Is Civilization Just A Thin Veneer Between Civility And Civil Breakdown? by Ken Jorgustin for Modern Survival Blog
The veneer of civilization truly is thin. You might say it’s layered. When the thin veneer layers are peeled back, it’s not a pretty sight. In fact it can be downright ugly.
What is civilization?
The root of the word ‘Civilization’ is ‘Civ’ which comes from the Latin civis (CITIZEN).
‘Civil’, which is also derived from the same latin word, relates to citizens that are ‘trained’, ‘refined’. It is considered the cultural development of man from barbarism.
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Are we as humans, naturally civilized? No, we are ‘trained’ to be civil.
“Every civilization is, among other things, an arrangement for domesticating the passions and setting them to do useful work.”
— Aldous Huxley (Brave New World)
Civilization is a Formula by Design
Is civilized society but a formula by design – of what we are supposed to be? (A thin veneer wrapped around us and held in place by training, indoctrination, and fear of punishment?)
Is the bigger picture and construct of our modern civilization actually an imposition by a smaller authority who understands how to posses the systemic means to power?
How many would behave badly?
If you look closely, the veneer of civilization appears to be remarkably thin.
How many would behave badly if they thought there would be no penalties for bad behavior? Would the ugly side of human nature emerge?
Are there triggers of man’s potentially ‘savage’ nature that could cause a breakout of this thin veneer, wicked and barbaric as ever?
How quickly might we transition from civil to barbaric, and what events could cause it?
Triggers of civil breakdown
The normalcy bias of a ‘civilized’ people results in the assumption that things (life) will always remain civilized. However civil breakdown is never far around the corner…
