; into the mindset that
allows for rational analysis. These intellectuals provided a background on which laid a
foundation of skeptical analysis towards human society and how it manipulates
communalistic tendencies; consider the prior examples of political homogeneity, in which
people group themselves not by what is helpful or beneficial, but by their personal
preferences; and society encourages this: abortion, gun restriction, medicare; society wishes
to manipulate and control people based on the defining issues of the era, and does so
through politics. This is only enhanced by our background and culture: the various medias
project ideas in an appealing manner towards their generational audiences (nowadays,
younger people, especially teens, are targeted heavily by sex culture; this creates anxiety
toward body image, and appeal towards others. Similar trends can be observed elsewhere:
the fear of contracting AIDS from homosexuals in the 1990s, the conservative, family-
oriented nature of 1950s “baby boomers”, or the fear of communism across the 20th
century). It only becomes more obvious as time marches forward; we cater too much toward
a sequence of divided collectives, bent on overtaking all others. And this is only the
beginning of the proverbial “fall”; as president Abraham Lincoln once said: “A house divided
against itself cannot stand”. And in this instance it could be no more true, or deadly.