Humanity

Humanity is a synonym for mankind. But it's also a description of a set of values. For instance if you are treating a captured enemy in a humane way, with humanity, you're observing the Geneva Conventions. When ISIS’s beheads their captives or in the case of the Jordanian pilot sets them on fire in a cage, they’re demonstrating behavior that's the direct opposite of normatively humane behavior. Conversely the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions established in both South Africa and Tunisia show that there are humane ways of avoiding the quagmire of retribution. When Republican candidates trade insults, some say it’s just politics, but when the attacks are totally ad hominem such as terming someone a liar or crook, it's the kind of behavior we might regard as lacking in humanity. If it’s not necessarily beheading it’s a form of assassination, at least of character. You may not be killing the person, but you’re trying to kill their reputation. Instead of merely disagreeing with them on an issue you want to deal such a devastating blow that you're eliminating them from the field of competition. It would be like accusing a Tour de France rider of being on steroids. If the atmosphere of at least the Republican primaries is at all telling, this is going to be an election that's lacking in humanity. Instead of discussing the central issues, we're likely to hear about peccadillos. Politics has always been a tough sport, but the bare knuckle combat has gotten to the point where there has been relatively little discussion of substantive issues like health care, the economy, free trade, immigration and the war on terrorism. Boxers are always warned against headhunting which is trying to end a fight with one solid knockout punch since when a fighter throws a haymaker he leaves himself vulnerable to the counter punch. The lack of humanity in the current election is a form of headhunting. The candidates have tried to knock each other out of the ring instead of slowly building up their cases and to continue the fight metaphor, the one to suffer is the audience, humanity, since they’re not getting their money’s worth. The fight’s over before it even starts.

CDC or CPC (Center for People Control)?

Auschwitz inmate Czeslowa Kwoka (taken by prisoner and photographer Wilhelm Brasse)

Is it easier to control a disease than a person? There are some diseases which don’t respond to anything and simply progress along their deadly course. But most diseases respond to medicines. We take penicillin and other antibiotics for infection and chemo and radiation rid the body of many cancers. But controlling people is another matter. We may subdue another person through threats, intimidation and emotional blackmail. But the results of colonization which have left in their wake a whole generation of angry offspring, some of whom have themselves resorted to terror tactics are plainly visible in the recent upsurge in the kind of violent activities that have afflicted France. The French have upgraded their security. But will containment actually work? Even massive genocide has not actually proven effective in ridding enemies of each other. The attempts by the Hutus to murder the Tutsi, the Nazis to eliminate the Jews and the Turks to erase the Armenians are three prominent cases which illustrate the regenerative nature of the human spirit. Attempts to crush and repress actual kindle fires and in some cases unfortunately lead to oppressed minorities reenacting the sins of their oppressors. On an individual level, the results of domination and subjugation are evidenced by our soaring divorce rates. South Africa is a unique example where inspired by the spirit of personalities like Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission became 
another path whereby revenge was replaced with remembrance. Tunisia has recently also taken a similar path (“Torture Claims in Tunisia Await Truth Commission,” NYT, 5/19/15). “Turn the other cheek” rather” than an eye for an eye” have been the guiding premises of that revolutionary commission.  “Never Again!” is the famed motto of Holocaust survivors. It’s a lesson that both individuals and national states need take to heart.