"I only know so much about your world. From where I'm looking, I see that you ponies have it made. You're thoughtful... considerate of one another... communal and altruistic and sharing. Maybe—perhaps—things weren't always sunshine and rainbows for Equestria. But you've obviously put a lot of that behind you. It... it's very easy to do good things here. That cannot be denied... because you're all just so receptive to goodness... to neighborly acts of kindness and stuff. It's like adding warmth to warmth... the toastiness gets magnified... the smiles increase. Real heavenly awesomeness. I dig it.
"Back home? Mmmmmm... not so much. You do something good—super good—and people will either look at you strange or take advantage of it. I mean... sure... people become heroes and nice individuals are honored for their positive legacies and stuff. But that's usually either a footnote in the textbook for fifteen seconds of distraction on Twitter before you get into the real meat of living: misery and conflict in all of its juiciness. Anger, contention, conflict—it's in our blood. Human blood, I mean. Sure, things were worse for civilization once... but that's like comparing a mountain of garbage to a hill of trash. It all still smells. Things are always bad somewhere... someplace... and it's only getting smellier.
"We constantly say positive and optimistic and well-meaning things to one another... but that's only when we can afford it. When the room's been filtered so that it only houses the people who don't want to kill each other. When we're all colored the same... or dressed the same... or voting the same. If you take an actual random scoop of the population, shake it all up in a jar, and let it sit... there won't be much of anything left within a damn hour. I can promise you that. Not unless the glass breaks, and then we'll just be pointing fingers at each other and denying any responsbility for ruining jar in the first place.
"I live in a jar that's been resting on the top shelf for generations... but that's only because of sheer luck, an abundance of resources, and our joining bloody conflicts at the very last second or when it has appeared safest for our own precious hides. Yes, we've had courageous and heroic souls who won us an ounce of our freedom, but we also had to murder a whole lot of people to get us to where we are now. So what if not all of them were 'innocent?' Murder is still murder. A word means a whole lot more or a whole lot less once you realize that the victors of history hold the dictionary. Today, we like to praise our peace-keepers and make national holidays after champions of civil rights and suffrage, but our society was built on slavery and genocide and—from the look of things—we're still profiting from the same old shit; we just write different words for it in our rusty ol' dictionary, and tomorrow there'll be new words for even newer atrocities that we've yet to imagine, but in our hearts we've already condoned them for the ease they'll afford a strategic few of us.
"And while we rest easy on high, we wage little wars—wars that we feel confident in winning from the bunkers of anonymity and heartlessness, pretending to care about things that only matter to those who can actually eat and shit comfortably with ample showers in between. Meanwhile, in the furthest parts of the globe—or even right across the railroad tracks—there are people stuck so friggin' deep in poverty and destitution that they spend all their days worrying about whether or not they can feed themselves or if their infants can live through the winter or if they can walk to school without being bombed, raped, or both. What would they know or care about re-blogs, gas mileage, BOGO sales at Wal-Mart or Taylor Swift's ex-boyfriend or the fine art of cussin' out the cable repairman until he can make the magical box in your living room spit out Game of Thrones on time?
"There're just... too many horrible things in the world to be appalled at. In one part of the globe, you've got married couples being refused a wedding cake on account of their genitalia. And, like, that sucks ass... but then you've also got genocidal ethnic purging going on at the same time in South Asia... or women being mutilated in Africa on account of their religion...or thousands of poor farmers being relocated to make room for a dam or an Olympic park or a highway. And when you live in this world—what do you choose to be shocked at the most? No single person is any more or less worth caring for than the other, so do you pick tackling the smaller injustice because it's right in front of you? Or the huge massacre because it's so easy to identify? Or maybe you just... choose to ignore the really big and horrible things because they're so damn hard to fix without risking a conflict that would wipe out far more people than could live long enough to witness the result of such an intervention? I mean... when did ethics become a matter of affordability over righteousness?
"And it's not like there arent people who want to make things right. People will protest in favor of the married couples who are being mistreated and they will use mass communication to raise awareness of genocide and mutilation and they will throw sanctions at countries that mistreat their own populace... but when has that ever mattered in the long run? If only to give us some frivolous, imagined pat on the back while the powers that be continue to shape the world into something unfair, selective, and selfish? People want change, but they're unwilling to change. For the latter to be accomplished, far more blood would have to be shed and bodies would have to be sacrificed to alter the flow of money, politics, and resources down the wide canal of least resistance. And everyone knows this. Which is why so many people only climb halfway... then settle for the sensation of accomplishment but not the real thing. Those who benefit from the toxicity will maintain it, taking advantage of those who think they're accomplishing change, but really aren't.
