I recently finished watching a short series on Netflix called American Primeval, a brutal and confronting depiction of frontier life set in Utah around 1857. It's stunning, from the scenery, acting, storyline and in its direction; another masterful job by Director Peter Berg. It's in-your-face, unrelenting, brutish and bloody...primeval I suppose is a good word for it.
The watcher is taken on a journey woven around stories and difficulties of frontier life, issues between the whites and native American Indians, personal hardship and endurance and even true historical events; the Mountain Meadows Massacre committed by the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) where a hundred and thirty or so men, women and children were massacred as part of the Utah War in which the Mormon settlers and US Government went at it for various reasons. (Fucken nutbag religious nuts.) It demonstrates human behaviour at it's very base (primal) level with moments of compassion, caring, generosity and selflessness mixed in; it's an excellent depiction of how those years would have been I think...and how we are now.
This isn't a review though, so if you want to find out for yourself take a look on Netflix.
The show made me think about human evolution and how brutal humans can be (and are) towards each other for very little reason at all. (Greed and religion feature prominently amongst those reasons.)
I contemplated the difference between humanity today in 2025 compared to one hundred and sixty eight years ago in 1857 and that made me cast my mind back even farther to when we lived in caves gathering nuts and berries, our Neanderthal ancestry and beyond...and then the path back to the future throughout the years to right now.
Back then, should you take my nuts and berries I'd have clubbed your head in with a stick or rock. Should you have encroached on my farmstead or landholding in the middle ages I'd have stuck a pitchfork up your ass or swung a sword into your head or body. If I was the Emperor of Rome I'd have conquered your lands killing my way towards owning them in the name of Rome, or were I the Catholic Pope, Urban II, I'd have sanctioned the Crusades in 1095 and the killing that ensued. Yep, those things happened.
Moving forward, look at the brutality, suffering and harm humans have caused each other up to and including this very day. I did a list of wars and conflicts back a while in a post which started around the year 1900 if my memory serves well and it was long. But...we're evolving into a better species right? *Wrong. *If you want to have a little look at some of the conflicts and wars you can see this link to the Encyclopedia Britannica which lists many: See here. It stops around 2012 though so there's many not present.
But we're evolved right? We're better, moving in the right direction. We're enlightened...
I beg to differ and call into question the sanity of anyone who says such things. It's nuts and simply demonstrates their closedmindedness. Sure, we need to see the positives, I agree with people who say that...and yet that means fuck all if there's not enough action to create them. (And there isn't.)
Strip away the technology and we're generally not much different to the humans who came before us. Sure, we seem more enlightened, intelligent and connected but I don't think we are all that better at all...it's just a facade, an illusion, we create to delude ourselves with while we dumb ourselves down with AI and social media. Maybe I'm not talking about you or me, but in general we are the same beasts we've always been acting in the same brutish ways we always have and for the same reasons.
I doubt humans will ever learn better ways and employ them on a massive enough scale to make any difference...but don't worry, eventually we'll cause our own extinction through the destruction of the planet and resources, our intelligence through our reliance on AI and automation or through war. Bring all three I reckon, let's get the fucken party started!
The end (It can't come soon enough.) #getprimeval
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That series sounds like it's well worth viewing. I don't usually watch much television, but when I do, it's usually something along these lines..something with historical context. I love trying to put myself in the role of one character or another in order to experience more closely both the horrible and the wonderful situations they found themselves in. It is way more interesting than simply observing the characters and thinking 'those poor bastards'.
The brutality of the time seems natural in an age of exploration and expansion, when people are trying to claw out an existence on the unsettled frontiers. Brutality exists in equal measure in our modern times, but the players and methods have changed. You said it best though..
I think you get it, whether you end up watching or not you understand what I'm getting at...this wasn't a review, more a reason to highlight, yet again, the lack of progress humanity in general has really made.
I was in Cheddar Gorge, UK a while back, the site of where they found the most intact and oldest (9,000 years) skeleton in a cave complex which was all rather amazing...I wondered then, if he and his people were the lucky ones having lived in simpler times. We look upon ourselves as the most intelligent and advanced humans ever...but that's our hubris speaking.
Anyway, I thought the show was pretty good and certainly your habit of placing yourself in a character's shoes would be quite confronting and interesting a process.
