TOW #26: "What is the Monkeysphere?" by David Wong

In his article “What is the Monkeysphere?”, David Wong writes about the Monkeysphere theory, discussing that there’s a certain limit to the number of people that we can conceptualize as people and anyone outside this circle of people are seen more things. This explains why the death of a friend or family member can be traumatizing, while the massacring of a thousand people on the other side of the world is only a mere statistic. Wong uses hypophora and a blunt, colloquial tone in order to explain this Monkeysphere theory and to convey how we can be more mindful people.

Wong structures his article in a strict fashion, where he uses hypophora to drive the article forwards and transition between different concepts. More specifically, the questions that he asks are questions that he predicts we may have in our heads. For example, when transitioning between explaining what the Monkeysphere is and telling readers why it is important, he asks, “So what exactly are we supposed to do about all this?” Since he spent most of his time explaining what this theory entails, he knows that the readers might be wondering why he is talking about it. This hypophora allows him to transition into talking about how we can apply this concept to life and the real world.

Along with using this strict structure of writing, he utilizes a blunt, colloquial tone to better connect with readers and to give his straightforward, no-fluff thoughts. When talking about why people should understand this idea of the Monkeysphere, he gives his three-point application, with the first point being, “First, TOTAL MORON. That is, accept the fact THAT YOU ARE ONE. We all are.” He is telling his readers that they are “morons” because most people tend to be very self-centered and not care about other people who are outside of their Monkeysphere. With this tone, he is also edgy and borderline offensive, which makes his argumentations more real and to the point.

Despite having an overall casual feel, this article was meant to expose a deeper truth within all of us: that we do not care about people we do not know. Wong explains it is impossible to care about everyone because this would require us to be deeply invested in the interests of 7 million people. But, what Wong does try to get across is that we should live our lives in mindfulness, and be more aware that even the people we do not closely associate with are people and deserve the same respect that people we are close with do.

(https://animalfeasance.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/chimps.jpg)