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Breeding in slums, IQ and suicide rate and acceptable life
I had no idea whenI was going to write anything again on this site but here it is. Been 'inspired', if I can say so about something utterly depressing and demotivating, by this documentary series from AlJazeera featuring people living AND breeding in Philippines slums.
One feeling I couldn't shake off while watching this series is 'how does one not kill herself having to live like this?' Yes, I realize the sense of well-being is relative, people's standards of 'acceptable life' may and do vary, but the lives shown in this documentary... no words! I guess, the least relateble were the people there who've appeared content with their lots. Praising God and making do with daily struggle to survive in order to continue breathing, eating, producing more waste while living on the pile of waste and making more babies to inherit the slums.
I've asked myself, suppose you and those people were all trapped in some prison for a long time or they were the last people on Earth and you had no one else to ever talk to, would you find something in common with them then? Wouldn't you find solace in at least having such memebers of the same species to possibly have a little conversation with and feel a tad less lonely?
I actually do not judge the majority of people all that harsh, even though I am picky with friends and those I maintain any sort of regular connection with. They may be miles away from where I stand on antinatalism and even pessimism, I still see a lot of things in commoon between myself and random people I meet in real life or online.
But here, frankly, I don't think having a smiling person deeming the life inside a huge garbage dump as acceptable would ever be of any solace to me if they were, pardon the cliche, the last man on Earth.
I'd rather have a dog or a cat or a pig living beside me. And I'm not saying this with any sort of passionate anger, I actually feel sorry for their circumstances, it's rather utter disappointment and resignation, it's that
See, cats, sheep, dogs - they are the authentic representatives of their own species and you don't expect much from them, in fact, you are surprised when they act especially smart or "human-like". You don't expect these animals to strive for anything more than satiating their hunger, following their sex drives and fight for survivaval until outside forces end their lives. You don't think 'oh, what an especially stupid cow doing nothing but chewing grass and shitting on the same field it eats from' - they all do that, that's what being a cow is. But when you see a human being, who is supposedly smarter and more complex than other animals acting basically the same as a stray dog or a monkey, living and perpetuating life that is about nothing more than what the rest of the animal world is doing, you start to feel so disappointed and wonder what does make a human being - human, besides the physical charachteristics? A human being living the live of a roach and feeling content with it is still a human? The same species that the greatest artist or a scientist or philosopher is? It's just mind-boggling.
So this made me wonder what was the suicide rate in Philippines in particular. I realize there's not just slums in Philippines but I expected maybe a report how people offed themselves in those particular areas more often, but no! And what I've found in general seemed a bit counter to expectations of 'the worse people have it - the more people end their lives'. The European Region had the highest suicide rate in 2015 (WHO).
And so I started Googling the topic and found this interesting analysis of suicide rates vs national IQ.
«Cultural Differences in a Globalizing World» By Michael Minkov
The same study is mentioned in TheTimes.co.uk's Only the bright commit suicide:
The study itself seems to be available for purchase here National intelligence and suicide rate: an ecological study of 85 countries.
Now, I'm not thinking they're all happy there, and they admit themselves they're not all the times cheerful.
But their coping mechanisms are so strong, much stronger than their rationality, which is sad because it's the latter that in my view distinguishes humans from the rest of the animal kingdom.
I know it's highly unfashionable today to judge any groups of people, especially the so called 'disadvantaged', 'the marginalized', 'the oppressed' etc. But here's the point: these are the people who will inherit the Earth while the 'awful, judgemental, prejudised, elitist, privilleged' will die off by breeding at a rate below the replacement level and by offing themselves. This is the dying breed. I myself was not born in a rich country and am not rich today and the majority of the people living in Ukraine are poor by international standards. But it's frowned upon to be breeding children into extreme poverty and misery and people limit themselves to 1.5 on average. There was this post on Facebook the other day asking for some money for the family with 5 kids adopted, but by a single woman who's apparently poor as it is and a photo of them standing in a room that looked the way a poor person's room does. And the response which received many likes was 'why adopting children you can't support? how did this happen?'. This is the mentality prevalent in Europe today, even the poor Eastern Europe, but not so much in Africa, and apparently, not in Southeast Asian Philippines.
