Many of our machinations have produced or exacerbated the very problems they were made to solve: Pornography has produced impotence. Entertainment has produced boredom. Social media has produced isolation. Production has produced poverty. Efficiency has produced waste. Sustainability has produced consumption. Organic has produced corporations. Education has produced insanity. Green has produced Red. Socialism has produced antisocial behavior. Inclusion has produced exclusion. Antifacism has produced facism. Peaceful protests have produced destruction. Security has produced terrorism. Political correctness has produced identity politics. Critical theory has produced racism. Gender studies has produced transgenderism. Sensitivity has produced hatred. Love has produced evil.
Modernity isn't progress. New isn't improved. It might be, but it isn't necessarily. You have to have a presupposed standard by which to assess it. There must be something away from or toward which you measure distance. Without a fixed point or a defined target to which you are heading or away from which you are fleeing, you can never tell if you have made any progress. We need wisdom to discern where an advancement is advancing us or what a development is developing. We need sagacity to sift through every step forward in order to determine what we've stepped in.
No comments:
Post a Comment