Since the end of World War II at least (and in many ways even longer before that), the human race has been on a long, slow march toward greater freedom, greater innovation and greater achievement. This has resulted in growing freedom, prosperity and health worldwide. Are there hiccups? Sure. But when people worry about obesity being an epidemic or whether healthcare should be free or not rather than the black death, starvation, slavery, and rampaging hoards... those are pretty good times.
There is science going on right now that could extend human life and health for decades. He died at 80! So young? We are more capable than ever of doing what we do without damaging the Earth in the process. We have clean water... clean air and increasingly cleaner fuel. Isn't there a pill for that?
Despite what our political classes say, ethnicity and race are all becoming irrelevant to daily life for most people. We are increasingly free to be who we want to be. Our poor are wealthy by world standards, and world standards are rising. They own cars, appliances, apartments, phones and designer brands. Economic fate is being replaced by opportunity and mobility goes to all who work hard enough and smart enough to seize those opportunities. Poverty has become a choice.
Our military is unrivaled, safer than ever, and a force for peace. Our enemies are paper tigers.
The world has never been this peaceful, this prosperous or this stable. We are awash in choices, possibilities, tools and toys. Most importantly, health, wealth and happiness have become a choice, not an accident of birth.
These are not times to feel negative.
Thoughts?
This is all true. I will add one more thing that I think is why we feel like the world is coming to an end.
ReplyDeleteFor the first time in human history, we get a moment by moment angst-a-thon 24/7. We get to hear "experts" pick apart each syllable of every word of every human on Earth and constantly being told how stupid we are having a contrary view. No one wants to rant about good news like diseases being cured, lives being saved, or the fact that eggs and butter aren't going to kill you anymore.
More on this later...
I suppose much of the current angst comes from the fact that so many more people have the opportunity now to actually reflect on the human condition rather than merely cope with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree. However, while tech advancement is overwhelmingly beneficial, it does carry costs. Instant communication has resulted in a lot of people hanging themselves with their tongues and it's more challenging to screen kids from bad stuff.
ReplyDeleteBev and tryanmax, I have been thinking about this all day. I think it comes from several things that have come together...
ReplyDelete1. Our instincts tell us to look for dangers. In the modern world, dangers are trends more so than something instantly dangerous.
2. Our institutions are built upon the idea of deconstruction. To get your advanced college degree, you need to take something and find some new angle to it to discuss. It is much easier to find something negative than something positive, e.g. it's easier to claim Shakespeare's characters were secretly gay/racists/cartoon-aholics than it is to demonstrate how Shakespeare was an even more clever writer than we thought.
Similarly, it's much easier to sell sensational news than "everything is fine" news.
So our very culture is geared toward the negative.
3. Kind of related to the first two, we now routinely mistake dissent/cynicism for wisdom.
4. I think the human race can be broken into two groups. There are those we think of as classic humans -- who work toward having the noble traits and opposed the bad things we do as a people... what we think of as "people". But the majority are petty, cynical and spiteful and they simply enjoy other people getting hurt and failing. They prefer destruction of others to their own success. These people, in turn, fuel the part of the culture that seeks to tear down and find fault.
Anthony, There are always negatives with the positive, but people need to keep a sense of perspective. Today's problems are nothing compared to the past. So I find it silly when people lament the present and wish for a return to the past.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Andrew! Of course my dad frequently likes to say I'm one of those overly optimistic people, happy to shovel horseshit. Guilty, though I also have an occasional cynical streak. Either way, reminded of some words wisdom to comfort us from David Lowry ...
ReplyDelete"What the world needs now is a new kinda tension 'cause the old one just bores me to death ..."