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20th Century Progress In 7 Words
These symptoms of social and technological progression are easily identified, and yet what about our humanity itself? Using the 7 words as a measure, we might be able to discover a new slant on our real inner evolution, to find out whether there was an equivalent inner progression. No: Whether we like it or not, the primal instinctual drive of men will propel power-possessors to further their claims and to take what is not offered if they have the clout to do so. Hitler is an obvious example. However he didn’t act within a vacuum; there were circumstances that lifted him up and these were rather No-like. In some way he accurately embodied the unquestioned and unquashable dignity of character that Germans (quite reasonably) feel they have as a national identity. Their lifeblood was at that time symbolised by the Ruhr coal fields, and these were taken from them as a harsh punishment in reparation for World War I. Collectively the Germans said No to having their economy destroyed and their pride annihilated. Equally, when the Fuhrer went power-crazy Churchill said No to him. It is said that what Hitler most hated and feared was the ethereal boundary along the English Channel that the British created through visualisation at 9pm every night when, at Churchill’s behest, they held a minute’s silent vigil. Hello: We are by nature social animals—and the century that began without much awareness of telephones, ended with one billion mobiles supporting a trillion text messages a year. There were rather more ‘Hellos’ said than ever before. Also through cinema, TV, tourism and Internet there was an expanded awareness of other people and many new ideas from all over the world. We even began space exploration and stood on the Moon. A photo of planet Earth from space is a major contribution to the raising of awareness, since we really got the picture of our home as a fragile little ball floating in a void. Einstein offered a new understanding of the relationship between energy and substance, from which there arose one of mankind’s greatest mental achievements: the Big Bang hypothesis. Our openness to new concepts accelerated exponentially during the age of widespread education, widely published cheap books, TV documentaries and popular science fiction. It was the era of the media explosion and, although these media were often used to expand corruption with the deceits of propaganda and advertising, still the net effect was to inform the wider population. This exploded again when Internet was born—with its own abuses, including computer viruses (what a strange idea to a 19th century mind!). Bill Gates selling software replaced Howard Hughes selling petrol for motor cars as the richest man in history. Each is to do with Hello. Also the favoured medium of exchange went through two big changes in support of the snowballing of trade. For 7000 years we had used metal coins—still very popular in 1900—and, by 2000, paper money had generally ceded its importance to the new currency: binary digits stored electronically. Thank You: This energy form also progressed quite well in the recent period of our species’ development. We could perhaps want to see the anti-Tsarist revolution in 1917 as just the latest in a long series that had frequently punctuated the 19th century and happened to take hold because the common folk had this time been armed (against a foreign foe). However, there was an ardent idealism that made it stick—Lenin’s sincere vision of a communism that would (and did) lift millions upon millions out of abject poverty. Socialism also took hold in the West and became a real force that counterbalanced the long tradition of imperialism that went hand-in-glove with capitalism and the impoverishment of the masses. Trade Unions were formed to raise employers’ appreciation of the value of workers in the equation of wealth—and technology at last was directed more towards rescuing ordinary people from drudgery—eventually into the comfort zone of middle class and their aspirations of house ownership and DIY weekends. We began to value people and ensure that their basic comforts and needs were being met. Goodbye moments are written as history; we’ve seen the British Empire recede and its world influence move across the Atlantic with the gold reserves that were paid to the US to provide troops and arms against the Nazis. We’ve seen various heroes bring completion to historical eras—Gandhi, Mandela and Lech Walesa in a Gdansk shipyard. The world of music was totally transformed in the 60’s as the new world promised a bright dawn, and Bob Dylan told us all clearly The time they are a-changin’. We even experienced yet another ‘end of the world is nigh’ collective fear at the millennium. Yet in the context of world history, all of this is relatively minor compared to the really big issue of environmental damage and climate change. The true cost of production includes safe disposal of its associated waste—the Goodbye bit—and we need to realize that now; we all have to pay for what we consume—and the 20th Century was certainly consumerist if nothing else! And talking about payment—the huge amount of credit that grew and grew year by year is a measured statement of the extent to which we failed to complete upon our purchases. Please: It may seem to some that we have lost touch with the spiritual aspect of life, that the 20th was a godless century of materialism. Think again. Traditional religious practices had so often become nothing more than empty worship of the status quo, as though God was a thing crystallized into a scripture and hierarchy instead of a living, feeling, evolving Being. It is these hollow observances that fell into greater disfavour, whereas the spirit of experimentation and discovery has actually created a previously unknown popularity for a rich and fascinating plethora of ways to praise, new and old: from aromatherapy to Zen. The reinvigoration of spirituality is a truly major feature of our times, including radical re-examination of Islamic, Christian and Jewish practices. Sorry: What about Sorry — have we learned much about that recently? Sadly not quite enough. Still, it’s on the move. Whereas the reparations after WW1 were so severe that they gave rise to WW2, the Marshall Plan of economic aid actually settled post-war Europe and helped to create a previously unknown tranquillity, in a region known for its warlike past. This in turn allowed disparate parties to join into a major world economic force — the European Union. This is what happens when blame and revenge are put aside. There was (eventually) a softening towards criminals. Although transportation to Australia was no longer in vogue, Siberia was the place to send Soviet citizens who were accused of crime, albeit imaginary crimes in many cases. However, this declined by the millennium and prisons had become significantly more salubrious than 100 years earlier; also the death penalty was far less likely to be imposed. Yes: Freedom is another social phenomenon that was furthered. There had been staunch prejudices brought forward from Victorian times—against so many minorities and even majority groups like women and the poor. Then women got the taste of personal independence working in wartime factories—and they didn’t want to surrender it—so instead men had to surrender some of their elitist attitudes. Birth control—especially the Pill—enabled a sexual revolution that underpinned the Permissive Society. Homosexuality became okay. Actresses and pop stars glittered and pranced, suggesting that ‘anything goes’, with explicit, even lewd displays from Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger for example. The ultimate fantasy figure of Princess Diana somehow represented an anti-institutional proclamation of freedom. She engendered acceptance for her all-too-vulnerable human qualities. Ah well! For all its continuing problems, humanity’s progress was spectacular during that glorious century! Now the 21st is starting to show itself to be quite a different proposition. What can we expect for ourselves, our children and our children’s children? We know there will be more war, bullying and abuse, we know there will be technological advances as if from sci-fi novels and by now surely we know that climate changes will transform the face of the Earth. Yet the big question — will there be a breakthrough of awareness? 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