Not at all. Man may not be an innocent lamb, but he is better than his reputation
Murder and manslaughter. Everywhere. Every day. Police crime statistics recorded 2,236 homicides for 2022 alone. If you look at violent crimes overall, there are almost 200,000 acts against health and life – 540 per day. No wonder some of us no longer feel safe. Around a third of Germans don’t even trust their own neighborhood in the dark, according to a 2020 survey commissioned by the Federal Criminal Police Office. Public transport is considered a dangerous environment at night for more than half of the population. The concerns are not completely unfounded, as the number of violent crimes rose significantly for the first time in 2022, to the highest level in twelve years. And, admittedly, this magazine, like other true crime formats, can reinforce the feeling of danger lurking around every corner.
So is it true what philosophers like the Englishman Thomas Hobbes suspected as early as the 17th century?: that man’s man is “wolf”? Homo homini lupus? Is it in our nature to want to tear each other apart? Even later, in psychology and anthropology, there was this suspicion: what we consider civilized behavior, friendliness and helpfulness in everyday life and in light is just like a pretty veneer over rotten, rotten wood. For as long as humans have existed, they have asked themselves whether they are essentially “good” or “evil”. But maybe that’s the wrong question. Couldn’t we be completely satisfied if we didn’t simply care about others, even strangers?