So while I applaud the next video on the necessity of licensing parents, and completely agree with the philosophy behind it, I do not think it will ever be applicable in the real world, because good luck convincing those people who are happy to live in cesspools their whole lives that they have no right to have their 6 or 9 kids. No, you'll only convince those having 1.5 at average to not have any.
That's basically the only prospect of a 'voluntary human extinction movement' in today's world: to convince the most intelligent people to not procreate. And I'm not saying don't do that, I rather think it's just a natural course of events: the smartest part of the humanity is slowly checking itself out while those who still find this circus meaningful and joyful are being fruitful. It would not be right to ask those who are not impressed with life to keep breeding to take care of the dumber members of the human species. Yes, they may face more difficulties and sorrow when left on their own, but they also seem to be more immune to hardships and eager to accept them just to live to poop another day.
Hey, it just may be that we are truly a 'glitch' of overly clear self-awareness that should have never hapenned and has no place in this 'harmony' of species and the cycle of life feeding off of each other to survive and reproduce. Too much thinking only brings up painful questions with no good answers.
More posts from this category: Why do people keep celebrating life even after it took away their loved onesHuman Progress as a source for happiness
 Irina |
11-01-2018
'Apathy gene' - I totally understand that. Today when I write, if I write something on the topic of antinatalism - it's only for my own sake, and for the sake of the rather unlucky few who happen agree with my views. But there's always 'newcomers' and they still feel inspired to attempt to change things by spreading the message and I won't try and stop them either. Btw, in the end of the even more recent David Benatar's debate (with Jordan Petersen this time) he admits he's not naive enough to think antinatalism will ever be adopted globally, and that humanity will be eliminated by other forces, beyond its control [link] I've listened to the one with Sam Harris too. It was not bad. - - - There was an 'Aroma' slums? LOL, I've missed that!))) That's beyond hilarious. - - - At the time of writing this post I've only watched 4 episode, I believe.. Today I've quickly browsed through the 5th. The Philippines has one of the highest birthrate in Southeast Asia in part due to Catholic church's stance against artificial contraception https://youtu.be/PEOX8aT_uSQ?t=280 So on one hand it helps them keep their shit together because 'God's will and he loves you and all happens for a reason, and there's heaven to go to after death' but on the other it tells them to keep breeiding themselves deeper and deeper into poverty. Oh well... - - - I haven't been quoting Artsybashev in a while, have I? See, one use for our complaining online may not be any sort of prospect for change and improvement in the future. But my personal existence is made considerably better by being able to read about other people having similar feelings to mine: The whole history of the human race is the history of martyrs and heroes perishing, and every epoch is a triumph of platitude. The best of people, those, who are worshipped by humanity, perish and perish, and walking on their corpses is a huge human herd. Heroes and martyrs of ideas are only here in order to glue together with their blood those bricks of communal happiness, and every floor of the building they'll raise will primarily be populated by the triumphing pigs, snorting back in their direction with contempt. They, the dumb animals, will get everything: new inventions, beautiful buildings, luxury, wealth, freedom and beautiful women, and the suffering, the agonizing pondering and the self-sacrifice is reserved for those who selflessly believed in the right of the future generations to their soul and their life. This is how it's always been and always will be. - - - Oh wow this is a find! Ham Sarris! LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOQ1ZCeMY4 |
 D O'B
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14-01-2018
Ok, I've now finished watching all six episodes and really don't know what to say that can add to your own comprehensive summation. The only thing I can do is to share your dumbfoundment that these people seem collectively anaesthetised to their own predicament and wonder how I belong to the same species as them. If they exist then I'm sure I've got more in common with farting sea slug aliens from Alpha Centauri than I do with these slum dwellers.
