It's crazy now but... it's always been crazy

I understand why people ask themselves, "What is this world coming too", especially after watching the news. From the outside looking in or if you not privy to some of the more disturbing facts about our (humans) history you may think things are worst now. Well let’s take a look shall we …
In the (1990’s) RUF was a revolutionary group based in Sierra Leone in Western Africa. By the late 1990’s they had been mired in a long bloody campaign to topple the central government. These insurgents terrorized rural Sierra Leone in an effort to control the nations diamond mines. Aided by factions of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, these groups committed horrific atrocities which included forcing children to become soldiers, amputations of limbs and cannibalism of enemies, including peacekeepers and United Nations personnel. Their motives for eating their enemies were to receive “strength” from eating human flesh and as a tool for intimidation. The exact number of victims is unknown.
In the (1980‘s) Sagawa was a Japanese student completing an English Literature degree in Paris. He met and then shot a co-ed on June 11, 1981. After her death, he proceeded to cannibalize her over the next two days. Sagawa was eventually arrested by French authorities but deemed unfit for trial due to insanity and was deported. In one of the worst examples of injustice in legal history; a paperwork error allowed Sagawa to simply check himself out of a mental institution after a little more than a year of confinement. He is now a free man living in Japan.
In the (1940’s) Alfred Packer was an American gold prospector and convicted cannibal. On February 9th 1874, he left with 5 others for an expedition in the Colorado mountains. Two months later Packer returned from the expedition alone. When questioned of the whereabouts of the men that had been with him, Packer said that he killed them in self defense and was forced to eat their remains in order to survive the elements. His story was not believed and he soon after signed two separate confessions. Packer was given a 40 year sentence, at that time the longest communal sentence in United States history. Amazingly he was granted parole because sufficient doubt remained about his innocence.

The human race being barbaric and primitively violent is something that we have displayed since our origins. The only remedy to something like this is for each individual person to take the responsibility for one self and decide that I will not commit atrocities against my fellow man.