The Human Flaw: Attitude, Moral and Prejudice

by Marlon Viloria

I remember an old colleague who had written a technical textbook and managed to publish it too. But he was candidly honest and realistic, with a sad grin printed all over his face, that he would never make any money from it, never intended to in the first place but just following a passion. Jokingly but truthfully, he said that unless he had some controversial or saucy story to tell, insinuating at the time a cocktail of Clinton:Lewinsky:cigar-like narrative, people would not be interested to know, let alone buy his book.

He was not far from the truth. In fact, he was banged spot on.

Which reminds me of a caricature image I’ve recently seen posted on Facebook about two characters depicting two contrasting scenarios. One who has always been posting topics about world order, economics, politics, environmental issues and other stuff which have significance of epic proportions, effecting and affecting people’s lives one way or another.

Result: At best, such postings only manage to secure 2 or 3 likes, not one comment, nada, zilch. Naturally, he feels disappointed, even angry at the lack of responses that could perhaps initiate an interactive discussion, safely assuming that he is not aiming for attention or popularity, just an exchange of opinions.

On the other hand, the other character whose postings are trivial, at times dumb and no-brainer, or things of selfish, self-centred and narcissistic nature, attract not only infinite number of likes but many comments too, albeit dumb and no-brainer just the same. He feels elated, brimming with pride, imagining himself as a star waving in front of the world media.

Moral of the story? Well, we don’t need to look far to find one, just look at ourselves in the mirror or follow our noses and there we will locate the answer. Better, ask ourselves and perform some fundamental inventory from within. It would be yelling at us, yet repeatedly and deliberately ignored. It would also manifest itself in a gentle and veiled manner, yet deafening and clearly visible to our ears and to our naked eyes.

In the real world, we, in general, react in contempt or disgust followed by our strongly opinionated outbursts whenever we hear or read some controversial or evil acts. We openly show our biases and cynicisms regardless of whether or not such events or occurrences partly or wholly contradict our own beliefs and principles, or our ways of thinking. Rather, we choose to be blind and follow that beaten track of collective norms, conform willingly and brush any dirt that comes with it under the rug. By default, we become narrowly and rigidly directional in our focus, never omni-directional. We hardly question or investigate trigger points, determining factors and circumstantial or factual evidences surrounding it. We just believe what we want to believe or follow the current flow of popular belief and thinking, and in the process, ignoring other perspectives from different angles, including our own common senses, disregarding our inner but logically-formulated kernels altogether. We react, we criticise, we hardly think outside the box, nor proactive. us, the majority including me, that is.

Disclaimer: I never pretend or claim to be a man of impeccable moral values, I am humanly flawed, unashamedly, just like everyone else. 

Hence, I am grateful for the existence of a minority group among us. They are also flawed like everyone else but of niche breed and act as our equilibrium, playing the role of both the lowest and highest common denominator just to find that all-important balance. It may not be obvious but they remain the gravitational force that pulls us together and away from becoming loose cannons, from getting sucked into the abyss or into that black hole.

I bet you just shrug your shoulders off, never understanding what I am saying, why I am saying it or how I came to be saying it…but utter an almost predictable but instinctive tone, “So what? I don’t care”. Of course, you never bother to use your senses to observe, listen or feel, let alone try to comprehend in the first place. Don’t worry, it usually is the norm.

On a final note, I am also reminded of that glass filled with stones, pebbles, sand and water. We say, and rightly so, that we should take care of our stones first and foremost, as they represent our family, relatives and close friends. But even in such zoomed-in and narrow circles we call our comfort zones, we still show our flaws, our selfishness, if not sheer feeble-mindedness. Some of us just prefer to be at the receiving end, never the giver. We get comfortable and become complacent with such arrangement and if the status quo is broken, we never try to find out or ask ourselves why. Instead, we show our true colours and suddenly, the constant giver who never asks to receive anything in return becomes the bad guy.

Which begs some questions: are we really a civilised species? Despite all those millennial age of calibrated and recalibrated social and moral teachings, setting aside the ever-divisive religion for now; Despite all those history of wars, cruelty and destruction born out of greed and narrow interests, which should have taught us lessons and serve as guide for the greater purpose of allowing us to grow more wisely, harmoniously and maturely; Despite all those enacted laws that should protect the vast majority against the minority, particularly those pathological-in-nature perpetrators; Despite the advancement of science and technology, etc. etc., are we really any better in these modern times or contemporary world as we call it these days, than say, a thousand years ago? The verdict is still wide open…