Brandi Reed
April 1, 2013
Philosophy 201
Nietzsche
Predators Gone Weak Throughout my life I have always wondered about why humans have gotten softer and softer over the years. Years ago killing another person was just part of life. People enjoyed killing other people, and they never thought anything of it. In the thirteenth section of Nietzsche’s first essay he compares humans to bird of prey and lambs. The bird of prey has the natural instinct to kill the lamb, and a bird of prey cannot pretend to be a lamb. Nietzsche believes that over time people have been taught that if they do nothing or act weak, that one day they will be blessed by God. He believes that through religion we have been trained to be lambs instead of birds of prey. Human nature is not to be weak, but over time we have been taught over and over again that being weak is the right way to act. From what I gather Nietzsche is disgusted by the way many humans treat themselves, because we are the strongest most powerful species on the planet, yet many of us treat ourselves as lambs. After reading Nietzsche I remained with the same thoughts about the weakness of people these days. Bullying is one area that has always made me feel the same way as Nietzsche does about weakness. In high school there was one boy I remember; he was not a small frail boy, but he just got picked on an extreme amount every single day for the most absurd reasons. This guy was mentally abused throughout all four years of high school. I cannot count how many times I saw him cry in class or in the hallways. Finally our last year of high school, one boy said the wrong thing to the picked on boy and he snapped and beat the guy pretty badly. Everyone knew in their hearts that the kid had been picked on for four years straight and were happy that he finally stood up for himself, yet nobody really said it. Then he got picked up by the cops for fighting at school, suspended from school, and was on probation. After four years of constantly being harassed and tortured in the hallways, he finally acted on his instincts and was then severely punished for doing so. The boy who was beaten got no punishment at all. I agree with Nietzsche that humans have become significantly weak, and will continue becoming even weaker. I do not believe though that it is completely based on religious or moral values. I have heard some of the most vengeful desires towards others come out of some of
