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Humanity really isn’t all that special, or evolved, or even nice. Wanna know how I know? I’ll tell you how I know.

Rubberneckers.

You know the ones. Accident at the side of the road, and everyone cranes their neck for a better look.

Some of us are so dead inside that even the scary, primal, direct-from-our-caveman-ancestors kind of jolt like the one I’m talking about is preferable to the numb, empty feeling that we carry around in our chests day-in and day-out. It’s like punching a wall just because you haven’t experienced pain in a while, and you want to re-familiarize yourself with the whole concept of ‘Ow, that hurt.’

Maybe it’s the involuntary (and one-hundred percent free) shot of adrenaline that you get when your subconscious starts wigging out at the sight of something dangerous, possibly fatal, that has just happened. When cavemen were roaming the mountain ranges and plains, if they came upon something like the still-bloody remains of what appeared to be a fellow caveman, survival instinct took over, and the pre-language equivalent of “Get the hell out of here right now!” would start playing inside their heads at the loudest possible volume, glands would get squeezed for every ounce of action-juice they could muster, and the caveman would flee to somewhere safe. Heart beating in their chest, they’d finally make it back to wherever it was they called ‘home’ and count their lucky stars that they didn’t end up like whats-his-face. That whole fear instinct lets us know that danger, or the potential for danger, is somewhere nearby, and that fleeing to safety is one heck of a fine idea.

Does that feel good to some of us? Living in a society that is relatively safe from violent animal attacks, fatal acts of nature and other caveman concerns, is that sort of thing something that we miss?

See, I’m not saying it’s precisely an addiction . . . but there’s a reason why reality television does as well as it does.

It doesn’t matter if you believe that human beings are inherently peaceful creatures who should all be vegetarians and live in harmony with nature so that everything can be about peace and beauty and everything wonderful. Fact of the matter is this; humanity didn’t get where it is by being weak, or passive, or gentle. We are the apex predator, folks, able to kill any other animal on the planet. If you are a living creature on this planet, you have ‘man’ listed as one of your natural enemies, and it doesn’t matter if you’re an elephant, a shark, or a baby kitten. Sure, human beings are aggressive, brutal animals, but by God . . . we’re very, very effective.

Thing is, you don’t take thousands of years of aggressive, violent, bloody instinct out of an entire species overnight.

And what does reality television focus on? Why, it focuses on angry people, or excited and crying people, or people who are *this* close to getting into a fist-fight. They focus on what’s ugly, or competitive, or humiliating, or aggressive, or violent, and they broadcast only those moments to as many people that will watch. The hours and hours of peaceful coexistence gets piled up on the cutting-room floor. They’re trafficking misery, the ability to judge and feel smugly superior to the poor hapless bastards you’re watching, thankful that you’re not one of them.

Maybe that’s a little closer to the truth than people are comfortable with. Most people aren’t as happy when good things happen to them as they are when bad things happen to people who aren’t them. Maybe it’s that shot of adrenaline that wakes us up from the cold, the numb. Maybe that satisfies the blood-drinking savage in you, the one you’re suppressing day-in and day-out.

The next time you pass a wreck on the side of the road, try to ask yourself why you’re looking. Then, when you have a second, look up the word ‘junkie’.

Update: Black Glass – still chugging away at 50%

Yeah, this whole Wednesday update got kind of dark on me. Maybe it’s a reflection of the fact that I’m barely halfway through the chapter right now. Maybe it’s because of a bunch of stuff. Maybe I just need a good night’s sleep.

Hey, that’s a hella plan!