The Way of the 21st Century: Going Nowhere While Very, Very Frightened

(Originally published in February, 2015)

We’re 14 years into a new century, which is typically how long it takes for a century’s unique characteristics to show up. The 20^th century, for example, looked a lot like the 19^th until 1914; from there on it looked a lot different. So I think this is a good time to take a look at our new century and see how it’s shaping up. I see two particular things that are defining the mainline culture just now. Let’s go with the easy and obvious one first:

The 24-Hour Fear Cycle

Nothing makes humans easier to manipulate than fear. Get a group of Homo sapiens afraid of something and most of them will run wherever you want them to. Unfortunately, all the manipulators of our time know this and are maximizing their use of it. On top of that, we have a 24-hour news cycle, and nothing rivets eyeballs to screens like fear. Good news, as we all know, doesn’t sell papers. There have always been bad things happening on Earth. Take the truly horrifying stories that pop up here and there of women killing their own children. Sadly, these have always been with us, but they weren’t blasted on five or ten news channels 24/7. Likewise, horrifying stories from the Middle East or in Africa; these are very definitely nothing new. What’s new is using these stories as tools… tools to make Homo sapiens run to where you want them. Here’s the reality:

Violent crime is decreasing, and significantly. Deaths in fires are dropping:

Disaster losses are falling too:

I could go on, but you get the point. Lots of things are getting better in real life, but no one thinks so because everything’s getting worse on TV. Fear works. One final example: Here’s a list of events from a year that generally inspires no fear in us—1970: These events were accepted in 1970. People thought they were sad, but they didn’t panic over them. I don’t think that would be true now. We are living in a fear soup, stirred by the overlords of the age. And it’s working for them.

Going Nowhere

There’s a great line in the Bible that says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” And that is exactly what we’re being treated to from the mainstream culture. This is a second defining characteristic of our new century. How many of us can answer this question in any positive way?:

Where is Western civilization going?

In this 21^st century, we have no vision, no goal, no direction. And that’s a very bad thing. Lots of modern people want to live healthier and longer, but to what end? So they can eat more fancy food? So they can have sex a few more times? To what great future does that lead? Millions of 21^st-century people want to get rich, but what will they do with their big pile of money? Is it just to look at? To salve their insecurities? Money is a fine tool, but anyone who thinks it’s going to make them into some kind of superior person has a big surprise coming. The one thing they may get from it is status, but only in the eyes of shallow people. At one time, the men and women of the West did have goals: they strove to attain righteousness, to love their neighbors and to eliminate slavery. (I’m talking about the early Middle Ages, by the way.) Was this universal and perfect? Of course not, but it was quite real and quite effective, no matter what pop history says. Even during my youth, we had a vision: We were sending men to the moon, then outward from there. However poorly the effort was handled, it was a real goal, and one that positively affected millions of us. Now there are no goals, no striving, no searching, no becoming. Instead, we have distractions, fears, and stasis. Humans need goals, and we as a civilization currently have none.

The Current Necessity

So what do we do about this? The common reflex is to “reform the system,” but I think that’s a tragic mistake. You can chase those rainbows for decades, but it ends up making no real difference. One day you’ll wake up and realize that you’re old and nearing the finish line… and that the system still sucks. I recommend that you dump all of that and get busy changing the world directly. Forget the visionless 21^st century culture and start creating your own vision. Read, learn, choose! And get busy doing. Without a vision, we stagnate, we walk in circles… we perish. Don’t live in that trap. **

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