by Jason Stotts
Sometimes I wonder, in a real human way, what drives men to become bestial. In a dry academic sense, I know the answer. The answer is manifold, but uncomplicated. The simplest way to put it is that they have never learnt how to become men. But that doesn’t satisfy my curiosity on a deeper level. Although I know why they do it, I cannot put myself into their mental and emotional state which would allow these acts of depravity.
Take, for instance, the decadence of those who live their lives through the stupor of drugs or alcohol – those who intentionally erect a veil between themselves and reality. Why do they do it? Could it merely be that they do it for the “pleasure” of being under the influence? Are they trying to escape from their own incompetency? Are they seeking to construct an “alternate universe” where their lack of human skills can be compensated for by their brutality and the empty vanity offered to them by others of their ilk? Could it even be that what drives them to decadence is their hatred of the Good? Do they become bestial merely to desecrate the good as should have been personified in them?
I truly want to know the answer.
I cannot grasp how they can see that there are good men out there, that efficacy in the world comes from using your mind, that the key to anything they could ever wish lies in the actualization of their human potential…and then willfully seek to destroy their humanity. Is their mental evasion so complete that they can no longer see their actions and their own state of existence for what it is?
Although I could write volumes on the issue and although I know that I could explain the phenomenon fully and accurately – I shall never, ever, be able to understand it.