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Consumerist homo sapiens as destructive as ever
By Wan Lixin |
May 10, 2012, Thursday
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IN his article published on this page, Peter Singer sings the praises of homo sapiens for its evolved reasoning power and benevolent sentiments, and envisions a bright future for the species.
As an individual of this species I am flattered, though not a little concerned about whether the other surviving species of life on earth might be outraged at such glorification.
Prior to this, I thought it did not call for much reasoning power to observe that the much-touted human peace and prosperity have been achieved and sustained at the expense of the natural resources and other species. If anything, the sheer expanding size of the human population represents a stepped up invasion into other species' habitats.
If the gospel of prosperity (Western consumerist way of life) is to be successfully preached to every corner of the earth, we need several more earths to sustain this prosperity.
Before consumption came into its own, nearly all religions and cultures on earth preached restraint, humility, and thrift.
Thanks to these precepts, the human beings had generally been kept in place by fear of an all-seeing divine power.
A true humanist
We Chinese are sometimes said to be a people without a faith, though many believe in Buddhism and Taoism and nearly all have a religion-like worship of their ancestors. With this worship, we do not live for the pleasures of today, but with our forefathers and our descendants constantly in mind.
That's why today some old-fashioned citizens are still skeptical about the gospel of mindless accumulation and consumption.
This conception of human beings with all their limitations and responsibilities should lead to a more enlightened view of life.
Han Yu (AD 768-824) was one of the greatest Chinese writers and philosophers who was highly critical of the royal patronage of Buddhism in his time.
But that did not prevent the Confucian scholar from taking a view of human life so cynical that it enriched the charitable view of human nature entertained by Confucius.
In his polemic "On Heavenness," he compared the destructiveness of vermin and that of human beings, and concluded that "by tilling lands and clearing forests, human destruction of nature is unrivaled by the worst vermin."
Han observed that "In my opinion, whoever can reduce the longevity and vigor of human beings - thus reducing the harm of human beings - are doing a salutary service to nature."
Now Han was a greater humanist, as all Confucian scholars are, for he had in mind not only the comforts and satisfactions of his own generation, but that of his progeny.
In the parlance of today, he had human sustainability in view.
Today the human destructive power is at least 1,000 times greater than in Han's era, thanks largely to human rationality (science and technology) as praised by Singer.
That destructiveness can only be inspired by hedonistic individualism.
Any honest biologist would tell you that for a given species, the really important thing is to survive, from generation to generation.
This blatant hedonism is based on consumption, or resources - especially the resources of other peoples and future generations.
Thanks to modern technology, the agonies of war have been minimized, because warriors can wipe out a whole nation on the other hemisphere just by pushing a few buttons.
False prosperity
Unlike in the past, war is less needed today as a means to promote trade, for trade is today eagerly embraced as an unmixed blessing mutually beneficial.
So when some displaced peasants in Asia have to slave away at an assembly line over 10 hours a day for subsistence wages, they are simply aspiring to the good life.
The chosen people in the other hemisphere contribute more to global prosperity by just consuming, on borrowed money.
People who have affluence thus imposed on them generally feel they have little to be grateful for.
Yes, those wallowing in luxuries might develop an affinity with brands like LVs or iPads, but who care about those workers who got poisoned while making these luxuries?
Like modernized wars, globalized trade has also successfully outsourced the human and ecological pains to other countries. Out of sight, out of mind.
Happiness as a positive attribute is entirely a Western concept. Its Oriental counterpart is a kind of inner serenity free of avarice and passion.
My 10-year-old son told me the other day that when a somewhat domesticated jaguar was left to survive in the wildness, it soon starved to death.
Domestication physically weakened it, and what's more, instead of relentlessly chasing its prey for his sustenance, it would go about it perfunctorily, if at all.
A scholar inured to modern luxuries would deplore the deprivations and hardships suffered by a wild jaguar, while the jaguar would not trade his love of hunting for all the luxuries enjoyed by the scholar.
As an individual of this species I am flattered, though not a little concerned about whether the other surviving species of life on earth might be outraged at such glorification.
Prior to this, I thought it did not call for much reasoning power to observe that the much-touted human peace and prosperity have been achieved and sustained at the expense of the natural resources and other species. If anything, the sheer expanding size of the human population represents a stepped up invasion into other species' habitats.
If the gospel of prosperity (Western consumerist way of life) is to be successfully preached to every corner of the earth, we need several more earths to sustain this prosperity.
Before consumption came into its own, nearly all religions and cultures on earth preached restraint, humility, and thrift.
Thanks to these precepts, the human beings had generally been kept in place by fear of an all-seeing divine power.
A true humanist
We Chinese are sometimes said to be a people without a faith, though many believe in Buddhism and Taoism and nearly all have a religion-like worship of their ancestors. With this worship, we do not live for the pleasures of today, but with our forefathers and our descendants constantly in mind.
That's why today some old-fashioned citizens are still skeptical about the gospel of mindless accumulation and consumption.
This conception of human beings with all their limitations and responsibilities should lead to a more enlightened view of life.
Han Yu (AD 768-824) was one of the greatest Chinese writers and philosophers who was highly critical of the royal patronage of Buddhism in his time.
But that did not prevent the Confucian scholar from taking a view of human life so cynical that it enriched the charitable view of human nature entertained by Confucius.
In his polemic "On Heavenness," he compared the destructiveness of vermin and that of human beings, and concluded that "by tilling lands and clearing forests, human destruction of nature is unrivaled by the worst vermin."
Han observed that "In my opinion, whoever can reduce the longevity and vigor of human beings - thus reducing the harm of human beings - are doing a salutary service to nature."
Now Han was a greater humanist, as all Confucian scholars are, for he had in mind not only the comforts and satisfactions of his own generation, but that of his progeny.
In the parlance of today, he had human sustainability in view.
Today the human destructive power is at least 1,000 times greater than in Han's era, thanks largely to human rationality (science and technology) as praised by Singer.
That destructiveness can only be inspired by hedonistic individualism.
Any honest biologist would tell you that for a given species, the really important thing is to survive, from generation to generation.
This blatant hedonism is based on consumption, or resources - especially the resources of other peoples and future generations.
Thanks to modern technology, the agonies of war have been minimized, because warriors can wipe out a whole nation on the other hemisphere just by pushing a few buttons.
False prosperity
Unlike in the past, war is less needed today as a means to promote trade, for trade is today eagerly embraced as an unmixed blessing mutually beneficial.
So when some displaced peasants in Asia have to slave away at an assembly line over 10 hours a day for subsistence wages, they are simply aspiring to the good life.
The chosen people in the other hemisphere contribute more to global prosperity by just consuming, on borrowed money.
People who have affluence thus imposed on them generally feel they have little to be grateful for.
Yes, those wallowing in luxuries might develop an affinity with brands like LVs or iPads, but who care about those workers who got poisoned while making these luxuries?
Like modernized wars, globalized trade has also successfully outsourced the human and ecological pains to other countries. Out of sight, out of mind.
Happiness as a positive attribute is entirely a Western concept. Its Oriental counterpart is a kind of inner serenity free of avarice and passion.
My 10-year-old son told me the other day that when a somewhat domesticated jaguar was left to survive in the wildness, it soon starved to death.
Domestication physically weakened it, and what's more, instead of relentlessly chasing its prey for his sustenance, it would go about it perfunctorily, if at all.
A scholar inured to modern luxuries would deplore the deprivations and hardships suffered by a wild jaguar, while the jaguar would not trade his love of hunting for all the luxuries enjoyed by the scholar.
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