"And the bulk of us... the true majority of human beings living on a lopsided planet will do what we're most good at... what all of us are truly excelled at, even if we pretend that we're not.
"And that most practiced and refined of human talents is ambivalence."
A very dark....but accurate view of the world.
I would have chosen Apathy over ambivalence, but neither are really accurate.
We are not apathetic in our opinions. But we are apathetic in our actions without a strong motivator. Its so easy to go, "I will sign your pertition, and then put it out of my mind."
So we do have an ambivalence in that our words and thoughts do not match out actions, but thats not mixed feeling about the issue. Our feelings are clear. We hate war, we hate death, we hate genocide, etc, etc.
We just don't care enough to work to fix it. Or we view our own lives, our own lack of stability, to fragile to try.
Flash's appraisals of our world always hit me as particularly "edgy teen." I hope this is intentional and not the author attempting to use him as a mouthpiece. I have a fair amount of respect for SS&E so I'm going to live with that assumption.
I'm in this situation where I think Flash is being melodramatic and seems to be a bit poorly informed in general, yet I still understand his personal situation and would probably make the choice to stay in Equestria as well. I just wish he'd be a bit more self aware.
Just thinking out loud really. I'll keep reading.
You guys, I think Skirts is upset.
Wisdom from a fool.
Flash is kind of right, but he’s either purposely or mistakenly ignoring the progresses and improvements mankind has made in it’s history.
Sure, there are terrible, terrible things going on right now in this world, even in the most ‘civilized’ of places, but we’ve come a long way. There is statistically less crime per capita, less hunger, less violence per capita than ever before in human history. If you don’t believe me, don’t ask a news caster, ask a history teacher. The news media makes money off of sensationalism. A history teacher will give you the facts.
There is this perception of things always getting worse, more violent, more dangerous... of everything terrible just getting worse, but take it from a old person. It’s BEEN worse. People are still outraged by the tragedies of today. That’s good. It helps when the bad stuff is brought into the light so we can start doing something about it. And I’m sure to most teenagers, it seems like nothing is being done. But they’re wrong. It’s just being done slowly.
It may take another thousand years, but slowly but surely we’re getting better. So long as humanity survives that long, we might actually, eventually, turn out alright.
8893922
It's also worth pointing out that first world intervention in Africa isn't really a thing anymore and hasn't been for a long time. On the contrary, we've been sending aid overseas there for decades now. It never really amounts to anything; a lot of it gets pocketed by unstable or corrupt local governments, and a lot more gets wasted on useless boondoggle projects that don't meaningfully help anyone.
I don't know whose fault that is, but it sure isn't the first world's.
wow this is right on the money.
are you the hammer or the nail no the us is the dam board we always get screwed in the end.
it is way past time to stop wiring about every one else in the world and fix our own shit.
Want some Cheese to go with that whine there Flash?
Modern politics through the eyes of a whiny self absorbed teenager. great ...
Y'know, Flashie, BOGO sales at Wal-Mart are far more likely to be known to that poor person than the rich dude with a shower for every shit. It's all part of stretching every last bit until it snaps.
Won't be no Game o' Thrones at all if ya cuss me out when I'm there to help you.
*click* Dispatch. Hostile/abusive customer. Cancel the work order.
*click* Okie dokie lokie. Here's your next.
I don't get why people believe this tripe. The overwhelming majority of the world is kind and tolerant.
I can get why Flash thinks this way, he's been raised in a broken family, had his social life and self worth torn to shreds, and was suicidal.
But why do people in the comments believe this?
I see Flash has been reading "Nihilism for Dummies"
8894584 Some people literally choose to believe they live in a world that's worse than it is. Very dramatic.
8897946
It is very bad right now. Not to say it can't get better, but he's right-a large portion of the population just doesn't care. And yu saying things are great only increases the amount of ignorant people. Things will only get better if we work together, which won't happen in the near future.
8894584
Nah, the overwhelming majority of America, not the world, is civil, not kind. We can afford to be that way due to technology and capitalism. But Pax Romana was only Pax for Rome and her privileged few, and then came the long slow fall.
Okay Skirts, this is getting difficult to read. The short bursts of misanthropy I waded through because you have earned a reputation as a good writer, but I can't handle such large doses. Flash's views are utter crap. I remember the mindset I had as a teenager quite well; I don't want to relive it.