Q5 - Current Situations

In the book, Bill mentions the possibility of how the catastrophe of blindness was perhaps not coincidental. He theorizes that the blindness and the plague that killed many of the blind people was not accidental, but caused by artificial forces. To be said directly, Bill thinks that all these disasters were caused by biochemical weapons; satellite weapons that would destroy mankind.

When mentioning these kinds of mass destruction weapons, the first subject that most people are able to think of is nuclear weapons. Especially the nuclear bomb, the symbol of destruction that leaves a scar on the land and history forever. So, are there any situations in the modern world that relate to the novel? Yes. Starting from nuclear bombs that threaten to wipe out millions of lives, there are millions of similar situations out there like the ones in the story. The only difference is that the book has situations that are a bit more extreme.

Like Torrence, there were communist nations that forced their citizens to suffer for the equality of everybody. Even today North Korea is still learning its lesson under a Korean Torrence. Like the time when Coker kidnapped people with sight to make them help for the welfare of the blind, sometimes people try to help others, but in the wrong way. From Miss Durrant's case, there are people who try to live a life that they think is right, but refuse to change anything for fear of proving themselves wrong and losing their pride. Another common phenomenon in the world today is the thought that there will be somebody else who will do something. This is the way the girl who believed the Americans would have pulled off a miracle and stayed quite stable thought. Often people tend to think that 'it's okay since somebody else will do something about it' and refuse to solve any problems that come along the way.

There are a lot of things that have connections between the book and the real world, but why are there so many negative ones?

The answer is simple: everything starts from the fact that people are the cause of all of these. More specifically, how the human mind thinks is what brings in all the chaos. When the situations above are examined carefully, it can be observed that everything begins from how humans think: to be better than others, caring about morals only for the ones who are worse off without considering the other people and logic, their pride, the thought that I can be free of responsibility, and so on.

Most of these thoughts have a common spot. It is that nearly all humans tend to consider, or want to think, that he or she is more superior than others. Pride is another word for this state.

These kinds of situations happen because we think we are always better than other people. We want to seem like good people even when we know we're not, and we don't like to lose or admit that we are not as good as some people. People think that they don't have to do anything because the hard work belongs to others. It is such a selfish way to think, but it is a part of human philosophy that is too difficult to get rid of.

More in the case of nuclear bombs and triffids, (which are another symbol of man's greed because triffids wouldn't have kept on existing if men hadn't grown them for money) are more in the form of physical violence. Why would people choose violence as a strategy to be better than others? These days, even little children have fun torturing little creatures or playing violent games. What causes this? Why, of all things, is it physical abuse against others that humans endulge themselves in?

It is probably because violence really hurts. Physical pain can be felt, and it is a direct way to harm others. Through hurting other people, people can feel more superior than whoever they are tormenting. Feeling superior gives a feeling of being worthy. It is a filthy truth, but that's how some people think. It's true: mankind is more cruel than it seems.