How To See Others As Human

See who is being treated as tools, then see your humanity, and theirs

If we see one another, we can act humanely

Too many articles point out that because humankind is killing one another and our host planet, we’re kinda dumb.

We morons need to get a clue; it’s become a meme or trope.

Yet, I think the best and brightest, the billionaires who run the show and rule the roost are not super dumb. They may be short-sighted, yes, but on some level, they know that ravishing every resource, human and habitat, is to their benefit.

At least temporarily. And they are recognized for their shiny brilliance.

We even reward the richest people with lavish praise, accolades, servitude, loyalty, riches, actual awards, and accolades. There are a zillion fanboys, and even some fan girls, for those who are from “high-respected backgrounds” or from a “good” family, that is, they are rich. And powerful.

Basically, classic classism.

To see even these guys as human, is a challenge. They see materials, and workers, as tools, so it’s hard to see them as genuine people.

Yet, if we see others as tools, we cannot overcome this bias.

To see each other as human

To see one another as humans we have to first see our shared DNA. We have to expand this circle of compassion, then, to the planet that sustains us.

That is, we are not separate, but interdependent.

We must see our tribalism, and reject it.

Tribalism, and extreme nationalism, do not make us feel more human or more united.

We are rapidly reaching peak resource limits — of water and food — because profits have come so easily with the glittery appeal of over-consumption, formerly called Affluenza.

Can we really say those who take advantage of such a complex and worker-dependent system are stupid? Or are they supremely primed to be not only rewarded for their efforts but often emulated?

People won’t say they favor apartheid or exploitation, but they will quietly hush the part about the foundation of Elon Musk’s emerald mines. He wasn’t some poor Black villager with a “genius mind” doing odd jobs in South Africa, after all. He’s not the only one.

If we look back at history to men who were brilliant, respected industry leaders, we come to vast industrialists like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. There were bankers and railroad men, and steel men. Rich men.

In their day they were called “robber barons.” We now have super-filthy rich corporations with even more collective power than any individuals. Some will say that being a coal baron, Joe Manchin is a robber baron. Yet, compared to the vast and global wealth of Exxon Mobil, or Koch Brothers, any one person is not so very big.

They could not do what they did without tons and tons of workers. In some cases, many workers had to toil in hellscape factories or die trying to obtain humane conditions or win workers’ rights. They had to plow past native people and plunder native landscapes.

Then there were men like Nikola Tesla who worked for the betterment of humanity and did not press to be treated fairly. There were women like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Rachel Carson who saw that the cost of exploitation — and loss — was not being factored into total price tags.

We are not extremists, except in our acceptance

Yet, most people fall somewhere in between these extremes. Most people work for a living, enabling the rich to get richer and the wealth and power gap to widen until something breaks.

This is where it begins to feel that maybe we are too stupid for our own good. Yet, I don’t think working people are stupid, they are loyal. They are loyal to a system that has shifted from the American dream(often exported) to the American nightmare.

We, being a social species, are wired to conform and to cooperate.

We are not too stupid for this world, we are not adjusted to the new reality of this new, over-used world.

It’s the environment that has changed, as we have reached a tipping point and must begin to look to one another for support in all causes of environmental justice and biosphere protection.

Should we enact some sort of “green new deal” or “build back better” bill? Those sound awfully on the nose, but that seldom flies with the guys in power, however. If you call it the Inflation Reduction Act, it will fly better politically.

For the international boys running most of the show, the benefits are still there so long as there are disposable — about eight billion — people. That natural resources are drying up is a concern, but it is the 99% who bear the brunt of that cost.

We are by far, in the majority. We human beings just need to find equality and defend it.