Sorry if the premise is inflammatory, but I’ve been stymied by this for a while. How did we go from something like 1940s era collectivism or 1960s era leftism to the current bizarro political machine that seems to have hypnotized a large portion (if not majority) of the country? I get it - not everything is bad now, and not everything was good then. FDR’s internment camps, etc.

That said - our country seems to be at a low point in intellectualism and accountability. The DHHS head is an antivaxxer, the deputy chief of the DOJ is a far-right podcast nutball, etc. Their supporters seem to have no nuance to their opinion beyond “well, Trump said he’d fix the economy and I don’t like woke.”

Have people always been this unserious and unquestioning, or are we watching the public’s sanity unravel in real time? Or am I just imagining some idealistic version of the past that never existed, where politicians acted in good faith and people cared about the social order?

  • PurpleSkull@lemm.eeEnglish
    12·
    8 days ago

    So our technological progress has brutally outgrown our cultural one. I think you’re right.

    • krydret_ismaskine@feddit.dk
      8·
      8 days ago

      That’s exactly it. Our biases and community instincts (for lack of a better word) can’t keep up with the firehose of information and direct communication with so many people and from so many sources.

      In the past, small societies sort of kept things in check. You knew the people around you and everyone sort of found a common ground to share. Like when I was a kid in the countryside, I made friends with the other kids on our road because of proximity, not because we had tons in common. But we became friends despite being different and gained new experiences and built common ground through that. We learned to compromise and solve differences or issues.

      Today you can find community anywhere online, so you’re less likely to have your “rough edges” smoothed out a bit.

      Not that life in small societies is perfect, Svante described the Jantelov for a good reason, some small villages communities can get very insular, xenophobic and oppressive of anyone slightly off from the standard mold.

      But I do think our range and speed of communication has outpaced our instincts and reference frames.

      • saimen@feddit.org
        1·
        8 days ago

        I think the same thing happened in the beginning of the 20th century and partly is the reason for the two world wars which makes me afraid of the future seeing the global development of increasing tension and rearmament.