The questions I keep pondering are these: "what really would I do if I had had the misfortune of being born there?" and as a follow up, "would I be buffered by the fact that had this been my fate then the 'me' that I know now wouldn't exist and I'd just accept my lot like everyone else?" I realise these are futile mind games, but I can't help but wonder. Intriguingly, there was a lady shown in episode five (wife of the jeepney driver) who was supposed to be suffering from mental problems and I was hoping that we'd hear more about her affliction. It was not made clear what symptoms she exhibited other than she had jumped into a canal and almost drowned, if not for having been 'saved' by one of her relatives. Did she jump for no reason other than not being mentally sound or was the opposite true - did she fling herself in as a reaction to her hopeless situation? The husband didn't actually take her for treatment and the documentary moved on to focus on other slum inhabitants, so we'll never know. An argument - however weak - could be made that if they were totally isolated from the outside world and didn't know a better life was possible then this could conceivably explain their relative contentment. But this isn't true! From the slimy pastor/gigolo and politicians openly displaying their worldly goods and signs of higher living, to the little dwarf kid who was shown working for hours digging through crap in order to find copper wire to sell for pennies so he could play Tetris in an internet cafe, it's evident that they realise most human beings, no matter how badly off they may be, don't have to surf down a river of shit to get home. quote:
The Philippines has one of the highest birthrate in Southeast Asia in part due to Catholic church's stance against artificial contraception https://youtu.be/PEOX8aT_uSQ?t=280 So on one hand it helps them keep their shit together because 'God's will and he loves you and all happens for a reason, and there's heaven to go to after death' but on the other it tells them to keep breeiding themselves deeper and deeper into poverty. Oh well... I still don't know how anyone, let alone everyone, could be convinced of this story without questioning it a single iota. I'm utterly perplexed by the apparent effortless ease whereby entire fucking populations of downtrodden people can accept tales of superhero babies and their magic daddies which don't make even a lick of sense. Putting a gun to my head, the only thing I could fall back on is my 'evolutionary defence mechanism' hypothesis. In other words, nature, being the insidious beast that she is, has seen fit to equip us with a switch in our minds which automatically turns off and erases any arising doubts the nanosecond it perceives them entering into consciousness. We few who stand apart from this madness and have somehow been able to see the emperor's new clothes are indeed the 'glitches' of which you speak. "To be or not to be", is a no-brainer. The real question is whether it's better to have been born a normal nutcase or one of the abnormally sane. I suppose if we interpret 'better' as meaning 'happier' then the former wins. Thanks for the Peterson/Benatar link. I haven't listened to it yet and will get round to it at some time or other. The Sam Harris one wasn't as bad as I initially thought and I was premature to judge it so harshly. I'd only listened to about 45 minutes of it when I pasted it here. Still prefer the painstakingly edited parody one that you found though. Thanks!  |
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Irina |
22-01-2018
Hey, D! Thanks for your comment. I think from the point of view of 'there's no free will' - none of us have a choice to become anything other than what we do become. I know some keep emphasizing on the distinction between fatalism and determinism but my brain at its current chemical (im-)balance appears to be determined not to comprehend that nuance I was intrigued the same way, about that mentally ill woman. As in, was she not explaining why she is acting strange because she doesn't have a clue herself and is just that: sick, having a glitch in her system, or was she not saying much because she knew she wouldn't be understood by any of the surrounding people and so decided to just shut up about the reasons of her melancholia? Guess we'll never know. In theory, there could be both kinds of cases taking place in those shitty neighborhoods.
Same thing I keep asking myself as well. Seems easy to say that dumb is better, but guess only if an element of luck is also involved and where the dumb person's dumb decisions in finance or health or mingling with wrong people don't make their intellectually light lives too hard in the survival/interpersonal relationship spheres. Or, the most important factor would be, if the dumb person believes he/she has to achieve something in life, something that may prove unattainable to them. If these people are being brought up in the slums and aren't necessarily expected to make much of themselves, then they sure would benefit from being dumb, but dumb YET ambitious - gotta be an unpleasant combination. I guess I'm just writing the obvious now))) |
Also, it seems to prefer not thinking too much about its own lack of free will, haha.|
D O'B
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23-01-2018
Oh no! Why did you have to write the dreaded F W words?
