Once upon a time, a friend of mine, and I came to the realization that one of the reasons the species had gotten lazy, sloppy, stupid, and a number of other things was because we lacked something resembling a proper predator.
Humans, as a group and individually, become a bit stupid and lazy in general without upward pressure. Sometimes this pressure comes in the form of an enemy to be defeated, such as during World War I and II. Other times it exhibits because there is a predator that must be defeated or avoided. Minus this upward pressure, the species has this tendency to generate some silly illusions of stability. Preemptively, I will say that "caste systems" and "slavery" are mechanisms that while "unfair" do tend to generate a semblance of stability. Then, there's another number of misguided people that would see something (that appears to be) more powerful (than themself) and they would try to make a god from the thing, and start worshiping it, leading to human sacrifice and other horrors.
He suggested that humans are naturally the only real predator for humans. I agreed, but lamented the fact that humans being humans, most underestimate the capacity of fellow humans to be truly inhumane creatures. As such most humans are incapable of seeing their fellow humans as predators that must be defeated or avoided. So, humans just aren't enough of a threat to be taken seriously until it is too late. I guess that's the hallmark of a great predator. The predator isn't noticed until it is too late.
Then, humans being humans, entirely too many are incapable of learning anything from experiences that are not their own. They can see another person being attacked and totally omit any possibility from their thinking that the same thing could happen to them. As thinking goes, we're a pretty dense species.
I have lamented a lack of zombies, vampires, werewolves, hostile space aliens... pick a poison. I continue to. In the face of zombies, stupid causes like "climate change", welfare, immigration "equality", "gay marriage", eat the rich, and a host of other stupid (typically liberal led) causes would not just take a back burner, but they'd be thrown off the stove because they're useless. On the plus side, zombies would willingly comply with gun-free zones, and kill people anyway.
From the "religion of peace" (which in all honesty is repressive and hasn't really ever been peaceful) has arisen ISIS. The behavior of these predators can only truthfully be categorized as predatory. And yet again, humans just don't get it. The american president doesn't get it. Most of the american public doesn't get it. (the anti-capitalization isn't a typo, it's on purpose)
I wished for a better predator. As the djinn's warning goes, "Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it." Well, we got it. It hasn't helped one bit. I still want zombies, or vampires, or aliens (from space, not Mexico).
Oh well. I'll keep wishing and hope it eventually doesn't backfire.
