Last month was a fissiparous gyration of emotions for me. I was in many places at the same time. But each time I take a walk either from class to the school gate or a long casual stroll, the thought of writing to you is always present but I shun it because I know that I either come out in your mail ranting (like the way the social media has commercialized problems) or I come out mid in my writing (even though I have never thought of myself better.)
However, this month, I am on the bright side. I found so many things useful and more answers to my curiosity. In my last newsletter, I revealed the initial plan of this newsletter and how we are here today. This is one of the realities we should acclimatize ourselves with—sudden change theory, spurred by instant or mimetic ideology.
On becoming good
Being good is quantified by character, your impact, and the first-time-theory of physical appearance. A good character hence is highly proportional to being good. This is the definition that has been given to the goodness of humans these days. And despite the accolades one might receive for being good, a bad choice or support can turn you into a mephistophelean.
On being good, people place you in the never-wrong cadre and this is why most people gullibly take in ideas of those who they perceived as ultra-brilliant. It is why people screenshot some quotes online and post them on their social media accounts to justify their stupidity. It is all because it has a name. This theory is called The Empty Name Theory.
Hence, once you're being good, people will gauge you with other good people on their lists and because the mind draws a funny pattern of situations, they believe that you should be as good as the people on their list and once you can't meet up to the patterns of good people on their list, you become bad.
During my active days on Twitter, I saw folks whom others claim to be the best of humans suddenly labelled the worst of Homo Sapiens because they stood for an idea that is not popular, while some of these "labelled good folks" supported a political leader that is not common with the list of good people, they become the bad person.
This is one of the diseases fighting our society today. The polarization for validation.
The sociological nature of the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnon man is less known; perhaps I could have traced their responsive nature. However, with the rise of technology, there have been various ways of dividing the existence of the human race. This idea is captured in a line in Yuval Noah Harari's book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, "Humans were always far better at inventing tools than using them wisely."
The truth is, humans are inherently selfish. We don't have the best of them. We only have the fair. The moment you begin to expect more then you set yourself up for disappointment. Hence, treat every man like every man. Of course, it is good to have a preference but don't let that preference champion your idea of them.
So, generally? Being good comes with a character label. Characters come with a name. The name comes with a sense of identification. Identification comes from curiosity. Curiosity comes from little knowledge. Little knowledge comes from learning. Learning comes from the unknown. The unknown is nothingness. Nothingness is Tabula Rasa.
On becoming bad
Bad emanates because we want to have a word for polarization. The world doesn't believe that everyone can be all-around good. They believe that there should be a counterpart to being good and to amplify this, various movies helped us to shape our thoughts. Recently, I decided to watch Moribus by Marvel. When it came out earlier, I chose not to due to the reviews I got but then when I saw it on Netflix, I knew it was time.
But what caught my curiosity is Milo's label of being bad. The underlying reason for drinking the chimaera blood is for his health but it comes with a cost. The truth is every human will go extreme to get a panacea to their illness and this is what Milo felt. Then the story suddenly changed. The sweet young Milo became the vicious Dracula opposite Moribus.
Hence, while both men are Dracula, they become polarized. The good Dracula and the bad Dracula. This is all a means of commercialization. A Marvel movie won't make much sense if there's no antagonist and any antagonist can come at any cost.
This can be likened to reality. Being bad is a result of the want to divide. To bring faction. To divide. Being bad comes from the desire to have a name for the opposite of being good.
Our myths are filled with these. Olódùmarè vs. Èsù Òdàrà, Olympian vs. Chthonic, God vs. Satan, etcetera. The important question hence is, what is bad? Is bad really bad?
What is bad?
Bad is the opposite of good. But since humans create bad, and humans are susceptible to change, then does that mean that bad can change? Even though there are unwritten natural laws that stem out of repetitive mystery creating what is accepted and whatnot, the idea of bad is still a construct of the human mind.
This is why our good person will be easily labelled bad because he didn't support the idea of what other good people supported.
Is it bad really bad?
Our minds have been constructed to believe in natural laws which stem out of extraterrestrial existence or nature by itself. To answer this, we need to dig further into the idea of bad itself. However, not to elongate this, let me wrap it up.
Takeaway
Not everyone will like what you like and not everyone will be like what you want them to be.
Don't expect too much from people, less you set yourself up for disappointment.
Being good or bad should be what you only want to see, not what you want to be known for. The truth is, do the right thing enough and own up to your views.
Because you find it online doesn't mean it is sensible. People of meagre wisdom also use the internet.
What am I currently reading?
History of the Yorubas by Reverend Samuel Johnson
21 Lessons of the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari