Crumbling Walls

I have come across a recurring theme in cinema and music over the past few years that has really changed the way that I view authoritarian systems. The most recent viewing that drew this thought process from the back of my skull is the anime adaptation of the manga 'Attack on Titan'.

Of course, from the outset you could argue with me that this is simply a child's cartoon and story line, but that I am not talking about the artwork or the characters; I am referring to the message that the story holds and the overall correlation that theme has with many others that I have seen.

In a nutshell the story is post-apocalyptic, and the last human city is faced with utter annihilation in the loom of an enemy they cannot fathom overcoming by conventional means. Does any of that sound similar to any films or shows that you have seen in the past few years? I thought the exact same thing.

Although I will allow your mind to wander and make your own connections on that theme, because I think that it would be unfair for me to guide you in that perspective. The purpose of this piece is not to understand the what or how, but to understand the why and what if.

Throughout actual human history there have been numerous walls and governments that they were built by. Sometimes the purpose of these walls is evident and sometime there is no understanding why the leadership of that time built what they did and why they would build a wall in a certain location or for what reason. One thing is clear, the wall is there and a great deal of manpower, time, and possibly finances went into its construction.

Realistically a wall has only two purposes. The first is to keep something out, and the other is to keep something in. I would like to believe that those walls were meant to protect the people from some monstrous enemy and it was the best defense, however, if you look into some other ways that walls have been used that optimistic viewpoint begins to grey.

I do believe that human nature changes very little over the thousands of years that we have been in existence, and therefore it would be simple to look at the modern world and see the intentions of the past. Today, we use walls for simple purposes, keeping things in. Since the discovery of flight, mankind has made walls all but useless as a defense against a foreign enemy that possesses this technology.

The only reason that walls are built today is to contain something, a prison. Look at the amount of effort, energy, and finances that are placed into the construction of prisons to contain those that are deemed criminal within the current laws. Can you imagine if that same amount of energy and money was placed into rehabilitation instead of containment? But that is not quite the point is it?

So the correlating theme between these ideas and stories is simple, fear. We erect walls, fences, pens, and prisons in an attempt to contain our fear. The fear of the past and the over estimation of our own self-worth allows us the justification of continuing to build larger and larger constructs. Why do we do this? Why do we attempt to contain something that is treatable and able to be overcome? I fear that the answer is not so simple, and the path to that solution is bloody, violent, and reaching extinction. There are fewer and fewer of those willing to stand up or stand alone for the good and wholesome values that make humans one small step above the ape.

Perhaps there was a time when mankind was truly free, and was not sleepwalking through a dreamworld of solid fool's gold. I do believe that we can see that again some day, but at what cost?

"The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life" - Robindranath Tagore