Is man inherently evil? Are we actually the sophisticated species we appear to be? Are we genuinely capable of compassion and empathy as a society or have we been simply governed by laws and restrictions long enough to condition us into evolving in that direction?.

Lord of the Flies

One of the books I've read that triggered such questions within me definitely has to be "Lord of the Flies". It tells the story of a group of innocent school children (who have yet to be polluted by the mental stains of adulthood), they get stranded on an island after a plane crash. As the events of the story unfold, it doesn't take too long for these once presumably pure souls to descended into a state of utter barbarism. The story does an excellent job in showing the gradual descent from childish innocence to evil -murder capable- savagery in the absence of governing laws as the conditioning of civilized society wears off. (I know the book is after all a work of fiction but according to my research, it's been influenced by true events).

Zimbardo's Prison experiment

If you're however skeptical about the aforementioned book, then here is a real life social experiment for you. Basically a group of undergraduate students volunteered to role play as prison guards and prisoners for a few days. The purpose of the experiment was to examine how much influence the surrounding environment has on human behavior. The results were astoundingly alarming! The guard's behavior gradually developed in hostile and dehumanizing ways towards prisoners, who in turn became bitterly passive but shortly after, experienced severe negative emotions such as anxiety and depression. Things got out of hand and the experiment had to be cut short midway through. Remember, we are talking about educated -presumably civilized- students here.

My Two Cents

Few things poison the soul like power and authority and even the purest among us will have the slightest of tendencies to take the low road once they get a taste of that poison. So its up to us to consistently keep ourselves in check and not solely depend on the conditioning of the fragile rules that govern us. The world is already a pretty rough place, the least we could do to make it a tiny bit more bearable is consciously remembering to be kind to one another.