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A problematic quote for anyone old enough to observe and also inclined to deplore cultural change.
As the culture ages
and begins to lose its objectives, conflict arises within it between those who
wish to cast it off and set up a new culture-pattern, and those who wish to
retain the old with as little change as possible.
Philip K. Dick - The Defenders (1953)
There must always be a suspicion that deplored cultural
changes are merely changes to which younger generations have adapted
and will continue to adapt because this is the way of the world. So any
perceived decline is merely adjustment as the culture ages and begins to lose its objectives.
Certainly modern times are markedly different from the past,
technology, prosperity, communications and general know-how have made it so. In
which case there could be genuine problems we can’t see because we haven’t
encountered them before. Not that we are much good at learning from the
past, but maybe we can’t anyway because the past is too far removed from the
present.
Almost two thousand years ago Seneca attributed perceived cultural decline to the vices of mankind and not of the times.
Almost two thousand years ago Seneca attributed perceived cultural decline to the vices of mankind and not of the times.
You are mistaken, my
dear Lucilius, if you think that luxury, neglect of good manners, and other
vices of which each man accuses the age in which he lives, are especially
characteristic of our own epoch; no, they are the vices of mankind and not of
the times. No era in history has ever been free from blame.
It is as if our faults are always with us but from age to age they vary in their significance, in their contribution to the present. Things could be better but that is always the case and always will be until we evolve into something else, something better. Or possibly worse?
It is as if our faults are always with us but from age to age they vary in their significance, in their contribution to the present. Things could be better but that is always the case and always will be until we evolve into something else, something better. Or possibly worse?
5 comments:
With all the technology, marketing and instant communication our "culture" now is probably an imposed one rather than one arising from the ordinary business of life.
Demetrius - good point. Cultures tend to be somewhat artificial and top-down but ours feels more imposed and manipulated than is healthy.
Or creating problems out of thin air.
I fear you are right AK, culture is now downloadable and fully approved. With luck a few will peer behind the arras.
James - yes, problems are their vehicles of choice.
Roger - a few keeps the flame burning, but whether or not that is enough I don't know.
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