MovieChat Forums > Ancients Behaving Badly (2009) Discussion > How depressing

How depressing

posted 11 years ago by JaneSchmo
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After watching all these Ancients Behaving Badly shows, I feel plunged into nihilism, cynicism and despair. You hear about people like Caligula, Tiberius, Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great and all you can do is shake your head at the entire human race. I am ashamed to belong to the same species as these unspeakable monsters and know that, if memory of high school biology serves, I share more than 99 percent of their same genetic code.

Where do human beings like this COME from? How can people like this live with themselves? How can they sleep at night and look in the mirror every day? And not only were these sociopaths not social pariahs, as one might expect of people so anti-social, cruel and selfish, they were at the very top of the food chain in life. They were kings, emperors, princes, senators, etc. The highest of the high. And in death they have been rewarded by having their names enshrined for eternity in history. This is who humanity picks to lead us? These are our "most glorious" rulers and heroes? This is who comes out on top?

I take some solace in the thought that most of them were probably miserable people who hated themselves and others (Alexander allegedly attempted to commit suicide, for instance) but, still, that doesn't do much. And, really, some of them actually seem to have had a whole hell of a lot of fun in life. Genghis Khan, for one, never seemed to have been punished for his crimes. He prospered, got whatever he wanted, partied like a mofo and lived to a ripe old age. No consequences- you even look at his life with envy. Maybe being a bad person wasn't its own punishment in many of these cases.

Can someone please say something to cheer me up and restore my faith in humanity? Show me that there is a place for virtue, kindness, decency, fairness towards others and love in the world? Can someone tell me something that shows me it is still worth it to be a good person in this cruel and unjust world?

Is there goodness and justice in the world? And if so, why isn't THAT celebrated?

[–] brsouza-292-784894 11 years ago

Jane I just read your comment and I have exactly the same way of thinking. But I think that, in the past time, I went one step forward on this matter.
I understood 2 things: one that it depends on the point of view. Your values as a person are the right to me and maybe to most of the human race. But, the human being is a selfish being, who will tolarate and get used to any practice and totalitarism of any evil entity in order to keep it's status quo.

The second thing I've learned is that there is no justice, it's just a role of dice. The physics laws are set for our world, but not the acts. The great deal is not judging God for not "participating", stopping of "letting things happen" in this human horrors, but us, for having the wisdom (and extremelly hard and difficult) of forgivness. This is why is so difficult to forgive.
Lastly, you should not think that the murderer is a party-goer, but a really tormeted person, unable to feel empathy. This series are not acurate but I see thm rather unfair, because the glory the human dark side and fail to demonstrate how tormented the personality was. Even Ghengis Khan, so don't just beleive on what the series present, it's just a show.

And Jane, in my opinion.. no, humanity will not prevail. Will be just one biological species which was not successfull on this cosmic trip.

So have fun, take care of you beloved ones and teach your values to your children. We are not extinct yet, so there is still hope :)

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M