Human history in a nutshell

Thought I’d present an excerpt from my book, Elijah Dove. It’s a scene in which an alien, named Strrruptl is lecturing the main character on how dysfunctional the human race is from his perspective…

‘Human history, as I see it, is a swinging pendulum,’ began Strrruptl. ‘During an economic up swing, humans will become philosophical, and focus on how wonderful they are as a species, on their colourful diversity, and the beauty of the wider community, blah blah blah. Often, it’s the elite, educated classes who promote this, those who have the idle time to study philosophy.

‘By dominating the media and politics, they project their outlook onto the lower classes, often blinded to their actual condition, and under the delusion that their philosophy of openness is truly prevalent; when in actual fact, the voice of the underclass has been muted. Looking further, it’s their own outlook that’s artificial and cosmetic. A politician will talk all about, and push for laws enforcing equal opportunities, and about levelling the playing field, but he won’t risk the possibility of his own daughter marrying a person of colour.

‘But then, come the economic downturns, the wars, and rumours of wars, putting pressure on the lower classes which builds up to dangerous levels. Inevitably, the dam breaks, unleashing tidal waves of opinion and sentiment, sometimes violent, sometimes leading to bloody revolutions. In some cases, whole upper crust cultures disappear, like they did in Russia with the Bolshevik revolution, or like the Levantine cultures of Lebanon, Syria, and Iran did in the wake of the Islamic revolutions. America has been going through a similar period, erasing the advances made by the Civil Rights movement, the hippy movement and the Political Correctness movements.

‘At that point, all pretensions fall away and society reverts to its true self. Tolerance and brotherhood with humanity have flown the coop. It’s the classic retreat back to the most basic of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The once popular and brave hero of the playground is now hiding in the skirts of his mother while the bullies have taken over.

‘Then, a few generations on, the cycle repeats itself.

‘We Galactics enjoy a lifespan many times that of the average human. At 94, I am still young, but many of my elders, observing humanity from a distance, have witnessed a few such cycles.

‘So, do you see why humanity can’t be trusted?’