We Only See Lions
Why do we let our feelings shape up the truth?
by Fernando J. Contreras (originally published in Hades United)
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani, then the mayor of New York, was praised for his leadership during the crisis. He stated that America was stronger than ever, that the towers were going to be rebuilt, and that terrorism would not stop New York from being the best city in the world. The media baptized him as “America’s Mayor,” and the rest of the country ran with it.
We already know Giuliani lies in public, a lot, often to cover up the lies he told the day before. That’s not the problem. We are the ones who elect politicians knowing they will tell us what we want to hear so they can achieve more power, which they in turn use to favor the interests of their campaign donors. We are familiar with this cycle, yet, we gulp their fabrications because they make us feel good.
We shape our truths based on how they feed our emotions, and the consequences are disastrous since we use self-deception to mold our civilization. After 9/11, Giuliani looked strong and made promises. He said, “Tomorrow, New York is going to be here,” as if the city were a body that continued living while the three thousand that were crushed under the rubble were just cells that would regenerate after three thousand more moved in and repopulated the empty apartments in Manhattan.
When we watch a lion show on National Geographic, we always think we are watching the same lion. We don’t value their uniqueness. We don’t wonder if that particular lion is alive weeks later when we watch a different lion show. We merely see the concept: lion. The same thing happens when we change the channel and watch an overcrowded street in New Delhi or Shanghai. We see Indians and Chinese, and we believe those streets are always full of the same people.
That’s what Giuliani saw. He just saw New York. That’s why he didn’t say that three thousand irreplaceable people were murdered and that it was impossible to make up for that loss. That would prompt us to realize we don’t value human life as we claim we do. We’d have to admit that we are a destructive, self-centered, delusional race, that makes up optimistic stories about divinities, destiny, and the afterlife because we can’t come to terms with the fact we have no other direction but the one we create for ourselves.
The attacks on September 11 reiterated that ideas which suggest a fair return on the quality of our actions (like karma, destiny, or the colloquial “what goes around comes around”) are false and we need to stop believing them. Anyone who disagrees would have to justify the murder of the 9/11 victims. What could they have all done to deserve the same end? The exactitude of the timing would have to equal the magnitude of the victims’ faults. Plus, couldn’t Fate teach the same lesson constructively?
The terrorists of 9/11 had a plan: to make innocents suffer in a way that would match, in their minds, the suffering of their people. To them, that seemed fair. Then they executed their plan, which involved them dying in the process. They didn’t witness the misery they caused. Right now, they are not feeling any guilt, anguish, or horror. Along with their victims, they became nothing. If you believe the terrorists are in some eternal torture chamber, in a paradise full of virgins, or that inhabiting our fading memory is a decent compensation for being alive, you’d be pulling a “Giuliani.” The truth is, every day many people get away with evil.
Giuliani substituted the reality of loss for the narrative of hope to avoid addressing a more urgent reality: that as long as we continue to make human life (all life, actually) disappear so easily, so regularly, so inconsequentially, the human race is a failed project. Instead, he placed the blame on another group because without an enemy it’s hard to find unity and direction. But throughout history, human beings have always had a defensible reason to crush another people. Greeks, Etruscans, Americans, North, South, Nazi, Neanderthal, Purple, it doesn’t matter. Everyone comes up with a reason to validate the kill. Then it’s the job of the Giulianis and the Bin Ladens of the world to wrap up all the corpses in some ideological paper and place a loyalist bow on it.
Can this be avoided or are we a race of sociopaths? I don’t know. I’ve never met a killer, but I know people get killed every day. Most times killers provide a motive, but sometimes there’s none. People vanish, and if we don’t feel their absence it is because we only see lions: the streets are teeming with life, people are going places, and humanity is full of hope, courage, and possibilities.
