There must be as many ways that we can separate other people (including ourselves) into various groupings or classes that focus on differences between/among us, as there are concepts that allow for dichotomies/distinctions.
But what do you think is THE fundamental criterion that makes us all alike?
If it makes the task simpler, just consider the tens of thousands involved in the SDMB. There must be a common thread tying all of us together in some small way.
Could it be as simple or as mundane as that we all have access to a computer and a way of connecting to the internet? If so, then could we extrapolate from that to include those people not able or willing to do so?
If it is as simple as that we are alive, then please extend that concept to include those we’ve known who are no longer living.
In short, what do you think (or believe) is the basic “human” principle?
Compassion. Aside from the folks that just weren’t wired correctly to begin with, I think compassion is the thread that holds us all together. That, and a cold beer.
Of the 40-plus threads I’ve started, this and a few others have been stone duds (less than 5 replies). I can relate to why others weren’t replied to, but I’m surprised nobody besides Kalhoun (thanks, by the way) chose to have a go at this idea.
I’ll assume my wording was sloppy and will try to clarify my point.
Also, I assume this one “bumping” is within protocol bounds.
Rewrite:
There are hundreds of threads that seek to establish a better/worse relationship between opposing camps of:
Left vs. Right
Liberal vs. Conservative
Gay vs. Straight
Creationism vs. Evolution
War vs. No War
Men vs. Women
Youth vs. Age
Hip vs. Square
In vs. Out
… and on and on
What if, just as an intellectual exercise, we focussed instead on the ways we are all alike. What is that? How can we all agree on one simple thing – whatever it may be – that we all share.
Kalhoun says “compassion.” I disagree, for the reason that there are plenty of examples of people, governments even, where compassion is an unknown quantity.
In quite a few posts I’ve read in the intervening weeks since this thread started (my first for what that’s worth), I’ve seen hints that some of us have a clue or a hope for what this “thing” that unites us (or could unite us) may be.
Surely you have a hunch what it is.
Give it a shot anyway. I’d hate this thread to die an inglorious death out of apathy or perhaps antipathy to the notion that there even is such a thing.
Heart On My Sleeve, you may be onto something here.
At least to my way of thinking I can’t argue that even the newborn, the hopelessly retarded, the most geographically isolated, and even the most heavily sedated of us does (if not in every waking moment) have the capacity for pain.
Can we extrapolate from that to something even more basic?
Perhaps the general capacity for emotions?
Is “rational thought” excluded by the fact that we do have virtual vegetables among the human race who appear to lack the ability to think at all, much less rationally?
This is my own observation, but I’ve found it very odd that people, in many situations, tend to make decisions based on emotion. I’m a consultant in technology and I’m often surprised at how emotional some people seem to be about their projects. I guess if you factor in that the outcome will affect their job and the way they are viewed, it makes sense.
I’m also fairly astonished at how fear (of rejection??? of conflict??) makes people so much less apt to express themselves, both emotionally and physically. I think if we all just “threw ourselves out there”, fully, our lives could be so much more satisfying. You get the heartbreak and rejection, but you also get the ecstasy of really feeling. Think about September 11…we all mourned together, and while it was a terrible, sad, angry…moment in our history, it was also a beautiful coming-together. I think because we all just collectively said, “we’re emotional, we’re human, and we’re not going to hide it!”
Now as far as incapacitated humans go, we just don’t know what their reasoning and feeling capabilities are. My personal theory, what I choose to believe, is that in many cases, they feel the same things we do inside (wherever that is), but lack the physical capacity to express what they feel or think. I really believe this…I can’t say I have any facts to back myself up (not that I’ve researched it). I may think that babies fall into this category as well, I haven’t thought about it as much.
Although I can see that it is really bad that my father abandoned his children, I also know that his father died when he was 16. That’s gotta hurt. So while I’m still angry about it, and I don’t think it’s excusable, I can identify with him.
Your belief in these matters tallies with mine for the most part. I tend to rate the capacity for emotions, and especially what are usually considered the “stronger” emotions of fear, anger, love, joy, and rage, at a much more universal level than the capacity for coherent and productive thought.
I don’t totally discount the instinct-like behavior in human beings either. Even though we have to be trained by parents or their substitutes in the ways of society and group adaptations, I do believe there’s a basic survival instinct that would assist an otherwise isolated individual in finding food of some sort, and having some sense of shelter and self-defense. I don’t think babies would have this ability, but a child of three or four might. It’s always an interesting thought experiment to place a child in a wild situation (the Tarzan type, for instance) and to speculate on how it might develop.
And I support what you say about 9/11 and other disasters. Every time I get jaded and discouraged about where human nature may be headed, as soon as something of that sort comes along I’m always amazed at how real people can be.