Like probably anyone who grew up in the 50's-60's, I've always been a progressive optimist. I've always felt that culture would get progressively more advanced.
No more. I'm more of a fatalist now.
There are too many of us. Doing stupid things. Greedy things. Selfish and short-sighted things.
We always have, but our world could absorb all our faults.
Accumulated errors are dragging down our democracy and our climate.
So I think we have some rough patches ahead of us in the future -- which I probably won't be around to see.
Is it just getting older? Or are things truly getting worse?
Probably both.
Being a good liberal -- I'm now going to turn my "feelings" around and look at the facts.
By most measures, the world has progressed. There is less violence, believe it or not. Science does seem to supply answer to problems. The systems are probably more sturdy than I think. Reading history is actually reassuring because we've been through much darker times than these.
So much of what I'm seeing is probably just a historical arc, and because it's concentrated in the news and I've read so much news, it just seems to be worse than it is.
So I guess I'll just have to live with the ambiguity.
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