Hu Man
19. Mär 2026,
Oh no! There he is again – popping up out of seemingly nowhere, without warning. When a word gets dissected into its parts, the original meaning starts to crumble a little. But the variants that emerge are all the more revealing. More often than not, the man – or, well, the man – steps out from the shadow of the word combination and makes himself at home. Again. Or maybe he never left.
Human – the very essence of being human – is not some naturally occurring, genetically pre-programmed requirement for membership in the species.
No, the state of being human, and the concept that describes it, was fought for.
And to this day – or especially today – it is still fighting for its survival.
Which is strange, really.
Because the original idea at the heart of humanism seems almost radical.
Radically calm, radically reasonable, and radically useful to people in general.
The recipe for humanism is clear and ought to be unmistakable.
Take, with the help of philosophy and ethics, a generous portion of individual freedom, considerable quantities of reason, thousands of spoonfuls of moral integrity, and pour the whole mixture into the ocean of scientific understanding.
WOW, what a magnificent blend that is!
Now, let’s dive into the baked result.
The raisins highlight the reason with which most human problems can actually be solved.
The large mass is merely a measure of quantity – because every individual, right down to their DNA, is considered unique.
And that creates respectful regard.
The dough of humanism is threaded through with many strands of education and upbringing, all of them busy turning raw material into human potential.
Evolution is simply irresistible.
The extremities – arms and legs – take care of the critical and the empirical, pushing the world forward.
As a by-product, science and secularism quietly remove religious dogma from the oven.
Still a work in progress, admittedly, but relatively successful so far.
And the crowning glory of this whole baked creation?
Ethics and the moral of the story.
Being HuMan is no small thing.
Those who are truly human carry themselves like royalty.
So when exactly did part of the human population take a wrong turn?
When did the humane side of a society get stamped as irrelevant?
Did we miss something?
After all, humanism was the movement that put a magnificent collection of rights – including universal human rights – on paper and into practice. And along the way, education systems keep getting critically questioned.
Sometimes, with a bit of luck, they even get reformed.
Who managed to convince countless people that this whole humanism thing is complete nonsense?
Probably the same person who convinced chickens that factory farming is good for them.
But the most toxic idea of all is the systematic dehumanisation of minorities.
This dusty concept from the years 1933–1945 has found its way back into the salons of politics and society.
The rhetoric, at least, points in that direction.
No, thank you.
How about this instead: "Hey Man – Get Human!" Again?
