What is the Monkeysphere and what does it have to do with war, oppression, and crime? A lot, apparently.
From a Cracked article by David Wong, here is the Monkeysphere:
First, picture a monkey. A monkey dressed like a little pirate, if that helps you. We'll call him Slappy.
Imagine you have Slappy as a pet. Imagine a personality for him. Maybe you and he have little pirate monkey adventures and maybe even join up to fight crime. Think how sad you'd be if Slappy died.
Now, imagine you get four more monkeys. We'll call them Tito, Bubbles, Marcel and ShitTosser. Imagine personalities for each of them now. Maybe one is aggressive, one is affectionate, one is quiet, the other just throws shit all the time. But they're all your personal monkey friends.
Now imagine a hundred monkeys.
Not so easy now, is it? So how many monkeys would you have to own before you couldn't remember their names? At what point, in your mind, do your beloved pets become just a faceless sea of monkey? Even though each one is every bit the monkey Slappy was, there's a certain point where you will no longer really care if one of them dies.
So how many monkeys would it take before you stopped caring? That's not a rhetorical question. We actually know the number.
Despite the humorous tone of the article, it's actually a very interesting and thought-provoking one. Find out what the "magic number where you stop caring" is: Link - Thanks Emily!
There's a darker side to this. In this metaphor, if we people are all monkeys, who is our human? What happens if this human dies? Does another human take his place, or do all the monkeys become free individuals? Of course the most important question is: Why do the monkeys even NEED a human in the first place?
"Know problems cannot be solved with clever slogans and over-simplified step-by-step programs.
You can do that by following these simple steps. We like to call this plan the T.R.Y. plan:"
AND
"Second, UNDERSTAND that there are no Supermonkeys. Just monkeys. Those guys on TV you see, giving the inspirational seminars, teaching you how to reach your potential and become rich and successful like them? You know how they made their money? By giving seminars. For the most part, the only thing they do well is convince others they do everything well."
"So just remember: T-R-Y. Go forth and do likewise, gents. Copies of our book are available in the lobby."
It's a simple little postulation to bring a point home.
I'd prefer the company of monkeys to most of the above commenters.
I must be very simple (and therefore have a very small monkeysphere), because I thought the article was one of the most thought provoking I had ever read when it was first published a couple weeks ago.
It's not often that you find something on the internet that really makes you think about life.
But it's true- when it comes down to it, we're all just monkeys, no matter how advanced we become.
Unrelated:
God bless Cathy D. It's not a work I could do.