Inaugural Leap
As I begin this post — the inaugural of the Lemming Cliff — I will acknowledge in a nod to students of the Rodentia Order that Lemmings do not commit mass suicide. Like many trope origins, well-intentioned people at some point attempting to describe and understand the natural world around them erred — not in their observations, but in the inferences drawn.
Objectively true or not, the poor Lemming holds a status in literary and common parlance as an nihilistic aberration of life: a creature that acts and behaves en masse in spite of its own existence and serves as a shorthand prop for group-level stupidity. Obviously, this is a misconception of Lemming behavior. Really, could we imagine a species that would herd headlong to its demise as a matter of regular course?
Here at the Lemming Cliff, you will be exposed to original documentation of human behavior, specifically as it relates to conflict, development, and — most heavily — human rights compliance. Contributors will be practitioners of various do-gooder arts, as well as the scientists that study them. This will also serve as a forum to offer foresight of emerging challenges in these sectors, and advance various agendas for the future. Looking ahead far enough in any landscape, one will find a precipice.
So, now, let us be here atop the Lemming Cliff and observe the world around us. And let us be better.
