Losing Faith in Humanity?

I saw a Facebook post that set me back. “A university student was trying to research ways to help turtles cross roads safely, so he placed a fake turtle in a road to observe driver behavior. Disturbingly, he found that six percent of people deliberately went out of their way to hit the turtle.” The idea that so many people are cold-blooded animal killers about did me in. I briefly lost faith in humanity.

I investigated it further and found that Mark Rober, an engineer at NASA, conducted the experiment. He analyzed how many cars went out of their way to hit rubber animals he placed on the side of the road. He found that about 6 percent of drivers (60 out of his sample of 1,000 cars, mostly SUVs and trucks) would swerve out of their lane to hit a spider, turtle, or snake on the side of the road. What are they thinking?

I don’t aspire to stalk and kill an elephant, but many people do. Trophy hunters pay large sums of money, often tens of thousands of dollars, to travel around the world to kill wild animals. They wouldn’t think twice about hitting a turtle on the road. It has been suggested that personality disorders of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy are all involved in the pleasure of hunting and killing. Animal cruelty is an indicator of violent antisocial behavior. Seventy-one percent of domestic violence victims reported that their abuser also targeted pets, as suggested in a survey.

Admittedly, there is a difference between roadkill and killing other humans, but killing is killing. How many people harbor thoughts of killing? It turns out that homicidal ideation is common. Most people who have homicidal ideation do not commit homicide. Surveys have shown that most people have had homicidal fantasies at some stage in their life. Fifty to ninety-one percent of people surveyed on university grounds in various places in the United States admit to having had a homicidal fantasy. Homicidal thoughts may arise in people who are not mentally ill, as demonstrated by the fact that most people within the general population have had homicidal fantasies.

What contributes to homicide? An individual’s political ideology or worldview may in some cases be linked to homicidal ideation. Emotional problems, opportunity, past experiences with violence, and lifestyle choices, such as being involved in a violent gang, can contribute to violence.

I have reason to lose faith in humanity. The U.S. murder rate rose 30% between 2019 and 2020. This is the largest single-year increase in more than a century, according to data published this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Firearms were involved in 77% of murders in 2020, up from 73% in 2019, according to the FBI.

Today, as I’m writing this, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 people. Of the people fatally shot by Ramos at the school, 18 were children in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade and one was a teacher. He had a handgun, an AR-15 assault weapon, and high-capacity magazines. How many mass shootings can we absorb without losing faith?

But I still have some measure of hope. In addition to the 6% of drivers who killed the animals, another six percent in Mark Rober’s research pulled over to try to help some of the rubber animals (specifically the snake and turtle, but not the poor spider). The idea that six percent of people purposefully tried to help the animals is encouraging.

It is easy to see evidence of the worst of human nature. But that’s only half of the story. Every day, people around the world fight against injustices, dedicate time and resources to helping those less fortunate than them, or just perform simple acts of kindness that brighten the lives of those around them. There is evidence of the goodness of humans if we just look for it. We should all strive to be the 6% who actively choose to help.