 You know what I mean; the two words that are practically this: ... without the final letter Y at the end. This is like catnip for Texans and I just know it's only a matter of time before Kirk shows up now. I was almost happy too!  I suppose you couldn't help it though. That's the thing about determinism, we have no choice doing the things we do... or is that fatalism? You're not the only one who gets confused with all these bullshit terms. They say that fatalism = everything is preordained, minus the supernatural element behind it. Determinism deals with causality and so where we are now is a sum total of all previous actions and *could* have been different had we done something different. But how the fuck could we have done something different if all actions up until the point that we made that action still determined that action, and all previous actions before that action were also determined by previous actions to THOSE actions??!! Seems like the same thing as fatalism to me.  AND  To hell with all this shit, I'm going to look at your pictures again.  |
 Kirk
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28-01-2018
Well, well, old friends, we meet again at last!
 Of course you know, Brick, that Irina mentioned FW because she couldn't not do it!  I spent the time I wanted these past few years to grind through people's arguments on various sites to test and train myself to the barbs and arrows that natalists throw to ensure that I could manage them and hone my own understanding, then signed off, primarily, maybe akin to what you've done, Irina, though without the videos (though I used to be a bit of a looker in my day, those days have primarily passed and mirrors are not as friendly as they used to be). I'm still undecided on the FW concept, but we've been through that already and all of the back and forth was much appreciated. I just live as if I am making FW decisions, and if not, then it's just my fate and I can do nothing but! I just drifted by your site to see if there was any activity here and so there was, to my delight. As I am sure both of you know and endure, the life of a deeply self-aware and compassionate being is a hard one. Being an antinatalist in a land of deluded natalists can really wear one down, for sure. What always amazes me is the strength it can develop, real inner psychological strength as compared to the general population, for those that do, for whatever reason, choose to continue to persevere. But it can break you, as well. As an example, a month ago I had a very close friend die at age 56, of only a very small handful (maybe two?) of truly AN friends (not really counting a slightly larger group of childfree or childless individuals). She got it, combining compassion with AN, like very few people do or can. But I think the stress of the realization and her job as an emergency medical technician and seeing daily the absurd suffering of illness, loneliness, old age, drug addiction, abuse, etc. over a 35-year career eventually killed her, even with every coping mechanism she worked so hard to employ (diet, exercise, philosophy, etc.). The funeral I had no say in, but the highjacking of the event by a religious natalist painted an untrue picture of her to please her mother, co-workers, and remaining family, being now in a "better place", loved by gawd, blah, blah, but still the shock and tears and the "Why her? Why so young?" was reprehensible but expected. But in spite of it all, I think I was the happiest for her in an informed and loving way, almost a bit envious, in fact, because she fell asleep, suffered a heart attack, and probably never woke up. She pulled off an escape almost without a hitch, and really IS in a better situation, as you understand my meaning. She achieved your "kill me surprisingly and quickly" mantra, Irina. But dare I express my understandings to those around me? Not if I don't want looks of confusion, or even of derision, from their two-dimensional minds, and that's a very lonely feeling, to be sure. But to trade that lonely feeling of truthful understanding for the artificial happy but fragile mental state that derives from a natalist viewpoint I won't do. It's great to hear your voice in my head, Irina, and only what I imagine you sound like, Mr. Brick, because they are the sounds of kinship at the most fundamental level, and that is an elusive experience, better than gold, that super-cedes personal differences of education, locality, language, and culture. As a teacher in the past I saw and dealt with poverty and its repercussions on a daily basis. Girls whose mothers' boyfriends raped them nightly, adolescents