A Sober Assessment of the State of America and the World By MICHAEL BROWN for The Stream
Are we living in the last moments of human history? Is the whole world about to explode? Has America ever been in a worse condition than it is now?
Certainly, we are living in chaotic times, times of trouble and upheaval. But how bad are things, really? How dire is the condition of the world?
There is a mindset that C. S. Lewis called “chronological snobbery” which he defined as “the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.” In other words, if it’s newer, it must be better.
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The exact opposite of this concept is the idea that if it’s newer, it must be worse. Society is not what it used to be. Families are not what they used to be. Morality is not what it used to be. Education is not what it used to be. Everything is on the decline!
But are things really that simple? Can we make such blanket statements?
Are Our Feelings About How Bad Things are Aligned With Reality?
Andrew Klavan, who was born in 1954, was describing his early days with the Daily Wire team, which included much younger men like Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles.
Klavan wrote, “sometimes the younger guys would say things like, ‘This is the most divided era in American history,’ and I’d say, you know, between the ages of ten and fourteen, I saw the president of the United States murdered by a Communist, his senator brother murdered by a Palestinian and the greatest civil rights leader of the age gunned down by a racist pornographer. To me, things look pretty chill. I think that was useful to keep the rhetoric in check and align our feelings with reality.”
Of course, it’s easy to think that America is the worst it’s ever been. Doesn’t it often feel like that?
After all, when is the last time we’ve been this politically polarized? When have we had to deal with LGBTQ+ extremism? When have we faced such uncertainty about the future? What about the horrific school massacres? What about the dangers of cancel culture and wokeness? What about the racial divisions? What about the plague of porn? And the epidemic of fentanyl overdoses? The list goes on and on.
Still, as Klavan said, we need to “align our feelings with reality.” How bad are things, really?
Some Things are the Worst They’ve Ever Been
The fact is that some things are the worst they’ve ever been in our nation’s history, such as the ubiquity of porn or the rise of radical transgender activism.
On the other hand, other things are better than they’ve been in decades, such as the strength of the pro-life movement, from the overturning of Roe v. Wade to the passing of pro-life legislation in state after state. And despite the racial tension we’re living with, things are certainly far better today for black Americans than they were prior to 1964, let alone prior to 1865.
