On Human Cruelty

How can one possibly justify the harming of another human without provocation? It is often a topic of debate among my friends whether humans are born naturally good/evil, or if they are just taught how to behave throughout their life. Usually, the consensus that is reached is the latter. However, the more I learn about the history of mankind, the more I’m beginning to disagree with such a conclusion.

Throughout the centuries, there has been endless bloodshed and cruelty carried out by all manners of people. Like most people, I’m no fan of war. In fact, I may advocate against it in most circumstances. However, I do believe that disputes need to be settled, and that a wronged party reserves the right to justice, if the reason for it is great enough. I’m a huge fan of self-defense, for instance. But, as I am beginning to understand more fully, most conflicts are not double sided. In fact, most harmful acts have no justifiable reason whatsoever.

Greed is indeed the worst part of mankind. It is for that reason, and that alone that most atrocious acts occur. Greed for money, power, information, land, or what have you, it all stems back to the same thing, no matter the justification behind it. Examples of such things include Columbus with the slaughter of an entire population during his quest for riches and recognition, the Puritan killing of the native people so they could have more land, or Cortez’s destruction of the Aztecs simple for money, slavery. All of these instances took place without any wrongdoing by the victimized party. The examples don’t stop there. Human history is wrought with such behavior. Even in more modern times, awful things still occur because of greed. It keeps happening. Children have been taught these histories, yet things still occur. So, is it fair that I’ve been starting to think that maybe humans are not born completely innocent after all? Or that perhaps they are born easily corrupted. Whatever the case, greed has run rampant among mankind. It always has, and I’m inclined to say it always will, but you never know.