{"id":10681,"date":"2020-05-10T19:15:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T02:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/BigJimIndustries.com\/wordpress\/?p=10681"},"modified":"2020-05-17T19:20:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T02:20:41","slug":"lord-of-the-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2020\/05\/10\/lord-of-the-real\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Of The Real"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

from The Guardian<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When a group of schoolboys were marooned on an island in 1965, it turned out very differently from William Golding\u2019s bestseller, writes Rutger Bregman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Rutger Bregman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
\u00a0A still from the 1963 film of William Golding\u2019s Lord of the Flies. Photograph: Ronald Grant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For centuries western culture has been permeated by the idea that humans are selfish creatures. That cynical image of humanity has been proclaimed in films and novels, history books and scientific research. But in the last 20 years, something extraordinary has happened. Scientists from all over the world have switched to a more hopeful view of mankind. This development is still so young that researchers in different fields often don\u2019t even know about each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I started writing a book about this more hopeful view, I knew there was one story I would have to address. It takes place on a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific. A plane has just gone down. The only survivors are some British schoolboys, who can\u2019t believe their good fortune. Nothing but beach, shells and water for miles. And better yet: no grownups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the very first day, the boys institute a democracy of sorts. One boy, Ralph, is elected to be the group\u2019s leader. Athletic, charismatic and handsome, his game plan is simple: 1) Have fun. 2) Survive. 3) Make smoke signals for passing ships. Number one is a success. The others? Not so much. The boys are more interested in feasting and frolicking than in tending the fire. Before long, they have begun painting their faces. Casting off their clothes. And they develop overpowering urges \u2013 to pinch, to kick, to bite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time a British naval officer comes ashore, the island is a smouldering wasteland. Three of the children are dead. \u201cI should have thought,\u201d the officer says, \u201cthat a pack of British boys would have been able to put up a better show than that.\u201d At this, Ralph bursts into tears. \u201cRalph wept for the end of innocence,\u201d we read, and for \u201cthe darkness of man\u2019s heart\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story never happened. An English schoolmaster,\u00a0William Golding<\/a>, made up this story in 1951 \u2013 his novel\u00a0Lord of the Flies<\/em>would sell tens of millions of copies, be translated into more than 30 languages and hailed as one of the classics of the 20th century. In hindsight, the secret to the book\u2019s success is clear. Golding had a masterful ability to portray the darkest depths of mankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[ click to continue reading at The Guardian<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from The Guardian The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months When a group of schoolboys were marooned on an island in 1965, it turned out very differently from William Golding\u2019s bestseller, writes Rutger Bregman by Rutger Bregman For centuries western culture has been permeated by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-art","category-literary-news","category-weirdness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}