I can’t sleep at night.
It began after the Earthlings appeared on the Galactic stage. I was one of the many individuals who began to research them, some as a job, others out of curiosity.
While the human beings were certainly unique in physiology, ability, and culture, so was every other species. Nothing about them at first glance made them stand out from the galactic crowd. In fact, in a general sense the species of the galaxy were all very similar. After all, we all had to conquer our home planets and develop the ability for space travel on our own.
I suppose if anything did, it wasn’t any one attribute but the combinations. They not only had a wide variety of coloration, they also had a wide variety of size and body type. In fact, if anything that was what made Earthlings stand out. They had variety.
Not only physically, but culturally. It wasn’t completely unheard of for a species to have more than one language, but these were almost always glorified dialects and/or remnants of pre-artificial language (if that species used one). The humans had 24 “families” of spoken language. Granted, they did have a single lingua franca but still...!
All these differences and I have listed only two of many, lead straight into what may be the most interesting thing about humans. Their propensity for violent conflict. ...Let me rephrase that. It’s not that there weren’t other violent species out there. In fact, many if not most of the space-faring races were apex predators on their home planets. It’s that humans had a habit of infighting. Nobody could believe how often and how ruthlessly humans would fight with themselves.
When one of my contemporaries asked them directly, they responded with some human philosopher. Most of it basically boiled down to the concept of “the other”. It was almost insulting. As if we had no idea what war was! As if one species had never set out to destroy another of incompatibility! Maybe I misspoke earlier. It isn’t even as if no other species has gone to war with its own race. It was the major reason why maintaining close relationships with colonies was so important to many species. If colonies became too separate and independent for a couple of generations, conflicts could arise and had in the past. Our problem wasn’t that they went to war with other members of their own species. It was how quickly they were able to view their own species as “the other”.
Maybe that was the defining trait of humans? Their ability to quickly label anyone as “the other”? As a non-person? Some of their philosophers certainly thought so. Many of my contemporaries stopped their search here. I began to dive back into the history of Earth. I wanted to know how such an ability had come about. My search revealed many disturbing things. Atrocities of such a varied and incomprehensible nature. Attempted genocide, torture, slavery. No one did these things to their own species.
Soon I was the only one left. All of my fellow researchers, public and private, had long since gone public with their findings. Humanity was painted in an ill light. Their defining trait was to be the ability to treat another being as equals one day and as an inanimate obstacle the next.
I realized that my fellow scholars had forgotten something. The first thing that had shocked us. The diversity of humankind. As I delved back into their history, I saw more evidence of how those differences were even more pronounced than we thought. It was no wonder they were able to consider members of their own species as non-persons!
But how did such an arrangement come to exist? Why hadn’t any one culture or civilization already stamped out their rivals? ...And why did no other species have this diversity? I eventually came upon pre-history. I read about how early man had driven his rival and sister species to extinction. My first thoughts were that the others were right.
Then it occurred to me. No other species had closely related species either. No other species was as diverse in form and culture. ...As the realization set in I grew terrified. I began this research commenting on how similar the species of the galaxy were. ...Humans were similar to us as well. No other species had the diversity in value systems and beliefs the humans did.
What sets the humans apart IS NOT their capacity to turn friends and loved ones into “the Other”. It is their capacity to turn “the Other” into friends and loved ones.
What is truly surprising is not that the humans fight over their differences. It’s that they have differences to fight over.
The species of the galaxy are all very similar. With one exception, they have all brutally stamped out any differences, and variations. These deviations from the norm were destroyed so perfectly our racial memories have forgotten them.
Every species, save Homo sapiens, had longo ago perfected the art of genocide.
I wonder if I shall ever sleep again.
