“The caustic strength of nihilism is absolute, Nietzsche argues, and under its scrutiny the highest values devalue themselves. The aim is lacking, and ‘Why?’ finds no answer. Inevitably, nihilism will expose all cherished beliefs and sacrosanct truths as symptoms of a defective mythos. This collapse of meaning, relevance, and purpose will be the most destructive force in history, constituting a total assault on reality and nothing less than the greatest crisis of humanity.” (Alan Pratt paraphrasing Nietzsche)
Nietzsche prophesied the deterioration of humanity more than a century ago, and what better a situation to portray that very prophesy today, than the ongoing Gaza crisis?
One and a half million people trapped in a strip of land no larger than 360 square kilometers without access to basic human amenities, including food; clean water; medical facilities; fuel supplies; sewage and waste treatments; the right to employment; the right to education; the right to move freely; the right to live. And the world is a passive bystander.
In the current war alone, more than 900 people killed and a further 4000 injured in a period of 17 days. The ticker continues to count, and the world continues to watch.
Missiles, air raids, ground offensives, cluster bombs, white phosphorus, genotoxic weapons (and the list continues) are being used on houses, schools and places of worship alike. Hundreds of human beings buried under the rubble of their own homes. Families of eight and nine members wiped out in one blow. Children lying starving for days in the remains of their demolished homes, pushed up against the cold and rotting corpses of their siblings. Mothers watching the slow and agonizing death of their infants. Fathers witnessing the amputation of their children’s tender limbs. Aid workers being shot as they rush to the scenes of the massacre. Doctors collapsing in heaps of nervous wreck at the sights they have to endure. A nation waking up daily to the smell of destruction and war. And the public silence is deafening.
Have we really arrived at this level of indifference and nonchalance towards each other? Has mankind truly reached these diabolic and barbaric heights of Nietzsche’s prophesy?
The situation unnerves me.
It would seem more realistic that in such times of catastrophe - where humanitarian crises are erupting at immense levels, and the value of human life is being completely disregarded - that we should no longer confine ourselves and others to social labels and dogmas, which in essence do nothing but increase the existing fractures in our societies. We should not be thinking of ourselves as Arab; American; Muslim; or Buddhist, but rather as human... with morals, ethics, a conscience, and a heart. And we should not be segregating ourselves as pro-Israel activists; or anti-Islam; or anti-West, but rather we should unite as activists of pro-humanity; pro-life; pro-equality, and as activists of anti-discrimination, anti-persecution, anti-racialism.
Eugene Rose once stated that “If nihilism proves victorious - and it’s well on it’s way - our world will become a cold, inhuman world where nothingness, incoherence, and absurdity will triumph.” It has, and they do.
Pictures of the genocide are being portrayed on television screens all over the world, reports of the atrocities are being published in international newspapers and websites, and eye-witnesses are revealing horrifying accounts from the ground of the battle. In a ‘normal’ world, every ‘human’ would be jolted out of their daily life and nauseated at the scenes unraveling before us. Every human would be brought to their knees at the mere thought that another human is being forced to endure such hardships. Every human would cry out for an end to the extermination of an entire city and its people, through means not even implemented in the Nazi concentration camps.
But apparently we do not live in a normal world, and the true concept of a human being is close to extinct.
While forecasting the doom of humanity however, Nietzsche envisaged a potential silver lining in the clouds. “I praise, I do not reproach, nihilism’s arrival. I believe it is one of the greatest cries, a moment of the deepest self-reflection of humanity. Whether man recovers from it, whether he becomes master of this crisis, is a question of his strength.”
The opportunity is presenting itself to us all over the wold, to gather our strength and recover from our state of helplessness and uselessness. We must awaken the dead senses within us and cry out for the people of Gaza and for every persecuted human on this planet. Social blindfolds and ear muffs must be stripped away, and labels thrown aside, in order to absorb the real horror of what is taking place around us. From the farthermost West to the utmost East; whether theist or anti; black, white or green; nobody should condone such genocide FROM anyone TOWARDS anyone.
The time has come for us to become masters of our crises. It is up to us to work on adding value to the lost values. To find the aims and the answers to the ‘Why?’. To alter our behavior in order to re-instill meaning into our cherished beliefs and sacrosanct truths. To rebuild the destructed meaning, relevance, and purpose. And to counterattack the assault on our reality. For if we don’t act now, I dread to think what the future holds for the coming generations.
No comments:
Post a Comment