Clouds on the horizon?

Clouds on the horizon?

Historians argue that fear of decline and fear of change has been a constant in human history. Indeed, from the disintegration of the Roman Empire to the end of the Cold War, anxieties about quality of life, safety and geopolitical significance have been a faithful companion of society even while its standards of measurement are continuingly rising. There’s nothing new about that. What’s new is that these worries, which were ruling class worries for most of the last two thousand years, are now the worries of a broad middle class.

Since the end of World War II, the West has experienced a stellar rise to an unprecedented level of prosperity. Work is now available to the vast majority of people, the concept of a minimum wage exists and many of the sudden maladies that may befall us are remedied by society. Yet, the general impression of how things are is decidedly negative. In opinion polls, most of the people surveyed repine that the next generation will not enjoy the same standard of living as the previous one and that the outlook on the near future reveals a grim reality.

I don’t want to discuss the various reasons for the spreading of this depressed mentality among wealthy nations but rather see whether it is really justified. Far from being a notorious optimist, I’d say it’s not. At least not to the degree that justifies fear of foreign workers, notions of cultural warfare and nationalist tendencies. Let’s face it, even the poor among us enjoy the benefits of running water, a roof over their head and regular meals − all the while maintaining an option to improve their situation − while more than half of Earth’s population struggle for survival. When we are hungry, we can choose from a field of options that ranges from McDonald’s or chocolate bars from the supermarket to restaurants offering shark fin soup. When we are thirsty, we can simply use the faucet or buy a two hundred year-old bottle of wine. When we feel unhappy, we can take a pill or distract ourselves with a magazine, a book or a visit to the movie theater. We don’t have to cling to the edge of life, exposed to the elements and the moods of a madman; we don’t have to think about the continuation of our existence on a daily basis; we don’t have to submit to the imperative of submission. Instead, we have money to drink or gamble away, hours to waste in front of the TV or computer and entire Sundays to sleep through. We have drugs to make us forget our “unrealized potential”; we have music to distract us from being us; we have the Internet to keep us company all the time.

Some may argue that a relativist view of wealth distribution is illegitimate, but in my opinion it is a fairly effective way of coming to the conclusion that, yeah, we’re pretty well off.