Femur

Republic of China (1912–1949) / Huang Yongyu/ Beautiful Summer

Monday morn, coffee is in hand, thinking about the week coming up.  Checked the counter and seventy-two weeks left of the current rancid flavor of toil.  I can make it (I think).

Got to thinking about the percentages yesterday.  

I have to agree with Mike that it is the elite 20 or so percent of the general population that seem to be causing the greatest damage.  I have been harping on these for a while now here at the Church of Saint Ted.  I will give the scientists (approx 0.25% of the general population) their fair share of the blame.  They are the ones with enough smarts to come up with the understanding of the way that the world functions to develop the new ideas and understanding that can be converted to WMD.  

These poor saps.  They are usually comfortable and upper middle class in economic standing with an income that is admired by the hoi polloi, but is sneered at by the apex predators that occupy the C Suites.   I think that they are an odd form of economic agriculture.  The folks in the next tier down of intellect and understanding are where the real problems seem to be.  These are the whores.  They are almost as smart as the 0.25% but they are usually stupid enough to have been caught in the snare of money as a signifier of intellect.  These are the folks who convert the realm of pure thought into the WMD’s.  You can find these folks toiling away in the bowels of big pharma, big diagnostics, big education, and the bowels of the military industrial complex for some pretty good wages, a decent retirement, and perks.  

The rest of the 80% lower class has been conned into allowing these understandings to run unchecked by the rich and the powerful.  I tend to agree with Mike that nearly anything can be converted into a weapon.

But I tend to think that is the way that we roll.  The twin gifts of a relatively large brain and opposable thumbs made certain that we picked up a weapon before we ever caught onto the idea of speech.  The use of weapons is what made us who we are.

Lots of folks seem to think that we have a good side.  Me, I am not so sure.  I tend to think of us as killer apes with a light dusting of civilization.

I think of the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The scientist in that milieu was the ape (not shown in the scene) that, while sitting around the campfire, smelling the roasting meat (don’t ask) and thinking to himself “you know, maybe if we tie a rock to the end of that femur bone, we can get back to this fire quicker”?