By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index
If you study history, beyond the various empires, kings and conquerors, you are likely to discover that every generation thinks their time is uniquely strange or dysfunctional or even apocalyptic and, at least some, are convinced that the “end times” are upon us.
Maybe we are doing what humans always do – assuming that we are the center of the universe and that God or destiny or Karma is finally coming into play with judgement, or a final tallying is imminent.
We might be falling into that same, near universal mind-set. Or maybe things are actually as strange, menacing and irreconcilable as they appear.
Hinges of history
Noted writer and historian Thomas Cahill has a series of books he calls “The Hinges of History”.I have read several of them. The premise is that, for a variety of reasons, circumstances emerge that demand that human beings (and their civilizations) shift into new modes or reactions to unforeseen challenges or opportunities.
I would submit the suggestion that we are currently in such a time, with our dependence on technologies (from streaming to online shopping and much more) and a media ecosystem that defies categorization and “disrupts” if not scrambles every aspect of human behavior and relationships – as well as careers and education and anything even beginning to approach what might have been considered “basic life skills” in any previous era.
Nothing is as it was, both for previous generations and literally any other time in human history.
We may not have become accustomed to them, but we have learned to take the distortions and absurdities of life in the digital world as a given at work and home.
It’s not just “old” people (over 45 or so) that struggle with keeping up with and coping with these challenges – many young people are just as baffled and frustrated.
And yes, just when the technologies and uncompromising digital realities are reaching/imposing/intruding into every aspect of our lives and all of us, not just public figures, are experiencing our own bewilderment in this environment, we have a record number of “older” (well over age 70) political leaders and candidates.
It is perhaps each generation’s primary task to make sense of their time. History, in summary, is, at its core, one generation looking back at previous eras and attempting to understand, make sense of and, in some cases, come to terms (or some kind of peace) with what previous generations have done.
Anything but business as usual
In any category you might consider, from global politics, wars, local economies, homelessness, public schools or increasingly erratic weather – and a dozen more – those who pay attention to such things describe us as being in a time of intersecting, if not force multiplier, crises.
Basic rights, like privacy, or the right to vote in many areas have suddenly become questioned.
People (at all levels) pursue and pass along misinformation, and conspiracy cultures thrive in every corner of our country (if not beyond) on what had, for some of us, been, in a secular sense, near-sacred territory like public health and education.
No polarization here
Much has been said about how “divided” we, as a nation, are.
But there seems to be one massive area where we all share common concerns – virtually every one of us feels that we have less and less control over our own lives.
Many, if not most of us, are convinced that important truths are being hidden from us. Many of us feel disconnected and find something resembling a sense of belonging that comes with getting wrapped up in, even defined by, online worlds and communities.
The “virtual world” is intrusive and, among many other things, online privacy and security are at risk or even long gone for many of us. Far too many of us have become unmoored from the real world and actual relationships or work, and, at the same time, to a large degree find ourselves remade in the image of our digital tools.
To a large degree, people of both (or many) political persuasions are convinced (often for good reason) that something irreplaceably human is being lost – or at being commodified – as never before.
Who, of any political philosophy, likes to see every purchase we make recorded by Amazon or the local grocery store “reward card” system? Who among us is cheered by the thought of algorithms deciding what we should read, watch, eat or who we should “meet”?
Individual “branding”
My wife and I have a continuing conversation on the topic of “how would we explain this to our parents or grandparents?”
At the top of this list would be individual branding; how did it become appealing (and profitable) to market ourselves, to create the “brand” version of us that, at best, is a thin, commodified, commercially available version of ourselves desperate for a click-based acknowledgement in the virtual world?
And yes, besides several colleges offering courses in social media influencing, one university in Ireland is offering an entire four-year degree program in social media influencing.
Even crime (and apparently criminals) are not what they used to be
Smash and grab robberies have merged with flash-mobs and have become more like “flash-robs” where a group of thieves enters a store and creates chaos as they steal (usually) high value items.
Toward the end of September, in Philadelphia, a mob of people broke into an Apple Store and took all of the iPhone 15s. With sirens blaring, they then ran out only to realize that all of the iPhones have been disabled and they were likely being tracked. As this dawns on them, they began breaking all of the iPhones that they just took – while being filmed by people with other iPhones.
This is far from an unusual case, but in this case the would-be thieves seem to be a few degrees dimmer than the usual thief.
Some eras had memorable crimes and criminals that warranted legends – and a few movies. From Jesse James to Billy the Kid to Bonnie and Clyde, our criminals held their place in songs and literature. Now we have bland, anonymous, hooded mobs with no rules and no identity. For better or worse, this is us. And, apparently, our destiny.
