It's tricky because it's at the start of a sentence, but I was trying to go for capital "R" "Rationalism." Not "every medieval peasant had no idea how the world

It's tricky because it's at the start of a sentence, but I was trying to go for capital "R" "Rationalism." Not "every medieval peasant had no idea how the world worked and planted grain in December half the time because he was afraid the devil might steal his socks." There were profoundly irrational acts, but I'm not trying to say that there was a total lack of a societal framework or a total absence of logic or reasoning. >I take issue with how equality is supposed to be a modern given. I think it's fair to say that equality is supposed to be a modern ideal, in contrast to the medieval world. I don't think I said "everyone is equal these days", and I'm having difficulty finding where you read that into the text. >and that what he describes isn't modernity but the entitled and pampered life of a suburban white American male who has never, and will never, have any real hardship in his life.* I'm not entirely sure how to respond to this. I think you may be bringing outside baggage into the discussion, and it's informing your view of who the author supposedly is.