The Myth Of Progress

[mary_j_59]

“Why listen lady,” he said with a grin of delight, “the monks of old slept in their coffins!”

“They wasn’t as advanced as we are,” the old woman said. (From “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, in The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, Hardcover, 17th edition, FS&G 1981, page 149.)Recent events have gotten me thinking about progress, which

Comments

[vermouth1991]

To quote a religious saying, "Satan's greatest trick is convincing a lot of people that he doesn't exist." The same can be said for other social matters: if you think such and such is solved, or worse, could never happen again, then pretty soon you'd be on the slab and be wondering what hit you.

P.S. A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[mary_j_59]

Thanks, and the same to you! As to your comment: exactly. This is what I was getting at. To take one (perhaps controversial) example, I sometimes get the impression that people think we defeated Fascism in WWII and made the world safe for democracy. Those people who do believe that don't seem to realize (1) that Fascism continued right into the 1990s in Europe, (2) that it exists today in some unexpected places, and (3) that it is, if anything, gaining power and influence. Democracy is an ideal, something no society has achieved, IMHO. But it's something we should keep striving for. Just my two cents, of course!