This is the way I always have thought! With all of our modern conveniences and abilities to travel or take leisure at will, it would seem as though we are at the top and have all the luck. That is the exact thoughts of every generation of human that's ever lived. During the time of their lives, they were on the cutting edge of technology, even if it were only the discovery of fire, flint knapping etc. They were the innovators of their time. I wonder if they ever thought that those who came before were the lucky ones.
Most of the time I think yes, they were the lucky ones.
Yep, the flint knapping was in my mind when I wrote my comment, that was a highly developed skill and incredibly innovative as we're other such skills and discoveries...the wheel comes to mind as well, development of bronze as a product and so much more as well. Imagine how long those things have taken to discover huh? Quite incredible.
I like simplicity and seek it I'm life, work to keep my life as uncomplicated as possible, but gonlddamm it, that's a difficult thing to do in modern society.
Lavender the a.i. program written by some nerd here in the states was used by Israel in the latest outbreak of rhe 2000+ year religious war between the muslim terrorist hordes and Israel. The muslims and their make believe god who want to exterminate all the Jewish. "From the river to the sea."
So the Israeli a.i. assisted drones and missiles. Still mostly operated by a human hands were told where to strike and how much innocent bystander collateral was acceptable. Guess maybe the so called "leaders" need some help with the guilt of killing woman and children? The muslim terrorists hide behind the woman and children so it is a dilemma. Hey I got a great idea... Lets hot 🥔 potato it to a.i. and let Lavender decide how much death & carnage is acceptable...
Just the early beginnings of what we know as Skynet and the Terminator series of sci-fi stories. A Fiction that is disturbingly similar to a drone war in real time on the Russia/Ukrainian front.
So yeah, the end is gonna be really ugly. And if/when the a.i. becomes sentient/aware. It will be swift. JMO
Oh yeah, the 2000 year old habit of being at war with each other...The middle East huh? Fuckwits the lot of them.
Blame, greed, jealousy, hubris...humans will do whatever they want for whatever reason...even in the name of some imaginary friend who wrote a book or said some words, allegedly. Idiots.
Agree 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯%
𝕆𝕟𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕕 ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕥.!!
I have about two more episodes of American Primeval to watch and it has not disappointed so far.
Yeah, I tend to agree with you. I don't think we have really advanced all that much either. All one has to do is look at what takes place around the world right now. Wars, genocides, etc. We are a violent species that will see to their own demise.
Great, I'm glad someone else has said they like it. I know it's not for everyone, but it certainly makes one feel the desperation, brutality and hardships of the time.
Every time I think or say my feelings on the human race I get depressed and wish I could say otherwise but I call a spade a spade, I'm direct, and I honestly can't see it any other way than how I see it. Sad.
Yeah, I always like how fictional stuff ties in real historical events and characters. It makes it much more interesting to me. Even adding Jim Bridger to the storyline was a great touch.
Understand completely about how you get to feeling on the human race. I think it is too late for annything to change too.
I liked that aspect of it too, Bridger, tough bastard huh? I liked that element, how he stood for something and didn't take shit.
From what I have read about him, he was a tough frontiersman in his younger days. I think this catches him at toward the end of his life and adventures. Some things I have read say he could be a tricky asshole though and screwed some people over. Either way, good series and defintely worth watching.
Yep, it's the personalities that give the show personalities...knowing that the characters were based around real people.
We will definitely evolve from an animal into a better species - a tin can with AI brains.
Lol...A meat sack without a brain but plugged into AI so we have just enough "intelligence" to delude ourselves that we have intelligence. Oh hang on, that's most people already!
Hi Galen, the series sounds good, my I know it, but it makes me want to watch it even though I've been away from TV for a few months.
About humanity, as far as I can, every day I'm more and more away from it. I live the end of this one in my own terms, when I die, humanity will be over for me, and I will rest from so much madness and stupidity.
We can't live in total solitude, that's not how the human species works, but the more I see the more I wonder about the value, declining value, of interaction between humans. It seems to be a downward spiral with no signs of abating.
We are a social animal, and I don't believe that total isolation is a solution. That's why I say that, as far as possible, I distance myself as much as I can from the rest of humanity. Of course, I don't stay away from the people I love and who love me. I think I can count them on the fingers of one hand, and I'm not complaining, I think it's quite a lot of people.