without adult supervision raising themselves, students living without running water, the list is long. Yet what always surprised me was the ability of the human mind to delude itself, thinking that if just this or that changed then their lives would be so much better, and that their current situation was even tolerable, until it wasn't, and occasionally that resulted in violence or attempted self-destruction when reality clashed too greatly with the fantasy world within. I am sure most of these featured people suffer similarly, brainwashed into beliefs of heaven or reincarnation, or dare I say it, deterministic fate. So much so that even extreme poverty, disease, hunger, pain, and suffering are not enough to interrupt their procreative natures. I often alternate between feelings of sorrow and contempt when directly confronting these types of environments, and a being can only manage it for so long before needing a break, be it a temporary or permanent exile.I really can't say if the evolutionary filter will eventually result in extreme suffering as the AN-leaning individuals are overwhelmed by those content with raping more people into existence, or if some other fate awaits where they end up eating themselves and going extinct, but it is all a very sad state highly sentient life finds itself in. I only hope that wisdom eventually rules, though I have no evidence to show that it will, beyond these falling stars of dialogue encountered oh so rarely amongst those that wear the cloak of liberating childlessness that few care to see. |
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Irina |
08-02-2018
Hey Kirk! Great to see you back to comment, too! I wasn't really hoping for much of an audience after that long break but I'm pleasantly surprised) But in spite of it all, I think I was the happiest for her in an informed and loving way, almost a bit envious, in fact, because she fell asleep, suffered a heart attack, and probably never woke up. She pulled off an escape almost without a hitch, and really IS in a better situation, as you understand my meaning. She achieved your "kill me surprisingly and quickly" mantra, Irina. ;) In cases like this I feel some sadness for the living who will grieve the sudden death of their loved one, but not for the person who'd actually 'drawn a lucky number' with regards to how peaceful they left this world. No terror of upcoming death, no ruminiscing through unfinished business, unfulfilled dreams, the pain of parting with those you love and seeing them heartbroken as they are preparing to let you go forever, into the great unknown, and go on without you, the physical torture of disease and oftentimes the disability, the dependance on others for daily physiological needs, the loss of privacy... all the terrible things that await us at the end of our lives or lives of those we care about. Those who avoided that? Lucky, I say. They truly are. Yep, and so know that'd be my ideal croaking method - while asleep)))
But my possible passangers, beware, 'coz I'm learning to drive and I've mixed up a clutch pedal with the breaks the other lesson!!))) Poor guy behind me climbing on the hill must've had a micro heart attack. Oh well, should've kept his distance from the car with a huge learner sign on top. Actually, should've kept good distance knowing how people drive in Ukraine and that we have like 10 mortalities from accidents every day, and many more injuries, of course. Actually, it's quite scary, driving in here, I don't think I plan to much at all, abroad - yes, back home - only after some additional defensive driving courses when I'm confident I can escape the bad situations created by reckless drivers. Dying slowly, squashed inside a car with broken bones isn't on top of my preferred ways to go, naturally. And a lot of the drivers around seem to think they're immortal. That being said, people get run over while crossing zebras and pedestrian crossings with traffic lights, or while waiting for a bus on a bus stop, someone just decides to ram into that at an insane speed. If anyone wants to amuse themselves about how crazy driving can be in some countries like mine you will find a lot on Youtube, i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWoD5l8SOIc Oh yeah I'm learning on this kind of roads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj5wL1L_pxc They teach you to navigate holes in the ground from day one, lol, that's fucking stressful, and out of nowhere a stray dog comes running and barking, getting under your wheels, all this while you'll trying to remember the basics you've only been introduced to a lesson ago.
