This one is a bit cynical at first, but that said it's not all the way bad. Like my previous article on the subject this is only focused on one topic.

In this case, this is my view on people in general. The Human Race. What I think both it's ups and downs. This one will be divided in certain topics, but I will start off with my view of them as a whole.

To quote Agent K of Men in Black, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky and dangerous animals and you know it." Which basically sums up my own mindset on people. When you get right down to it, we are walking contradictions. Trying to stand up for the group, but praising or gawking the individual depending on who they are and what they've done. Just nearly 3 years ago, when Covid Panic was on an all time high, we seen this quote come into play. Someone was convinced that Toilet paper of all things was the key to surviving a pandemic, as a result a major shortage. Just recently in my own country, due to a flu panic, every cough, cold and flu medicine has been stripped clean off the shelves. All because they think survival means getting it before everyone else does. However let's break things down.

Intelligence

From person to person it varies. Some can be smart, others stupid. Just to simplify it. However when a group unites under a common goal, despite how good their intentions may be, they often end up just as selfish, irresponsible and foolish and do more harm than good. This mentality existed way before the Europeans invaded North America, because as far as Europe was concerned, Earth is the Centre of the Universe and is flat. To think hundreds, maybe thousands of years of atrocities could have been avoided all because a bunch of idiots wanted to prove how smart they are. Yet when an individual says otherwise, they get burned at the stake figuratively and sometimes even literally. Other times, the problem with the world is that we as a group rely too much on one individual to show the way. Part of why Galileo didn't get the respect he deserved was because as far as the so called intellectual world was concerned, only Aristotle's word reigned true, despite others proving him wrong in the later generations. Yet once proven wrong what does the group do? Act like they are the first to come up with it, before eventually relenting and apologizing to the individuals they ridiculed long after they've been dead.

Morality

Much like intelligence, morality also varies from person to person. Each and every person has what they consider their moral centre. Some of which differs more than others. Myself for example, my morality is calling it like I see it. I see someone acting like a creep, I call them a creep. Others however both individual and group have such skewed ideas of what is moral or not, which could be attributed to the following things:

1. Cultural differences. To put it simpler, sex and consent. To the western world, any type of sexual relationships under 18, is considered immoral, whereas in the East, because the age of consent is different, so is the mentality and morality over it. Someone in America would be disgusted by someone in Japan, whereas the Japanese individual would genuinely be confused to why they are disgusted in the first place.
2. Environmental Influence. Most of the time, even within the bounds of the law, we all gain our moralities from outside influences. Whether it's friends and family, a favourite celeb or even the media we consume. In terms of the former, it's because we trust these people to guide and protect us from the horrors this world has to offer so needless to say, even if what they say is 100% bullshit, we are obligated to stand up for them because we love and trust them that much. In terms of both latter's we admire the person and content they offer and often try to model our lives after the examples set for us in these mediums.
3. Experience. Whether it's positive or negative, we develop our moralities based on the experiences we had. Some people take things too far in the negative and blame certain groups for the shit individuals did to them in the past. For example, a white person gets robbed by a person who happens to be black. Does that person call the police? No. Instead they decide to dedicate their lives in destroying the group demographic, based on the incident of one person. Which in turn causes said demographic to label all white people as bad as that person. It's an endless cycle that should have been broken centuries ago. Even positive experience doesn't help matters because for all you know the person or demographic they came from that helped you in the past could most likely be a Nazi.

Teamwork

This one is a tough one. Sometimes people can come together based off a certain goal, but often or not, many people end up screwing up said team and said goal based on the following factor. Humans individually, myself included are vain. Each and every one of us believes us to be the protagonist of our own stories and ergo believes we should lead the team rather than follow someone else, even if said person has the right idea. In-fighting breaks out and they end up back to square one. Ready to fuck things up again. If people could at the very least, put their vanity and ego aside and work together using common ground, then the world would be a better place. Part of the reason why the world is so depressing is because so many people are looking for more excuses to divide the human race, rather than unite them. Literally the only time we may cut the bullshit is if some alien race were to show up threatening us.

Consequence

In conclusion though, whether we stand together or stay apart, regardless of how reclusive we can be with them, our actions have world consequences. Even the smallest thing could cause disaster halfway around the world. However much of the reason why not a single one of us fixes it, is because of the following factors.

1. As individuals, but also even as group, we refuse to take responsibility for our part in wrecking the world. Be it through War or affecting the environment. Ergo, we don't see it as our problem and leave it to someone else.
2. We also have a tendency to blame others. Simply because we are too self-centred to realize maybe we are to blame. Trump does something, we blame him rather than the idiots that voted for him. Putin invades Ukraine, we blame him rather than blame ourselves or our countries for buddying with him before he pulled his shit.

Differences and Similarities

The biggest thing that has been the result of many conflicts is that the world has trouble either focusing on what makes us different from each other rather than what makes us similar. For that we're partially to blame too due to the hypocrisy of it. Certain races, orientations, gender identities and so on, want to be treated as equals, but at the same time don't want to lose their individual differences as the result because it makes them feel special to be different. Well I have news for everyone. Regardless of our skin colour, country, religion, orientation and gender identities among most things, we're really not all that different from each other. We all came to this world, thinking our way is the only way. We all clash with each other over it. To top it off, we all want to be heard. The only differences between us are not even important in comparison to the goal we all share. Either accept that, or remain in the cycle until you die.

Mob Mentality

This is the biggest problem ever. Whether it's something minor blown out of proportion or something major, but has little to do with some people, Mob Mentality is the ruin of us all. The second we hear something we don't like, we immediately jump on the bandwagon, judge and condemn before we even remotely hear the other side of the story. We simply take the words of strangers whom should have no impact on how we should think and feel. The key word Think and Feel. If one were to take a moment to stop and think, then maybe there would not need to be a mob formed every time. To top it off half the mob doesn't even care what happened, they just want to be in the spotlight and make it more about them. These people could care less about a murder or rape victim, as long as they themselves talk about how they feel in the event. Shows like South Park and just recently the Halloween Trilogy, showed the consequences of bullshit like that.

Over all, it's neither individual nor group that is solely responsible. It's both. If we could just get our heads out of our own asses, own up to that, we can work better together.