The Enemy Within

We live in a world where some members of our species thrive at the very top of the food chain while others crawl through the very lowest levels of nightmarish realities.  Why is it that having been given so much we are the only species which actively tortures, maims, slaughters and oppresses its fellow members?

The entire history of our civilization is not based on the good which we have done nor the wonder of our capacity to love nor our limitless courage and resilience and definitely not our unbounded creativity.  It is largely based on our vices: greed, avarice, jealousy, laziness, gluttony, arrogance, cruelty, selfishness and above all fear.