Some might find it amusing that a pessimist who claims life is tragic and pointless and it's better not to exist is so careful not to get into an accident. But it's precisely the awareness of how bad things can get and that terrible shit can happen to anyone, oneself included, that is both adding to pessimism about life and instructing a rational person to stay away from danger because no angels are watching over. Pessimist doesn't mean a mosachist. Wanting to not exist doesn't mean not being afraid of suffering or death. So I'm trying to be careful in life, unless, once in a while, risk just feels too good and I allow it to myself a bit of it as a small treat)) Yet what always surprised me was the ability of the human mind to delude itself, thinking that if just this or that changed then their lives would be so much better, and that their current situation was even tolerable, until it wasn't I can see how your having worked as a teacher has provided you with a glimpse into the lives of people with different backgrounds and socio-economic statuses. And that you noticed the capacity for self-delusion and our ever-pervasive optimism bias. Overestimating our abilities, trying to compare ourselves mostly to those less fortunate than us so we feel better, not to those more lucky, of course. I've gotta admit, those things worked in my youth as well, I was much more optimistic, because, you know, I didn't know life, I was hoping I could wish good things into my life like magic and avoid trouble just by denying it could ever really happen to me. That seems like a lifetime away now... Anyway, I should be back to studying the driving code for my exam. Should have more time in a week. Unless I fail my first attempt. |
 Brian Wood
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08-02-2018
Hi Irina,
Have you ever heard of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? I know you are a trained psychologist I read the book "Feeling Good" by Dr. David Burns.It's a classic Just curious. |
 Lone Wolf
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08-02-2018
Hey Irina. I thought your final comments on the most intelligent of our species checking out and becoming childfree to be profound and reflective of this nihilistic day and time. I made the decision to not have children after the harsh realities of life became painfully obvious to me at a premature age and have not waivered from that position in over twenty years. What I find most disturbing is the tiny fraction of people who are willing or capable of seeing the truth. I view superior intelligence as somewhat of a curse because it forces one to see what, apparently, very few others can. It is lonely at the top. This dark vision is a burden as it effectively isolates you from the vast ignorant majority and places you in an intellectual holding cell of solitary confinement. It can also render you incapable of experiencing joy. I feel the overbearing weight of a suffering world, such as with the aforementioned impoverished, yet desperately content population, but remain powerless to help them. That is the cross the most gifted and enlightened of us carry : the utter plight of futility. Thanks for providing a forum for the deep thinkers to express themselves. You are a beautiful dark angel and a rarely brilliant one.
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 raul
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09-02-2018
Irina,
It has been some time since I read your last post. I am glad that you decided to write again. Although I did not see the documentary, I enjoyed reading your words. They are very enlightening. You see, Irina, you were born with a beautiful mind. Of course you pay the consequences for seeing things as they truly are. Your question “'how does one not kill herself having to live like this? Can be applied to life in general. This Earth, from my point of view, is a human prison farm. And in order to keep this infernal prison farm going, well, you need to fatten it by growing humans. We were born in a cage that few are able to see. Sex and food do really matter. We have bodies that feel pleasure in eating and having sex. They keep this insanity going. So the trap is complete. Working to eat, growing old, losing one´s childhood at jails of dogma called schools, suffering the agony of knowing at any time we will die,etc., are the so-called ingredients of the joy of life. You are a special case, Irina, because few women think and write like you. One in a million, I suppose. This world is a forest and we are the preys. Life is delicious in this chamber of horrors. I saw this movie Jupiter Ascending in Spanish and in some scenes the character,Balex Abrasax say the following; “My mother made me understand that every human society is a pyramid and that some lives will always matter more than others. It is better to accept this than to pretend it isn't true. “I create life! And I destroy it. Life in an act of consumption, Jupiter. To live is to consume. Now, the human beings on your planet are merely a resource waiting to be converted into capital. And this entire enterprise is just a small part in a vast and beautiful machine defined by evolution, designed to a single purpose. To create profit.” It is sad to say but who knows, Irina, that could be the reason for human existence. You write “ don't think having a smiling person deeming the life inside a huge garbage dump as acceptable would ever be of any solace to me if they were, pardon the cliche, the last man on Earth.” Do you not see men and women dressed in expensive suits and wearing briefcases thinking the same way? You write about suicides. Here in Paraguay there is a suicide every 48 hours. Not many if we compare these numbers to what happens in the U.S. where 42,000 suicides are reported. Suicide is bad for business, very bad. Violence is part of this cycle of life and death. We are hostages to life. We are hostages to violence. And childbirth is the most common violenct act on this planet. Take care. Greetings from Paraguay. Raúl |
 interim
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21-02-2019
This is just how things work around here. Being able to deny your will to live is actually a prize that only few can achieve. It's the final stage of evolution, the "crown" of everything nature can possibly attain, the nature's biggest paradox - a dead end. Rejoice... Sorry, but you must struggle for this first, can't get it just like that, without any effort...