I'm with you man, I keep a small friends group, am very selective and don't have to rely on external interaction or sources of stimulation to feel engaged with my life.
I think it is sensible, intelligent and good for mental health. At least, that there are some sane people left on Earth 😁.
Yep, a few sane ones...not many though.
😂👌
I think that instead of moving forward we have gone backwards, not even the general population has their own or critical thinking, but others think for them, social networks, AI, TV. If we don't have reasoning... which characterises humans... what's left? Do you think society will be divided?
Divided for sure, but that's nothing new, humans have been divided forever. It won't matter when humans become extinct, not something that'll happen in our lifetimes, but to think it won't happen is naive.
It's going to happen, we're going to become extinct and I think it's happened before.... humans don't learn.
Thanks for recommending the series.
I played the first episode and randomly clicked in the middle of the episode, when the woman who is talking about how many children she thinks she has in her life, an arrow pierced her head...
Brutally.
I will watch the series...
It is interesting how throughout history, with the increase in world population, the number of wars has increased.
With the fact that not all events that happened in the world are recorded.
Is it any wonder why there have been so few wars here since 2000?
I am not surprised, since the hybrid, economic, biological, technological ones are not recorded.
Yeah, it's quite graphic for sure, but I think life was cheaper back then and they work towards demonstrating that and how brutal humans can be towards each other. I think the director does a good job of showing that.
It'll be interesting to see what the world is like in 100 years from now, I'll not be around and neither will you, but that's probably a good thing as I don't think the world will be very nice.
One of my friends has a saying: "When I'm gone, let them fuck me".
Although this is true, I try my best not to screw up the planet more than I have to, in order to live.
Yep, no reason to screw up the planet, but so many do...while countries and governments and corporations...and every day people as well.
The end will come, sooner or later, the curious thing is that those who meet it might be wondering as it's about to crush them down..."Why?". Maybe we humans don't deserve what's been given to us. Killing around nature and killing around themselves out of greed, power, and a list of the more stupid things, instead of making real progress, really good things for them and others. It's so easy and simple to live our own life without doing any harm, staying out of other's lives, keeping our hands away from what's not ours instead of intending to take it by force out of slaying anything or anyone in the way. But, no, we humans don't do that and still are specting nature have any mercy when it responds to all the damage we've caused. Sorry for the long comment. Greetings.
Humans don't seem to be capable of letting go of greed and hubris long enough to see that there needs to be a better way, or maybe they just don't care. I certainly don't see enough being done to rectify the mistakes of the past.
Yep, less than not enough, near to nothing, but also to rectify first the mistake has to be recognized and that's between other things where humans fail. Besides not caring.
I've heard the reviews are really good for that new series. I haven't gotten around to adding it to my list yet. I have so many shows that I need to get caught up on and I am honestly not sure I am every going to get to all of them. Especially once Summer gets here. It's just around the corner and I can't quite believe it.
It was worth watching for me, but I like stuff like that, historical stuff, so I was always going to like it I reckon.
Did you ever watch Frontier on Netflix? It was interesting learning more about the fur trade in the Hudson Bay area.
Yep, I really enjoyed that one. I'll watch it again. You seen Black Sails? That's another good one.
No, I think it was on a premium cable channel that we didn't get when it came out.
Prefer series that are based on truth, history repeats as is evident to this day, although having some insight does help.
Recently went through 1883 and 1923 both prequels to Yellowstone exploring the history and origins of the Dutton Family dynasty. Many say watch Yellowstone first, others suggest in order, either make a brilliant series to enjoy, apparently more to come.
!WINEX
!PIZZA and have a great new week!
Yep I've seen those too and will start on Yellowstone at some stage. I liked 1883 and 1923 very much.
1883 was epic, going back in time. Base most probably many nations started on.
This series might be good tbh, idk much because I haven't seen but yeah one thing I can say with full confidence is that humans are too bad at certain point they can do anything to fulfill their greed. Well even if we compare people of last generation they were still quiet good and honest as comapre to today. I am also getting interest in this series need to watch. Thanks for sharing such nice series with us !...
Greed is at the core of many of societies biggest issues.
Oh,I forgot, I'll try to get it and watch it...
I enjoyed it for many reasons but that doesn't mean you will.; if you get to watch it let me know what you thought.
Count on that
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