I wish things felt less ominous; less like the whole thing is slowly losing ground, slipping off the edge of a cliff inch by inch. This is different than some personally experienced depression, I’m talking some sort of “corporate humanity” thing; the aggregate “heart-vibe” of society. Thankfully, for me, most of the time, the looming dark clouds are just that – foreboding and menacing, but at worst a kind of slow leak in my positivity, not barring me from feeling the day’s joys (at least, not yet).
A very prominent public figure said recently that, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” To be fair to this figure, even though I’m not sure it’s deserved, the quote in full context was supposed to be about not letting people “exploit” your empathy response. This sentiment seems to be popular at the moment. What constitutes intolerance or selfishness isn’t something we all seem to agree on (was it ever, I wonder?); self-serving opportunism reigns and fomenting anger is an armchair sport. The “I got mine; fuck you” crowd is out and vocal and proud.
When empathy and meekness are weaknesses, what sort of society are we building? What sort of future adults are we raising?
So yeah, I wish it felt less like this. And to talk to some people, it’s the 100% exact opposite. They feel more optimism and positivity than they’ve felt in a while, and it’s hard for me to comprehend. I reject the idea that it’s a binary good and evil and we’ll never be able to get along again – that’s how you keep a populace powerless. But man… we got a lot of bridge-building to do.
Help.
Also written on this day...
- back when i did nothing - 2008
- another iPod one - 2007
- the only just outcome - 2006