<p>It seems the bird has its feet tied up and face covered by a cloth all day long while people pay the trapper for a glimpse of the bird under the belief that any wish they make then will be conveyed by the bird to Shiva in Mount Kailash.<br /><br />This is just one among a whole host of instances of man’s wanton cruelty to helpless animals in order to make a quick buck. The whip to the back of draught animals like bullocks, horses and donkeys, the tug of the rope through the nostrils of the performing bear on the street and scores of other examples clearly point to the fact that cruelty is in-built in us human beings. The torture of animals in drug research is a well known practice. <br /><br />In fact, cruelty is a trait that sets apart Homo sapiens from other fauna. Yes, animals kill or fight but only to eat or for self-protection or to establish domain superiority or during mating. But wanton cruelty is essentially a human characteristic. To establish this I typed ‘Cruelty in animals’ in Google search and came up with only ‘Cruelty to animals.’ There were nearly half-a-million leads to that.<br /><br />Where do we get our cruel impulses from? What makes a soldier skewer an infant on his bayonet? What induces a rioter to rip open with his sword the abdomen of a helpless pregnant woman? Is it something that we carry in the ancient part of our brain which had to deal with surviving in a hostile environment? Is it in our genome?<br /><br />Aggressive behaviour<br /><br />Researchers have zeroed in on the MAOA gene in the X chromosome which may have something to do with aggressive behaviour in humans. This gene encodes an enzyme called monoamine oxidase A which degrades amine neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.<br /><br />A study conducted at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US indicates an association between brain MAOA level and aggressive personality traits in normal individuals. Whether cruelty is a trait derived from this gene is still open to question. <br />Then again, if cruelty is an ancient trait built into our consciousness, does its continued existence today means that we have not actually evolved? Torture is a sub-set of cruelty. It is not just CIA interrogators who torture. Small children are known to torture and maim insects. What makes them do it? Considering this, the term ‘inhuman cruelty’ is an oxymoron for, to be human is to be cruel. <br /><br />Curiously, religions are ambivalent about cruelty. Each one wants peace and kindness among its followers and cruelty to the non-believers. Remember the tortures of the Inquisition? All religions have graphic scripts detailing the hideous punishments which will be dished out in the after life to those not conforming to their ideologies. Only cruel minds could detail such punishments. <br /><br />Who was more cruel - the al-qaida who brought down the World Trade Towers in New York or the US Armed Forces who killed a million Iraqi civilians in indiscriminate bombing? <br />Can mankind survive without cruelty? If the good are not cruel, can evil be combated? Innumerable wars have been fought with this justification but cruelty continues unabated. Humans have even invented a clever phrase to justify cruelty in certain circumstances, namely, “To be cruel is to be kind.” The problem with this is that cruelty still remains albeit in a camouflaged form. <br /><br />So, is there a way out? Can we hope that the next step in our evolution will be a jettisoning of cruelty, perhaps with help from gene manipulation? Or, is the only way out of the cruelty cage, an extinction of the human race?</p>
<p>It seems the bird has its feet tied up and face covered by a cloth all day long while people pay the trapper for a glimpse of the bird under the belief that any wish they make then will be conveyed by the bird to Shiva in Mount Kailash.<br /><br />This is just one among a whole host of instances of man’s wanton cruelty to helpless animals in order to make a quick buck. The whip to the back of draught animals like bullocks, horses and donkeys, the tug of the rope through the nostrils of the performing bear on the street and scores of other examples clearly point to the fact that cruelty is in-built in us human beings. The torture of animals in drug research is a well known practice. <br /><br />In fact, cruelty is a trait that sets apart Homo sapiens from other fauna. Yes, animals kill or fight but only to eat or for self-protection or to establish domain superiority or during mating. But wanton cruelty is essentially a human characteristic. To establish this I typed ‘Cruelty in animals’ in Google search and came up with only ‘Cruelty to animals.’ There were nearly half-a-million leads to that.<br /><br />Where do we get our cruel impulses from? What makes a soldier skewer an infant on his bayonet? What induces a rioter to rip open with his sword the abdomen of a helpless pregnant woman? Is it something that we carry in the ancient part of our brain which had to deal with surviving in a hostile environment? Is it in our genome?<br /><br />Aggressive behaviour<br /><br />Researchers have zeroed in on the MAOA gene in the X chromosome which may have something to do with aggressive behaviour in humans. This gene encodes an enzyme called monoamine oxidase A which degrades amine neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.<br /><br />A study conducted at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US indicates an association between brain MAOA level and aggressive personality traits in normal individuals. Whether cruelty is a trait derived from this gene is still open to question. <br />Then again, if cruelty is an ancient trait built into our consciousness, does its continued existence today means that we have not actually evolved? Torture is a sub-set of cruelty. It is not just CIA interrogators who torture. Small children are known to torture and maim insects. What makes them do it? Considering this, the term ‘inhuman cruelty’ is an oxymoron for, to be human is to be cruel. <br /><br />Curiously, religions are ambivalent about cruelty. Each one wants peace and kindness among its followers and cruelty to the non-believers. Remember the tortures of the Inquisition? All religions have graphic scripts detailing the hideous punishments which will be dished out in the after life to those not conforming to their ideologies. Only cruel minds could detail such punishments. <br /><br />Who was more cruel - the al-qaida who brought down the World Trade Towers in New York or the US Armed Forces who killed a million Iraqi civilians in indiscriminate bombing? <br />Can mankind survive without cruelty? If the good are not cruel, can evil be combated? Innumerable wars have been fought with this justification but cruelty continues unabated. Humans have even invented a clever phrase to justify cruelty in certain circumstances, namely, “To be cruel is to be kind.” The problem with this is that cruelty still remains albeit in a camouflaged form. <br /><br />So, is there a way out? Can we hope that the next step in our evolution will be a jettisoning of cruelty, perhaps with help from gene manipulation? Or, is the only way out of the cruelty cage, an extinction of the human race?</p>
