I probably shouldn’t even be starting this yet, but had to get some thoughts down that have been circulating within for a while and are slowly coming together from different directions to create some interesting possibilities.
I believe that on a more personal level, society is entering, or well on its way into, a new Age that may or may not be a product of technology or any other recognized shaping by progress of our culture.
It’s still fragmented in my mind, but it seems that with the encompassing view of all societies as our brothers, we have become more uncaring towards those closest to us or worthy of our recognition. Just some blips that may be pieces to the puzzle I’m seeing:
The supportive fight for justice and freedom is accorded to select groups only; those that have been brought to the attention of the media by influential forces or by focused activist groups. The conflicts that arise, such as in Iraq, as to whether the people themselves should be allowed freedom or the former oppressive dictatorship allowed the freedom from world intervention, become moot points.
The lack of willingness to congratulate, make mention of, or encourage acts of those individuals that are either singular in their immeasurable importance or intelligence, or are within our own sphere of influence, in regard instead for the masses who may feel inferior because of it.
On the flip side of that, claiming that the drawn stick-figure of a man is just as good as what Michaelangelo painted; that there is no bad art, bad poetry, poor writing. Unless someone has acquired some degree of fame to allow knocking him off that pedestal of self-achievement, he cannot be criticized.
The unwillingness to give a dollar to the beggar on the street in exchange for a smug satisfaction that protesting against the wealthy has proven their compassion and unselfish nature.
People are almost never fired outright for doing a poor job, but may be maneuvered onto a list awaiting the next downsizing. Yet, one can be easily fired for alleged sexual harassment, blogging about your workplace, whistle-blowing, and subtly pushed into early retirement at the age of 55 to avoid paying your medical and retirement costs.
The phenomena of weblogs has been much-studied, and it may be an indication more of the individual need for validation that he is not getting from those closest to him. For example, commenting is strongest from relative strangers who share a common interest and have established a long-distance friendship that is more supportive than those in one’s own circle of reality. Maybe we have lost that ability to accept and reinforce friendships without prejudice to differences of interests or styles. Why the need to reach out so far into the internet web in this most evolved age of mobility?
The acceptance of a particular minority group as special, instead of giving equal value to all. How about short people, overly tall people, redheads, etc., etc., etc.
Unwillingness to acknowledge that some people can mean more to you than the masses. This seems somehow to be a copout when it is easy to give lip service to beliefs, and yet actions do not align with this generousity of spirit on the daily face-to-face level.
Insistence that we all be nice to each other, which in fact, we don’t do when we see each other face to face on a more intimate level. I’ve never seen such rudeness and failure to be thoughtful to the guy next to you while espousing a global or select caring for mankind.
I hope I’m wrong, and maybe some more thinking on it will turn me around. With the study of Western Civilization, I’m beginning to learn how the elite–and in this case, I am not referring to specifically the wealthiest of society–can raise or bring down a civilization. There just appears to be some false values creeping under the guise of the importance of the individual, that negates his very individualism. Idealism is forever going to be clouded by reality. Liberal thought has run amok to the point that vicious hatred is shown towards those who disagree, when the idea was to insure that everyone be free to think their own way. I can visualize a faceless society that is nondescript, photoshopped, and frustrated by restraint of joy as well as anger, good as well as bad, and various levels of intellect.
And then too, even if I am seeing something here, as Pangloss claims in Candide, perhaps "it’s all for the best."
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology