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I don’t know whether it’s “everyone trusted everyone” so much as “everyone expected really bad things to happen anyway.” Like, if there’s a good chance I might
by ksenzee 1y ago
I don’t know whether it’s “everyone trusted everyone” so much as “everyone expected really bad things to happen anyway.” Like, if there’s a good chance I might lose this kid to diphtheria, or drowning in the river, or whatever, sending them on a trip alone doesn’t feel too dangerous by comparison.
- wredcoll 1y agoI suspect this is more true than we realize. I have this idea that if one of us were talking to a bill and ted from 2200 or so, one of their questions would be something like "so 40,000+ people died in america alone from car crashes, and everyone knew this and just ignored it???" It's amazing what you get used to.
- necovek 1y agoI don't think anyone discussing today is saying things like "wow, kids died from diphtheria in 1900, everyone knew this and just ignored it?" So really, people in 2200 will talk the same way we do today: "oh, look at all the advances we made that reduced personal transport deaths from 40k people to 1k". Humans have been assuming risk to gain particular value since we've existed, so only unaware people would say that we are ignoring it (or you wouldn't have the numbers to run your agenda in an unrelated discussion).
- ArekDymalski 1y agoI think people in 2200 will be looking at us the same way we look at the 1940ies folk with their "doctors smoke Camels" ad. Mix of indulgence, contempt and commiseration.
- ochrist 1y agoIt's a stretch to say that everybody just ignored it, when a lot of things were invented and implemented like seatbelts, speed limits etc.
- Nition 1y agoI have a similar thought re "work sucks"/"nobody wants to work anymore", where actually maybe work and people are the same as ever but being at home is more entertaining than it used to be.
- esseph 1y agoPeople have been putting this in newspapers for hundreds of years. Everytime I read the phrase I just groan and move to the next thing to read.
- thaumasiotes 1y agohttps://www.jesusandmo.net/comic/step/ https://www.jesusandmo.net/comic/step/
- frollogaston 1y agoFor this old timey example I agree, but from like 2000 to 2025, I have noticed a decline in trust in the US. People are also more trusting today in certain parts vs others, or in some other countries, and it's not because of lower standards.
- parpfish 1y agoHalf-baked thought: when something bad happens now it’ll be all over news broadcasts and social media. I think it’s pretty well established that fear mongering will skew your perception of something bad happening, but something I hadn’t considered until now is that it can make the bad thing worse. In addition to dealing with whatever tragedy befell you, there’s a layer of judgemental shame piled on top (“how could they be so careless to let this happen? They must be a bad, neglectful parent”)
- saalweachter 1y agoI feel like it's connected to a rise in flim-flam. The con man has to convince you not to trust institutions and authorities, when those institutions and authorities tell you his product/service/investment opportunity is fake.
- 9rx 1y agoIt is unlikely there has ever been a "everyone trusted everyone" moment in human history, but even today we rely on "random strangers" to move children to and fro every single (school) day. Such trust in people isn't out of the ordinary even now. I doubt parents put their children on the school bus because "something bad is apt to happen anyway", rather "it is just what you do" without any further thought. The postal service carrying humans isn't what we do these days, so it stands out as a curiosity. If it the story was, instead, about a bus line or taxi service, it wouldn't seem unusual at all.
- allan_s 1y agothe postman in those days was not a random stranger, he was certainly the son of the Smith from the village next door that your cousin went to school with. And even if he was a total stranger at the beginning of his career, after twenty years of delivering your mails every day, you knew him, you had discussed with him, he was certainly invited to drink coffee or beer during his service by some old retired farmers, so he had acquired your trust.
- allan_s 1y agoI think it's more that communities were smaller and more consistent. People didn't move that much. Your neighbors were your lifelong neighbors, and the postman was your lifelong postman, so you knew him, and your neighbors knew him, so they didn't lack trust in anybody—they had trust in their local "social network," both toward specific individuals, and because of the implicit "peer pressure" that kept everybody in line. I.e the postman would have not been able to run away with your child without the whole community being after him.