The future that every intelligent person can strive for, is either live alone and misunderstood or kill himself. It only depends on the thin balance between apathy and depression. I've tried them both, with still inconclusive results... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHtcliIvnHI |
 Julien
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10-08-2019
About how suicide are higher in 1st world country than 3rd world country, I have a relevant quote from Schopenhauer:
"As soon as want and suffering permit a rest to a man, ennui is at once so near that he necessarily requires diversion. The striving after existence is what occupies all living things and maintains them in motion. But when existence is assured, then they know not what to do with it; thus the second thing that sets them in motion is the effort to get free from the burden of existence, to make it cease to be felt, "to kill time", i.e. escape from ennui" Since we do not have to make effort to survive and strive, we have the time to think (the same way as the Nobles and Bourgeoisie in the Middle Age and beyond, had "time to kill" compared to the common folk, and obviously having a higher suicide rate than the commoners) and feel boredom. When our minds are preoccupied by securing our next meal, suicide is not necessarily on the forefront of our thoughts. |
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Irina |
11-08-2019
I completely agree, Julien. Although it's not just ennui, it's the awareness of the possibility of great harm coming to yourself or loved ones and the inevitable separation with them by death, and dying itself, getting older and weaker, etc. All things hardly boring but highly disturbing and upsetting. |
The last sentence of your post sums up the real tragedy which afflicts the human race and which distinguishes us from all the other creatures. Thought is paradoxically our best friend and worst enemy. Too much awareness of the world in which we inhabit coupled with no instantaneously permanent cures for all the ills of living can and does add yet another layer of hell to this business of being. Just as some are born taller or stronger than others, some of us are born to observe and dwell more than the rest of our blessedly blinkered kin. It's not fun to be saddled with such a psychological predisposition. Then again I don't need to tell you that, do I?
You look upon these Filipinos and think, "how can they go on this way? Wouldn't biting a bullet be better?" But you're looking at them the only way you can, through YOUR eyes. Your rare eyes and rare brain are watching this squalor and filth and degradation and wondering how they survive for 24 hours, let alone entire lifetimes, living this way. I know I wouldn't be able to. I'm neither mentally or physically tough enough to endure such conditions. But people DO endure it. As the documentary shows - and I've only watched the first episode so far - people, as a majority, are more than capable of finding ways to cope. Whether it is an evolutionary defence mechanism or plain stupidity which takes the credit/blame, most folk put the head down and get on with the daily grind without pausing to analyse what is actually going on here. For those that do, god or some other convenient crutch fills the gap quite nicely.
It's not just the dummies either. Look back at one of your earliest and most popular YouTube videos wherein you critiqued Viktor Frankl. More recently there was this: https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/is-life-actually-worth-living
Having lived the length of time I have and being a witness to (and sometimes participant in) all this chaos, I know there is no hope for this world except the escape of personal death. Being too much of a coward and for the time being at least being somewhat comfortable materially speaking, I bide my time and busy myself with fleeting fancies and whatever necessities are required to survive another setting of the sun. Mentally though, I'm done; totally, completely, irrevocably done. The realisation has more than hit home that I'm not going to be able to change a damn thing for the better and it hurts too much to try. While I do feel superficially sorry for these people (more so for their poor cats and dogs), evolution again, coupled with the pain of too many prior tears, has activated my 'apathy gene'. If feelings arise at all, they're not good ones. More often than not they're of disgust, and pomposity of my self-perceived mental superiority. This isn't a pleasant admission, but I'm being honest. Don't tell me there isn't a perverse irony in two of the slums shown in episode one having the names, 'Paradise Heights' and 'Aroma'? Or the fantastic lack of self-awareness exhibited by two of the women who uttered these crackers:
"I used family planning myself, that's why I only have five kids."
and
"Lorna doesn't what her 21 year old daughter and mother of three to make the same mistakes she did."
I said at the outset that I believe you suffer more fully than these people and I stick by that statement. They suffer without realising the extent of their suffering. You don't have such luck. Your environment and physical station in life might be a few levels up from where they are, but you've been cursed to see things the way they really are. Maybe jadedness will provide you with some psychological padding. I hope that it does.