THE END IS NIGH ISSUE: VOLUME 6, ISSUE 6
APOCALYPTO
by Malik Isasis
Last year I reviewed the film 28 Weeks Later. 28 Weeks Later is a zombie film, and like its ancestor Night of the Living Dead, it’s an allegory about rage and the break down of society. The film is a perfect rendition of how cruel humanity is. Humanity’s cruelty is usually lost amongst the various ways we’ve found to distract ourselves. Demons, zombies and ghouls are periphery in horror films, instead it seems the real horror, of horror films, is the loss of humanity of the survivors.
Human beings have effectively extricated themselves from the natural order of things. We no longer see ourselves as being a part of an eco system, restrained by nature. We overcame the limit of light that nature provided by discovering fire; we overcame her harsh weather by inventing clothing and building protective huts; we overcame feast or famine by domesticating other animals for food year round; we overcame nature’s vast oceans by building boats and migrating beyond our boundaries of inception.
These accomplishments are testament to our ancestors. It was their successes who gave us the leisure of thinking about why we are here. It was then, when we no longer had to hunt and gather that we had time to pursue knowledge full time. It was in this transition we began pulling ourselves out of the animal world and began seeing ourselves as God. Our ancestors tended to see nature as God, but as knowledge increased, that God became us.
Takers and Leavers
Not all of humanity are Takers, there are still hunting and gathering cultures who only take what they need to subsist. Novelist Daniel Quinn in his novel, Ismael explored the conflict between the Leavers those whom modern culture sees as primitive (hunters and gatherers) and the Takers, the industrialists who see themselves as the pinnacle of evolution (or creation), that the world was made for man, and that man is here to conquer and rule the world. It is within this self-indulgent narrative, we the Takers, have laid waste to animal cultures, the environment and threaten our very existence. Our engineering and medical feats have created a false sense of superiority over nature and other animals. It is only when a major disaster strikes that we realize for a brief moment—a fleeting moment, we are at the whim of nature.
What if…
We are one natural or manmade disaster away from humanity totaling collapsing. I’m talking about melting polar ice caps causing world wide floods, or nuclear fallout spurred on by unimaginative politicians. I’m not just being hyperbolic. When Hurricane Katrina swept in and burst the levees in New Orleans, the wealthy left the poor behind, the white people left the black people behind; the abled left the disabled behind, the young left the old behind.
This is humanity.
Our self preservation mirrors that of other animals; the Gazelles and Wildebeests on the African plain for instance, leave behind the weak, the old and the young when a clan of Lionesses is running in formation for their breakfast.
In New Orleans we witness a society collapse before our eyes in a matter of days. We witnessed the fall of humanity on all levels. Days, weeks, months and years after Katrina, the depression, suicide, and homicide rates have sky-rocketed in New Orleans. New Orleans was/is a microcosm of our potential in the event of a global catastrophe.
The veneer of humanity only holds because we keep ourselves ignorant and distracted. It’s every man, woman and child for his and herself. If we just clear away the distraction, we can see our humanity for what it really is, rather than what we want it to be. If you watch the news--even the corporate propaganda, you'll witness our true selves, unmasked in the conflicts of Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States and countless other countries. This has been our narrative for hundreds of years, spreading contempt, misery and unbelievable suffering.
If we just opened our eyes for a moment, we’ll see that we were a bit premature in removing ourselves from the natural order of things, because we have failed at being God.
APOCALYPTO
by Malik Isasis
Last year I reviewed the film 28 Weeks Later. 28 Weeks Later is a zombie film, and like its ancestor Night of the Living Dead, it’s an allegory about rage and the break down of society. The film is a perfect rendition of how cruel humanity is. Humanity’s cruelty is usually lost amongst the various ways we’ve found to distract ourselves. Demons, zombies and ghouls are periphery in horror films, instead it seems the real horror, of horror films, is the loss of humanity of the survivors.
Human beings have effectively extricated themselves from the natural order of things. We no longer see ourselves as being a part of an eco system, restrained by nature. We overcame the limit of light that nature provided by discovering fire; we overcame her harsh weather by inventing clothing and building protective huts; we overcame feast or famine by domesticating other animals for food year round; we overcame nature’s vast oceans by building boats and migrating beyond our boundaries of inception.
These accomplishments are testament to our ancestors. It was their successes who gave us the leisure of thinking about why we are here. It was then, when we no longer had to hunt and gather that we had time to pursue knowledge full time. It was in this transition we began pulling ourselves out of the animal world and began seeing ourselves as God. Our ancestors tended to see nature as God, but as knowledge increased, that God became us.
Takers and Leavers
Not all of humanity are Takers, there are still hunting and gathering cultures who only take what they need to subsist. Novelist Daniel Quinn in his novel, Ismael explored the conflict between the Leavers those whom modern culture sees as primitive (hunters and gatherers) and the Takers, the industrialists who see themselves as the pinnacle of evolution (or creation), that the world was made for man, and that man is here to conquer and rule the world. It is within this self-indulgent narrative, we the Takers, have laid waste to animal cultures, the environment and threaten our very existence. Our engineering and medical feats have created a false sense of superiority over nature and other animals. It is only when a major disaster strikes that we realize for a brief moment—a fleeting moment, we are at the whim of nature.
What if…
We are one natural or manmade disaster away from humanity totaling collapsing. I’m talking about melting polar ice caps causing world wide floods, or nuclear fallout spurred on by unimaginative politicians. I’m not just being hyperbolic. When Hurricane Katrina swept in and burst the levees in New Orleans, the wealthy left the poor behind, the white people left the black people behind; the abled left the disabled behind, the young left the old behind.
This is humanity.
Our self preservation mirrors that of other animals; the Gazelles and Wildebeests on the African plain for instance, leave behind the weak, the old and the young when a clan of Lionesses is running in formation for their breakfast.
In New Orleans we witness a society collapse before our eyes in a matter of days. We witnessed the fall of humanity on all levels. Days, weeks, months and years after Katrina, the depression, suicide, and homicide rates have sky-rocketed in New Orleans. New Orleans was/is a microcosm of our potential in the event of a global catastrophe.
The veneer of humanity only holds because we keep ourselves ignorant and distracted. It’s every man, woman and child for his and herself. If we just clear away the distraction, we can see our humanity for what it really is, rather than what we want it to be. If you watch the news--even the corporate propaganda, you'll witness our true selves, unmasked in the conflicts of Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States and countless other countries. This has been our narrative for hundreds of years, spreading contempt, misery and unbelievable suffering.
If we just opened our eyes for a moment, we’ll see that we were a bit premature in removing ourselves from the natural order of things, because we have failed at being God.
posted by Malik Isasis at
3:26 PM
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