2022: The Wild West Still Continues

I think people living in the present day are always more critical of those in the past than themselves.

There are two questions I want to explore.

1. Why do I hold this belief?

2. If true, why does this pattern exist?

To try and answer the first question, I notice the tendency in myself to look with disdain on centuries of human civilization past and then to brush off the stains of the present. I've been thinking about this reality recently while reading our literature for class.

In elementary school, we were introduced to a time period often referred to as "The Wild West." Insert images of guns blazing, outlaws robbing casinos, cowboys dying in duels, mine shafts exploding from within, bandits running wild in the streets. Insert images of those old Cowboy movies you've seen. It's the time period when the eastern United States was growing cities and commerce, but the western United States was crazed with the gold rush. Civilization in the east; lawlessness in the west.

We read about the time period and are astounded. What living conditions! What interesting lifestyles! What recklessness! What permissiveness of the morally repugnant! What backwardness!

I think similar reactions are felt when reading about the Salem Witch Trials. What horror! What idiocy! How could they be so easily duped?! How could they conduct such sham trials?! How could they put innocent people to death?! How could they not see the hysteria taking over?! What craziness!

So, we read of the Wild West and we read of the Salem Witch Trials, and the Salem Witch Trials remind us a lot of the Wild West.

What about us? Oh, we cannot even be referenced in the same sentence as the Wild West. We are civilized. We are intelligent. We are rational, logical creatures. We are advanced, living in morally superior times. We are part of a progressive (obviously better) culture. We are not even on the same spectrum as the Wild West!

Or, are we? We are. And, I will only give examples from 2022 to justify this claim. In the last week, pictures were made public of civilians slaughtered in Ukraine, some of whom were raped and tortured. In 2022, people are still discriminated against on the basis of their sex or their skin color. In 2022, nearly 1,000 children die every day around the world due to the lack of clean water. In 2022, in-fighting and self-interest are the staple of American politics. In 2022, the prison system is completely broken and corrupt. In 2022, homelessness is an issue we still have no good solutions for. Yes, some of these examples are not occurring within the borders of the US, but globalization means that our responsibility is no longer limited to what's in our town square. Even if indirectly and at the lowest rung on the responsibility hierarchy, we do hold some responsibility for the state of the world elsewhere.

Why do I hold the belief that we are more critical of the past than ourselves? Because I see that behavior clearly in myself. Why do I think I'm representative of the population? I think my self-awareness and self-reflection is generally above average, and if I notice the subtle tendency in myself, my hunch is that it likely is occurring in others too. (I could give more reasons to why I believe what I believe apart just from seeing it in myself, but that's beside the point).

Response to question 2: Why are people in the present more critical of the past than ourselves? 

I won't spend nearly as much time on this question because I think it could be its own independent blog. Instead, I'll just take my best initial guess at the answer. First of all, our history textbooks show us the highlights of the past (whether good or bad). Yet, we live in the day to day (just like people have always done but somehow we forget that). For that reason, we see the regularity of our day to day but the historic moments of the past and then hastily attribute the content of historic moments to the day to day of the past too. In other words, we forget that the majority of people who have ever lived likely did nothing history-book worthy. They likely lived normal, regular lives. But, we read the historic moments of various ages and then peanut-butter that occasion onto the entire time period. Then, we see the regularity of our day to day and compare it with atrocities past and obviously hold the past in contempt.

Second, I think we are quicker to brush aside our own problems and obsess with others'. I think this trait is partly attributable to the human condition.

Third, we lack the capacity to be jarred by injustice. Entertainment dominates our culture. If you don't like the way you feel because of something going on in the world, distract yourself and forget about it. But, we don't forget the atrocities of the past because they have been ingrained in us since youth.

Finally, I think we hold too tightly to the myth of progressivism. Now, I am not saying that progress is bad. Not at all! I'm also not saying that no good progress has been made over the years. That's not the argument I'm making at all. We can (and do) spend hundreds of pages recording the advances of society. What I am saying is that we convince ourselves that our progression in some areas must mean that we are better in all areas. Or, we believe that progression as an end in itself is good. (Enter the role of bioethicists in how we navigate technology in medicine). 

I'm saying that we too easily pat ourselves on the back for how we are "better" than the Wild West and then turn a blind eye to how the Wild West still continues in us.