It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

[kerravonsen]

I've been thinking about a remark the preacher said in the sermon this morning... about how people in every age think that the world's gone nuts and things are getting worse, and we do that because we can only observe the world that we live in. And it's true, of course, that the world *is* nuts, and things *are* actually always getting worse -- because we never notice how things are also getting better at the same time. Kind of like a steady state; everything changes, and nothing changes. Only the details are different.

Wars are horrible. They've always been horrible, but they've been horrible in different ways. Wars used to be restricted to warriors fighting warriors, in the "season" for warring; and then everyone would pack up their swords and go home. But at the same time, raping and pillaging was the norm for wars. Now it's unheard of -- but people send car-bombs to kill women and children, and other acts of terror. Just as horrible, but the details are different.

We live in a morally degenerate society -- but we've *always* lived in a morally degenerate society. The sins that people get most upset about change around like a kaleidoscope -- in Shakespeare's day the big sin was Usery; now nobody thinks twice about it. Instead the Big Sin is sexual sins such as homosexuality and promiscuity and adultery.

And people forget how much better things are as well.

Women's rights, abolition of slavery, the fight against racial predjudice -- are they not all good things? And medicine, let's not forget modern medicine. My life would be hellish if it weren't for modern medicine. Or I'd be dead at one and a half, when I fell out a second-storey window. Or I'd have died when I was born (I was a sickly baby). Three cheers for modern medicine.

No real conclusion to this, except to say that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and it's only an optimist who thinks things are always getting better, and only a pessimist who thinks they're always getting worse.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'd agree with that. I just wish sexual discrimination and downright hatred of women, still so prevalent, would go the same way as slavery and polygamy and all the other things no-one still clings to as right 'because they're in the Bible'.

I'm always glad I live now because of modern medicine too--I'd probably have died as a child--but I often think that people in the future will look back and wonder at the harsh and primitive conditions we lived in. :-)

[kerravonsen]

I just wish sexual discrimination and downright hatred of women, still so prevalent, would go the same way as slavery and polygamy and all the other things no-one still clings to as right 'because they're in the Bible'.

Or in the Koran, which tends to be worse regarding women, from what I gather.

I guess I've been blessed in the sexual discrimination stakes, because I haven't noticed it, not much. I used to assume it was because my profession was so new it was gender-neutral, until I heard horror stories from other women computer geeks.

I thought polygamy was legal for Mormons...

I often think that people in the future will look back and wonder at the harsh and primitive conditions we lived in.

I think that will depend on the way history spins it -- and whether we're headed for another Dark Age, in which case they would look back and wonder why we didn't appreciate the conditions we lived in. 8-/

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Or in the Koran, which tends to be worse regarding women, from what I gather.

I believe so, though originally women were allowed to have their own lives. I heard Mohammed's wives all lived in different cities and had their own businesses, one being a potter I think.

I heard horror stories from other women computer geeks

My colleagues have been pretty good apart from the odd so-called funny e-mail (and usually there's only one once I've informed them--very definitely--of my opinions). However quarryquest recently had an IT guy at her work tell her that if she was his wife she'd be home cooking his meals.

I thought polygamy was legal for Mormons

Only in one US state i think, probably Utah. And anyway they have their own scriptures. [shudder] They're also very racist. I don't understand why some Maori are Mormons given that they're told they'll be white in heaven. I'd be outraged.

whether we're headed for another Dark Age, in which case they would look back and wonder why we didn't appreciate the conditions we lived in

Oh, I do! I can work, own property, have rights, and am still alive and relatively well due to the cocktail of drugs I'm on. And I love the technology! :-D

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

As far as I can recall, polygamy is not legal in any state in the US, and has been officially discontinued by the Mormon church, though it's still practiced by a few isolated subsects.

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

Moreover, Utah has the ban on polygamy written into its state constitution. It was a condition of its entry into the union.

[kerravonsen]

My colleagues have been pretty good apart from the odd so-called funny e-mail (and usually there's only one once I've informed them--very definitely--of my opinions).

Never, ever happened to me. Maybe I'm just too fat to be sexually harrassed?

recently had an IT guy at her work tell her that if she was his wife she'd be home cooking his meals

Sounds like he's looking for a mail-order bride -- because that's the only kind that would put up with him!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Apparently he's still single--and I hope he stays that way.

[reveilles.livejournal.com]

hear, hear! Great perspective on the "in the good old days..." tripe!