Evolution and natural selection selected species that were well suited to live on earth and eliminated those that were weak. This means that human beings conquered all challenges before becoming the modern men who now control almost all activities in the world. This essay explores the appropriateness of civilization in producing natural communities for human beings.
Nature dictates that all human beings are equal and must access quality services from relevant authorities. However, this has not always been the case since the same nature selects individuals that survive through various challenges. It eliminates those that have poor qualities and gives the stronger ones more survival opportunities. Therefore, this was a major concern that necessitated the need for human beings to become civilized. Individuals that were weak could not live out in the cold; therefore, they built houses to shelter them from harsh environmental conditions. Those that could not afford this were wiped out by diseases, pests, and other environmental hazards.
Secondly, democracy has always been an issue that differentiates human beings from other living things. People can elect their preferred leaders and reject those that exhibit poor leadership skills. Communities established their regimes in these formed nations. Therefore, a nation is made up of communal regimes each having different practices. However, they must have common goals that reflect national aspirations. There is usually a supreme authority that dominates other regimes and controls their activities. This explains the presence of community leaders that play crucial roles in determining various communal issues. On the other hand, the national government controls the activities of all communities within its boundaries. This means that these communities have laws that reflect their national values. Communal laws do not conflict with national regulations but they work together to ensure the rights of all people are respected.
In addition, a civilized community gives people the freedom to do what they want and ensures there are guidelines to monitor their excesses. Constitutions are drafted to ensure human beings enjoy their rights without interfering with those of their neighbors. This means that people are allowed to do what they want provided their actions do not interfere with the activities of other people. For instance, freedom of speech allows people to ask their leaders various questions regarding their responsibilities. However, this restricts them and specifies the differences between seeking accountability from political leaders and public servants and inciting civilians against a regime. Other freedoms allow people to seek quality services, equality, and representation in various issues. These become important tools for promoting democracy and developing a civilized world.
A civilized community is ruled by the law of justice. Various biblical teachings encourage people to do the right thing at the right place and time. This means that an individual’s action should be justified and based on mutual benefits. People should do to others what should not hurt them if the reverse is applied. This principle guides them to respect others, their property, and their rights. Therefore, those that go against this provision are punished through various criminal and legal processes. The law defines boundaries between criminal and social activities and thus guides human behavior. In addition, it applies its standings in all situations and does not discriminate against individuals because of their wealth, power, age, or race. Therefore, justice propels a civilized community to greater achievements in terms of respect for human rights.
Lastly, all human beings are equal before the law and are entitled to their rights and freedoms unless otherwise specified by their constitution. This means that a civilized community ensures that everybody has a right to choose their leaders and neighbors, and their voices are as important as any other voice in the community. Equality demands that resources should be distributed fairly depending on the needs of individuals and abilities to manage them.
On the other hand, civilization has not improved human life and in fact, it has directed humanity to represent other aspects that hinder human development. The following are some of the common ways that have made civilization a beast rather than a friend of human beings. Democracy is a strange concept that has no clear definition. Aristotle argues that human democracy is not the will of the people but the interests of the majority as they are represented by their power to make decisions.
The power of numbers in voting has always dominated the right to vote. In all democratic states, minority groups usually suffer since they cannot raise the numbers to contest any issue. Voting has usually been used to select political leaders and this has been the beginning of conflicts. For instance, in a population of two million people there may be three distinct groups each having its preferred leader. The largest group will naturally win the day since election winners are determined by the votes in their favor. This means the other two communities will remain in opposition until their population equals or overtakes the leading community. This is not civilization but an attempt to subvert a democratic process by taking advantage of numbers. Therefore, voting becomes an exercise in futility when individuals are not able to persuade others not to vote along ethnic, racial, or tribal lines.
Leaders and regimes have devised second-class dictatorships where civilians are arm twisted to do what they do not want. Politics has always been an arena for rewarding loyal followers and punishing those with dissenting views. Regions that fail to vote for a leader have suffered various forms of discrimination as punishments for their political affiliations. Social norms demand that a civilized leader must lead everybody irrespective of whether they voted for the individual or other competitors. In addition, regimes have manipulated constitutions to favor them and create strict penalties for anyone that attempts to subvert the expectations of such regimes. Therefore, in the real sense, people will be ruled by an iron fist that is disguised in a mutilated constitution.
Lastly, civilized communities create class differences and people can never have the same economic, religious, political, or cultural affiliations. A civilized community advocates for the freedom to choose a political party, religion, and tradition. However, since people have different mentalities and abilities to use the resources around them they develop different interpretations. As a result, it becomes inevitable to stop the development of economic, political, religious, and social classes. A civilized community becomes disintegrated and unable to bring its people together.
Civilization exposes human beings to various social and economic developments that widen their abilities to interact and associate with others. However, people have abused various democratic processes and subjected modern society to social and political fragmentation.