Try having these discussions for 8 hours straight on a sunday night till 7 in the morning at Insomnia43, It can be... lengthy.
Humans, in the general sense, are messy, sloppy, irrational, and if left unchecked capable of anything. Those that arent messy, sloppy and irrational are capable of anything even when checked.Thats what people want to believe but the truth is: Those that are messy and irrational are just as capable of committing all attrocities.
In almost all cases it wasnt instinct that causes a person to lash out or "protect itself" but rather emotions. I maintain an argument from a previous discussion in which I stated that humans are on the top of the food chain, not simply because we are the most adaptive creatures but also because we have what most other creatures only have in a very basic form(some slightly more advanced than others but nothing even close to humans in comparison): Communication.
It is the single most important tool in our development as a species. It is the reason we all know how to make fire and the reason we are even aware of trivial things such as religion.
If a tiger in a zoo eats a zookeeper is it considered inhumane? or even wrong? No, because its an animal governed by instinct rather than emotion and if you forget to feed that thing one day, you dont stroll in the next day like all is forgiven. It has always been the accepted norm that "Humans should know better" Morals, Ethics, Emotions, Right, Wrong, Good, Evil...
Still building on the premise of the tiger: We dont blame the animal because of its instinct, therefore the tiger didnt technically do anything wrong. If we started applying this to humans and we already do in some cases(self-defense is one of those) then anyone who acted out of instinct cannot truly be held accountable for their actions because it is... THEIR NATURE.
And this is where we come to a point of the conversation I truly and utterly despise.
The words "Human Nature". Never has there ever been such an overdramatized phrase as "Human Nature"
"There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the shitty boss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. "Fear or revere me, but please think I'm special." We share an addiction. We're approval junkies. We're all in it for the slap on the back and the gold watch. The "hip, hip, hoo-fucking-rah." Look at the clever boy with the badge, polishing his trophy. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Cos we're just monkeys wrapped in suits, begging for the approval of others."
And every single time this conversation comes up theres always one asshole that points out(in this case its me
): We dont have all the answers, we are unsure about which synapse or cluster of synapses makes you... you. Because of this nothing can be said with absolute certainty and most of it whilst probably on the right track is still conjecture. Human nature is one of these extremely vague things, It has very varied definitions and always ends up being used as a scapegoat to attribute to people as to why they did what they did. And finally... The 99.99% rule. There is always an exception. Maybe some kid at birth had few misfiring synapses causing him to lack morals or turning him into someone who cant do "wrong". Despite everything theres always something