Bite and Be Bit: The unintended consequences of hate
In our complex society, it often seems as though we’re locked in a perpetual competition, from the time we first step into school until our final days. It pits one person against the next in a chain of exploitation and entitlement. This competitive structure is peculiar, considering that one of humanity’s greatest strengths lies in our capacity to communicate, collaborate, analyze, and innovate collectively.
The issue at hand is the excessive emphasis we place on competition. We’re driven to extract maximum benefit from one another. We engage in penny-pinching with our customers, delay payments to our suppliers, and intrude on our neighbours’ right to live as they see fit, even when it has no bearing on our own lives. This prevailing attitude reinforces the notion that only the most ruthless can survive, and it justifies the exploitation of others for personal gain. This mindset ultimately contributes to the perpetuation of misogyny, homophobia, racism, and class-based discrimination.
The problem becomes clear when we acknowledge that by normalizing hatred and oppression against others, we inadvertently sanction the same prejudices directed toward us. While we direct our aggression toward those less fortunate, we often turn a blind eye to those who wield power and affluence over us. In doing so, we expose ourselves to the same predation we inflict on others.
It’s time to shift our perspective and unite against those who exploit others for personal gain. By doing so, we can dismantle the rationale that offers us such meagre returns for our contributions to the collective wealth generated by our society. Together, we can strive for a fairer and more equitable world that values collaboration over competition and celebrates our shared humanity.
These are the themes in the art above and in the rat-a-tat poem below:
Interactions
by G Nigel Cohen
Bite and be bit
Hit and be hit
Fight and be fought
Catch and be caught
Have done to you
as you do to another
Normalise hatred
to burn us together
Share a kindness,
bring hope from despair
Cry to release
a heart in repair
Smile to release
a soul that’s been blocked
Care and see kindness,
see joy be unlocked
Love and be loved
Sooth and be soothed
See and be seen
Move and be moved
Light and be lit
Tear and be torn
Bite and be bit or
Bare and be born
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this article, you may enjoy my www.animating.vision website which brings to life a vision of the people we live with and the world we live in. And to see more of my Photo Art, check out the Photo Art gallery at www.animating.vision/art.
And if you are an artist seeking to influence the world, you may want to explore whether to incorporate the emerging genre of Morally-Explicit Art as part of your artistic expression.
