Western Civilization: It was the best thing ever.
Most sitcoms since the 60’s focused on the American middle class family and how ridiculous it was. Worldwide, the blossoming middle classes became the target of light, medium and heavyweight ridicule. And why not? Overweight people, conformists, keeping up with the Joneses, obsessing about trivial luxuries while oblivious to the poverty and suffering elsewhere in the world. In opposition, intellectuals, socialists, students and social outcasts made it their mission to scorn the mommies and daddies who rolled their wagons around the suburbs on idiotic missions.
I put it to you that humanity’s greatest invention is not the wheel, the book, sliced bread or electricity, it is western civilization. It was the miracle of ‘middleclassism’ that really only existed in full force from 1950 to 2020.
Seventy years of trivial, luxurious comfort, security, good health and family values, the likes of which had never existed at scale, until after WWII.
Whom do we thank? Eisenhower? Henry Ford? Perhaps the American-British axis of trust and friendship, around which so many nations also rallied, giving birth to NATO, United Nations, the European Union, and decades of peace, prosperity, community and a global sense of responsibility for the planet and humankind. I know… it wasn’t perfect.
Before this period, humankind knew only kings, queens and emperors. All but the few who lived inside the ruler’s court, were poor, powerless, afraid and ignorant. About 99.9% of any kingdom’s inhabitants had no rights, no safety net, no power to change their lot.
This is where we’re headed. Back to mad kings, cruel despots whose demagogic ideas propel them into unwinnable wars and pointless famine, oppression and suffering. No middle classes. No leisure industry. No tourism. No fine arts. No personal enrichment after work or at weekends. Entertainment will be like The Hunger Games. China, Russia, Saudi will rule most of the planet. About 99.9% of humans will toil, get sick and die with no access to a dream, no power to fill their middle class empires with toys, houses and grandchildren. They will be controlled by digital robocops, caught before they even commit that planned act of violence or theft. Their money will be taken from them by digital courts whose judgements cannot be contested. They will have no place on earth to hide from the the evil empires they live under. They will happily fight wars they’re drafted into, never understanding them and never benefiting from the spoils.
Western Civilization will be a distant memory. It will be written about in children’s history books. They will learn of the decadence, the moral decay and the sheer laziness of Americans, British, Australians, all Europeans, and all those me-too nations who tried to emulate the western man’s materialistic, godless lazy world. Children will happily summarize the period as a huge mistake. Homosexuality, adultery, materialism, laziness and greed will be the factors on which the empire’s demise is blamed. The muslim fundamentalists will celebrate their prophetic campaigns from the 1970’s to the 2030’s, denouncing the infidels. China’s schools will drill into its children the inherent fallacy of humans thinking they matter as individuals. The children will agree. Russians will drink more Vodka and wonder why anyone thought there was an alternative to corrupt oligarchy with mass poverty and a tiny ruling elite.
There was an alternative, and it was awesome. I was there when it was alive.
