Anomaly or Difference

In this blog I want to address some of the issues raised by realitycheck .

Let me first reiterate (and I may have to do so often) that this blog addresses issues about humanity rather than human beings. Human beings derive their behavior from the human race or humanity. As individuals human beings cannot engage in behavior that is not associated with the human race.

Every anomaly is a difference but every difference is not an anomaly. An anomaly is also not a defect. An anomaly is defined as a deviation from an established rule. An introvert in a family of extroverts would be an anomaly, but I would not say the same about a 5 footer in a family of 6 footers. The latter would be a mere difference. I believe we can learn more from anomalies than from differences. For starters, I would suggest that a difference is a more permanent aspect of an organism's nature or identity than an anomaly. A short person will always be short and attempts to increase that person's height may do more harm than good.

Let us consider the implications of the idea that suicide and self-destruction exists in the human species because humans, unlike the other species, have the ability to think. Not all humans succumb to suicide and self-destruction. On the other hand the negative impact of humans on the eco-system has caused isolated cases of self-destruction among other species.

It is useful to explore where humans as a species derived these unique cognitive AND limbic functions that the other species do not have. As I noted in the previous blog, they are not indicated by the creative act or the evolutionary process. Yet, they exist. But, the focus is not on the incidence of suicide and self-destruction among human beings at the level of the individual but in the species itself. If it were not normative for the human species to exhibit such behaviors, these behaviors would not be seen among human individuals.

Finally, the fact that all humans find the suicidal and self-destructive behavior of the human species to be abhorrent is an indicator that they do not view it as a difference but as an anomaly. It is illogical that an organism would object to being what it is.