Each of us is so close to
human nature that our perception of it may be blurry or partial. One of Freud’s
contributions is the insight that we don’t even know ourselves completely,
given the existence of the subconscious. This is also true of trying to
comprehend human nature at a distance, as whether humanity is or is not by
nature compassionate to people who are suffering greatly at a distance. The sheer
duration of the extreme suffering of civilians in Ukraine and Gaza in the midst
of ongoing military attacks by Russia and Israel, respectively, beginning in
the early 2020s, and the sheer impunity absent any interventionist coalitions
of countries from around the world combine to give a negative verdict on human
nature concerning compassion from a distance. It can even be said that the
ongoing passive complicity around the world impugns not only us, but human
nature itself. While less explicit than in furnishing weapons to Russia or
Israel, the complicity of human nature is more serious, for even as geopolitics
change, human nature is static, at least in a non-evolutionary timespan. Given
the extreme suffering in Gaza in particular, the lack of political will around
the world to step in militarily and assume control of Gaza may mean that human
nature itself is worse than hell on earth.
The full essay is at "Worse than Hell on Earth."