This is nothing new. This concept has been explored many times through all the forms of media. No doubt everyone has seen or heard it in some form or another. Maybe you like the way it was done in The Abyss. Perhaps The Fifth Element was more your thing. Or maybe you prefer it being explored week after week on any number of TV shows. Or even a podcast or two. Regardless which medium is used the conclusion is generally the same. We, as human beings suck. Except when we don’t.
This thought came to me, once again, as I was watching a show that showcased the rescue of the kids trapped in a cave in Thailand. The amount of insane effort that was done for that still blows my mind. Watching so many people come together with a common, noble goal. It’s pretty inspiring. But then it got me thinking. Why is this inspiring? Why is it noteworthy? Shouldn’t it be just common sense that it’s what we’re going to do? I mean it’s not like they could have just left them there to die right? They had to act. So are they really doing it because they are moral people, doing the right thing? Or maybe they did it out of shame and guilt, knowing that if they didn’t, the country would suffer enormously. Now, obviously I can’t actually answer these questions. And I’m sure those kids don’t really care why they did it. But it does make me wonder, why these kids?
How many kids die mining the cobalt to make phones, laptops, and electric cars? Didn’t know about that did you? Then there’s the kids in poor working conditions making cell phones, making shoes, making clothes, etc, etc, etc. Why haven’t we come together to stop any of those things? My guess, ignorance mostly. I doubt those things would continue as much if it was reported on a daily basis. Although, the sad reality is that these are often better options than the alternatives. However, it is interesting to think on one hand we’re willing to move heaven and earth to save one group of kids and yet we turn somewhat of a blind eye to so many other injustices against kids. It’s enough to drive you a little mad. And it often does.
A great example of the effect this has on people are the terms “white pilled” and “black pilled”. For those of you who don’t know, someone who is white pilled has seen enough positive things to think that everything will eventually get better so they now have a positive outlook on life. Obviously black pilled is the inverse. To illustrate these polar opposites I thought I would use two very different songs by the same band, Nine Inch Nails.
For the black pill song:
For the white pill song:
One of them is a song about the pointless monotony of life, and basically giving up. The other is a hopeful battle cry of two people versus the world. Who will continue to fight in spite of the odds. Both songs are beautiful in their own respects and do an excellent job, as music often does, of expressing these two different points of view. Both of which are easy to understand as this world is full of things that can make you either “black pilled” or “white pilled”. Such is the strange dichotomy of the human race.