In the Los Angeles Review of Books, Simon Critchley tells us about philosopher John Gray’s loathing for humans:
HUMAN BEINGS DO NOT just make killer apps. We are killer apes. We are nasty, aggressive, violent, rapacious hominids, what John Gray calls in his widely read 2002 book, Straw Dogs, homo rapiens. But wait, it gets worse. We are a killer species with a metaphysical longing, ceaselessly trying to find some meaning to life, which invariably drives us into the arms of religion. Today’s metaphysics is called “liberal humanism,” with a quasi-religious faith in progress, the power of reason and the perfectibility of humankind. The quintessential contemporary liberal humanists are those Obamaists, with their grotesque endless conversations about engagement in the world and their conviction that history has two sides, right and wrong, and they are naturally on the right side of it.
I dunno. Whoever thinks this has never lived with rescue kitties who, having been rescued from nature, tend to treat their human rescuers as their appointed servants.
Religion is my only defense against the kitties, actually. Cats, you don’t know what I do when I am at church.
Seriously, there is no species other than man that can do much to intentionally improve life on Earth. So it’s hard to see how this anti-human stuff helps much. It reminds me of sick people who are anti-doctor. It’s fine to be anti-doctor if you aren’t sick. If you are, you’d best look at your options. – news writer Denyse O’Leary