It gets better?
At trivia yesterday, my friend asked the table if the world was getting better or worse as time goes on.
Honestly…it depends on your angle.
It’s actually interesting…politically, I’m a Theoretical Libertarian, meaning I think people should do what they want but be prepared to deal with any consequences that result from their choices.
I say “Theoretical” though because a Libertarian society would never work as it requires a big focus on self awareness, accountability, and initiative…qualities that aren’t exactly celebrated or practiced these days…
That said, I responded that for me in my eyes, it almost seemed like the world gets worse as time goes on and things become less structured.
(Which I know completely goes against being a libertarian but…I’m a complex person, lol.)
It seems like people do better when there is structure, where people know their place in the hierarchy and have limited choices.
Like post slavery….of course there was the horribleness of the racist laws and societal pressures…but there also existed the microcosms of the new black middle class in the metropolitan centers or even the insulated communities in the south…and it was easier to be pretty successful if you put in work…as long as you stayed inside the cultural bubble.
Like in 1910….at 28 I would be married with a kid…and me and hubby would be teachers at southern hbcu’s.*
Or still married with a kid and running a house with a seamstress business while hubby was a store owner or something in the north.*
*(Based on my placement in the economic spectrum now and marriage being a culturally prevalent thing in those circles )
Black business in black neighborhoods…doing pretty well for themselves in a solid college educated middle/upper-middle class.
Add civil rights won through the years for minorities and women…
Now we are presented with almost unlimited options for what you can to do in your life…which dilutes that drive toward accountability, initiative, etc…(ie I now have options that don’t require as much work…so why would I want to do more than the minimum?)
People keep saying slavery ruined the Black family…but I kinda feel civil rights (for minorities/women) and technology had a HUGE impact. Marriage/kids out of wedlock rates were pretty stable until then…
Also woman have always historically run the family…especially in the Black family…so that whole emasculation thing only became an issue when men started to compete with us for jobs as being physically strong no longer became necessary due to gains in technology…
So yeah…because I value traditional family structure and institutions that support advancement through good old fashioned hard work…to me the world is becoming a place where those ideas are no longer celebrated or supported….
Also as the playing field is evened culturally, technology is the new enabler.
Again directly competing with what I do for a living (making technology accessible to the layman)…
My field will likely be the main players in automating everyday human activities…thus further decreasing the need for people to THINK about what they’re doing…
And you know what they say…use it or lose it…
Alas…
LOL I came on here to rant on people broadcasting the secsual preferences to randoms…and to call for the discretion we all had in the early 1900’s, but…I like where this ended up instead.
Have to learn to stop getting annoyed by crass people and just leave them where they are…
*climbs in my Tardis and heads to Howard circa 1908
