Myth of the Lonely Cat and the Lovely Human

From horror movies to suspense novels, cats are generally the go-to lonely, scary characters. Their mysterious and independent nature, coupled with ancient superstitions and folklore, often cast them as ominous beings that evoke fear and unease.

However, beyond the realm of fiction, it is the human condition that truly delves into the depths of loneliness and reveals the darkest aspects of fear.

Unlike most other animals, like cats and dogs, the human species stands uniquely alone in its genus, Homo. If you studied basic biology in high school, you’d know that genus is a taxonomic rank used in the hierarchical system of organizing and categorizing living organisms. It is one of the levels used to group species with similar characteristics together based on their evolutionary relationships. What’s surprising is that even the apparently violent Big Cats like Lions (Panthera Leo), Tigers (Panthera Tigris), and Leopards (Panthera Pardus) fall into the same Genus, Panthera, and that’s why their scientific names (in the brackets) had the common word Panthera. This gets us wondering how violent a species has to be to secure the exclusive title of being alone in its genus.

How Violent is the Humankind? More than you think.

The horrors of genocide, oppression, and exploitation reveal the darkest aspects of human nature. The same minds that have produced remarkable works of art and advancements in science have also been capable of unfathomable brutality. It is this duality that makes the human species uniquely perplexing and sometimes terrifying. We know as a matter of fact that human history is filled with wars and brutalities on a scale that other species can’t even imagine. Just say, the Jewish and the Roma holocaust in Nazi Germany or the first and hopefully the last use of atomic weapons in Hiroshima Nagasaki or talking about the bloody Partition of India migrations. Millions were killed and massacred. Millions were displaced.

One could say what’s past is past and skirt the issue, but is it all just in the past? Surprisingly, these frightening numbers were marked when we humans considered ourselves to be highly civilized and composed. Then it doesn’t come as a surprise how much destruction were we capable of back in the day when such moral restrictions and values were not in place.  

Yuval Noah Harari, the author of the international bestseller, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, discusses how the Sapiens could have vanished all the other Homo genus species from the planet. He talks about the other species like the Denisovans, Erectus, Neanderthals, and floresiensis that co-existed with Sapiens. Out of these, he mentions how Erectus had lived for nearly 2 million years, which was way before the inception of the Sapiens. He also adds that if you think this is not long enough then it might surprise you that Sapiens could go extinct in the next 1000 years. If we could get such a long-established species to vanish just about 143,000 years ago, then, there must be something really destructive in our genes.

Habituation to Our Destructive Attitude:

Are we blind to the disputes in various parts of the world, where bullets, bombs, and missiles are the most commonly exchanged stuff across borders? Are we blind to the elite border barriers across the world? Language extinction? Religious violence, anyone? I highly doubt that. This is just our habituation. We are so used to seeing violence that it is the new normal for us. The Palestine issue seems like routine. The same goes for Kashmir. Same for Karabakh and the Ukraine. It has gotten so far now that people have stopped paying attention to the headlines. They would just say ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’s just the everyday Israel-Palestine numbers.’ Our habituation to this violent attitude of ours has only made it worse. At least earlier we were aware of the melancholy that lives within us. Now, it has taken the form of passive aggression against the what-we-call-as others. This concept of others is embedded in our minds like leeches. From a very young age, parents teach their kids who are family and who are not, who’s the “us” and who’s “THEM”. From skin color to religion, children are taught that whatever is theirs is the best and that whatever is the other is inferior. If based on these inputs, you don’t expect those children to grow into violent and hateful adults, then what?

We are Isolating Ourselves, AGAIN!

Humans have evolved to be both social beings and isolating individuals, grappling with the paradox of our existence. In one place, we want to have a peaceful and inclusive outlook, and then we want to discriminate and alienate people based on anything that makes them different from us. During our evolution, we killed the other species and isolated ourselves to the point that we are exclusive in our genus. Now, we are isolating ourselves a step further. We are trying our best to lead the other races to extinction. The quite recent Native American Indian removal act gives us a glimpse into how we let our wild animalistic instinct get the better of us. There are very few places where the stereotypes and hatred against black and brown people don’t exist in the minds. For example, do you really think that the lack of black lead actors in Hollywood can be credited to the fact that there is always a white actor who is better than their Black or Asian counterpart for the role? I don’t think so. In fact, this would be quite a problematic statement. The truth is that we are trying our best to alienate people and following the footsteps of our ancestors- leading our own kind to extinction, and in a way more efficient than any other species is capable of achieving.

Our Inner Demons are Consuming Us.

Ever heard of depression? It is a side effect of the habit of people alienating each other and determining what’s the other. Imagine if we never considered someone as other- we wouldn’t hurt anyone, and no one would get hurt. No students would get bullied in school, no person would be body-shamed, and no one would curse anyone. But, hey! We are too busy following our routine hatred-filled alienation tasks that we have even lost sight of our true purpose- which could be anything, I am sure, but not hating and alienating people- because it backfires! And if something is so toxic to all of us alike, why repeat?

What’s Next?

Cats might still be the go-to lonely and scary animals in fiction, but we know that the true depths of fear and loneliness live within the human heart. And we need to treat this frightening problem of ours. The solution doesn’t lie in denying our actions, it is in confronting and understanding these aspects of human behavior and trying to improve ourselves. Of course, the game is not over yet. We have the opportunity to transcend our darker inclinations and create a more compassionate and connected world. We just need to start right away.