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Let’s take a different view, America has periods of chaos before and it seems common, maybe this is just another period of change where we get to grips with tec

Let’s take a different view, America has periods of chaos before and it seems common, maybe this is just another period of change where we get to grips with technological change and nationalism and racism and come out the other side a more integrated, just and thoughtful society. One hopefully with better restraints for demagoguery.

refurb 6y ago
I always find it interesting when people think we're living in unique times. I don't know if it's just the human tendency to view the past with rose colored glasses or an opinion of younger folks who weren't around when things got crazy in the past. The US has been through periods like (and much worse) in the last 60 years: - 60's race riots across most major cities that resulted in the deaths of hundreds & Vietnam War where every opinion article lamented about "America's global leadership is over" - Watergate where a sitting president was forced from office due to truly breathtaking corruption and law breaking - The 80's when Japan was on the rise and people talked about the US falling behind and no longer being a major economic player (I remember people smashing Japan electronics on the Whitehouse lawn) - Gulf War, LA Riots, Clinton scandals, pre-9/11 terror attacks in the 90's - In the 2000's, 9/11, the financial crisis (aka "The End of Capitalism") It's always been like this.
- ende 6y ago
  It’s a form of recency bias. Some people need to believe that the place and time they occupy is the most significant.
- keiferski 6y ago
  Welcome to the consequences of a world where history education has been underemphasized in favor of technology and ‘practicality.’ The world is always ending, the future is always impossible to predict, and everything is original, cutting-edge and new. Except...it isn’t. It’s all happened before, but we didn’t bother reading those books. America will be fine.
  - antepodius 6y ago
    What makes you think you live in an exceptional time of historical ignorance?
    - keiferski 6y ago
      Too many things to list in a single comment, but I'll just sum them up in one sentence: The widespread idea that somehow Modernity is a new, tabula rasa (blank slate) epoch in which the old rules and realities don't apply anymore.
      - refurb 6y ago
        That’s actually a really good summary. “This time it’s different” comes up again and again (tech bubble, housing bubble) and it turns out, no, it’s not different. The latest is MMT, in which people say “you can print as much money as you want without fears of inflation because this time it’s different”. And maybe it is? But there is a good chance that, no, it’s not different this time.
        kazagistar 6y ago
        Or thinking that this time, a constantly growing wealth gap between the rich and the poor won't lead to a revolution if major reformation doesn't happen first. Also, pretty sure MMT knows that printing money leads to inflation. Thats why the theory has taxes to remove money as well, if you want to tax someone other then those who hold capital evenly (which is inflation).
      - Nasrudith 6y ago
        Sorry but I don't see that as new. Just off of the top of my head the Age of Aquarius new age nonsense, the belief that war would end with World War 1, and fascists believing that democracy was obsoleted with industrialization, heck even the French Revolution and the Enlightenment had similiar lines of thought. There have long been beliefs along those lines about how this time is different. You could argue that it means that we aren't sufficently historically literate but I don't see how it stands out as worse given ample precedent.
- bosswipe 6y ago
  Just because things worked out in the past doesn't mean they will always work out in the future.

refurb 6y ago

I always find it interesting when people think we're living in unique times. I don't know if it's just the human tendency to view the past with rose colored glasses or an opinion of younger folks who weren't around when things got crazy in the past. The US has been through periods like (and much worse) in the last 60 years: - 60's race riots across most major cities that resulted in the deaths of hundreds & Vietnam War where every opinion article lamented about "America's global leadership is over" - Watergate where a sitting president was forced from office due to truly breathtaking corruption and law breaking - The 80's when Japan was on the rise and people talked about the US falling behind and no longer being a major economic player (I remember people smashing Japan electronics on the Whitehouse lawn) - Gulf War, LA Riots, Clinton scandals, pre-9/11 terror attacks in the 90's - In the 2000's, 9/11, the financial crisis (aka "The End of Capitalism") It's always been like this.

ende 6y ago
It’s a form of recency bias. Some people need to believe that the place and time they occupy is the most significant.
keiferski 6y ago
Welcome to the consequences of a world where history education has been underemphasized in favor of technology and ‘practicality.’ The world is always ending, the future is always impossible to predict, and everything is original, cutting-edge and new. Except...it isn’t. It’s all happened before, but we didn’t bother reading those books. America will be fine.
- antepodius 6y ago
  What makes you think you live in an exceptional time of historical ignorance?
  - keiferski 6y ago
    Too many things to list in a single comment, but I'll just sum them up in one sentence: The widespread idea that somehow Modernity is a new, tabula rasa (blank slate) epoch in which the old rules and realities don't apply anymore.
    - refurb 6y ago
      That’s actually a really good summary. “This time it’s different” comes up again and again (tech bubble, housing bubble) and it turns out, no, it’s not different. The latest is MMT, in which people say “you can print as much money as you want without fears of inflation because this time it’s different”. And maybe it is? But there is a good chance that, no, it’s not different this time.
      - kazagistar 6y ago
        Or thinking that this time, a constantly growing wealth gap between the rich and the poor won't lead to a revolution if major reformation doesn't happen first. Also, pretty sure MMT knows that printing money leads to inflation. Thats why the theory has taxes to remove money as well, if you want to tax someone other then those who hold capital evenly (which is inflation).
    - Nasrudith 6y ago
      Sorry but I don't see that as new. Just off of the top of my head the Age of Aquarius new age nonsense, the belief that war would end with World War 1, and fascists believing that democracy was obsoleted with industrialization, heck even the French Revolution and the Enlightenment had similiar lines of thought. There have long been beliefs along those lines about how this time is different. You could argue that it means that we aren't sufficently historically literate but I don't see how it stands out as worse given ample precedent.
bosswipe 6y ago
Just because things worked out in the past doesn't mean they will always work out in the future.