Written on the night of November 3, 2023 — not as a finished argument, but as an honest response to what the world looked like that night. These words have not been greatly altered. They are offered as they were: raw, unresolved, and meant.
This was written during the early weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, which began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an assault on Israel, killing over 1,200 people. By November 3rd, Israeli ground forces had advanced into the Gaza Strip, an attack outside Al-Shifa Hospital had killed dozens, and the civilian death toll was mounting rapidly. The world was watching. This piece was written in the middle of that.
I. Chaos in Foris (Chaos from the Outside)
In the modern era, it is quite evident that humanity is nearing its own extinction. The greatest threat is not another nation's capability to destroy, nor the technological capacity they hold — but that humans are their own greatest threat.
I have come to question myself again and again: is there such a thing as peace and harmony in this world? What the ancient period called utopia — wherein harmony and peace do truly exist — feels distant. Humanity has advanced in ways even I cannot fully comprehend. I have become part of the greater whole, yet I see things differently.
These past few days, I have seen the atrocious actions inflicted by some nations and groups — inflicting endless pain upon innocent individuals. Women, men, children, the elderly, professional workers — all sacrificed as mere collateral. I condemn this war.
We have come into a present time wherein social media plays a part, and almost anyone has the freedom to speak. Truth be told, falsity spreads faster than truth itself. It is a poison to the mind — a pandemic virus of its own kind. It will continue to spread as long as there are individuals — particularly those in power — who carry narcissistic behavior (an excessive sense of self-importance paired with a lack of empathy for others), Machiavellianism (the willingness to manipulate and deceive others purely for personal gain, without moral consideration), and the dark triad (a psychological concept grouping three destructive personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) in their psychology.
Therefore, I draw a conclusion — not as a student or a global citizen alone, but as a writer who sees the bigger picture: a world that ought to promote the greater good. This will not end here as a consequence of our actions. As humanity strives for the pinnacle, so do others — competitively, relentlessly.
At what cost?
II. Fallacia Humana (The Human Fallacy)
Over the course of time, humanity strives and thrives — eliminating barriers once thought unknowable, achieving what was once unthinkable. Different philosophers have stated that man, with his own intellect and reason, cannot survive nor learn to generate understanding of the unknown without them. That may be a factor in which the society we have today exists. I think, therefore I am.
Despite that, the human being is a social creature — and yet, a slave to its own gratification. It will do everything within its capacity to satisfy its wants. Falsity and fallacy become the greater force. And as we move further into post-modernism (a school of thought that challenges the existence of objective truth, arguing that meaning and reality are shaped by culture, language, and power rather than universal facts), I expect more fallacy — people whose ideologies differ will conflict with one another.
I recall a philosopher arguing for ethical and cultural relativism (the view that moral standards are not absolute or universal, but vary from culture to culture — that what is right or wrong depends entirely on the society in which one lives), stating that there is no universal truth and that moral standards differ across peoples and places. Misinformation is the perfect example of this. It changes other people's perception on matters they did not fully grasp to begin with. People rely on it because it is the fastest way to obtain information at hand.
We are all, in some measure, servants of lies and deception. That is why, in actuality, people who do not exercise rationality are affected disproportionately — they over-react, they perceive too much, rather than seeing clearly. Harsh as it may sound, this is a fact, not merely an axiom (a self-evident truth accepted without proof). This condition leads to a different intellectual organization of the mind — one that constructs its own version of truth, in which fallacy overcomes.
And if truth itself has become negotiable — what then remains?