Written on 15 July, 1973...
"It is 2022 and the world is broken. The exponentially inflating graphs of economic and social prediction have plateaued and the impending stagnation of progress threatens, demeans and mocks humanity's collective intellect.
There will be those, however, who foresaw this approaching decline of moral reason who tried to warn against the potentially detrimental outcomes of negating to quell this new-found fad of 'settling-for-less'.
There will be a time when people who study and train for jobs held in high regard; police officers, judges, presidents and leaders-of-men, and who are utterly beyond reproach, will be shoved aside and ignored. These men and women of honor and integrity, of whom so much will be expected and subsequently delivered, will be relegated to a forgotten time in a forgotten era. History will be re-written by the victors, and all noble traits thereunto linked will be simply pissed upon and trodden asunder.
The turmoil will begin brewing as slowly and inexorably as could possibly be imagined. The unfolding events that will transpire will be likened, in hindsight, to the age-old fable regarding the Boiling Frog. The expected high-standards of living, education, work ethic, language, education, and a myriad of other facets of life will gradually begin lowering and soon enough, almost suddenly, a dawning realization will occur that life itself is not as pleasant as it once seemed.
How will this happen?
Why did this happen?
What is happening now?
The confusion, anger and finger-pointing of blame will be utterly futile. The new fact is arrived. This is the now. The rich and satiating cocoon of potential of 'what-was' is soon to be forgotten and will be replaced with a shallow, mediocre husk of mediocrity and blandness. People will rightly question as to the causes of this social catastrophe and there are many. It starts with allowing anything other than the pursuit of excellence to be accepted as 'normal'. I will write of various hypothetical scenarios, how they will be approached and thought about in the future, and what the correct course of action shall have been instead :-
POPULATION
The projected issues of over population are a worry to many sensible people. Early on the 1950's, some very bright people had begun to warn of the potentially dangerous strain on our planet's resources should the numbers happen to increase exponentially.
Some countries' governments even began social (experimental) programs by offering state-sponsored education programs or even cost-deducted medical care for families with two (or less) children. This motivated prospective parents to consider very carefully and plan accordingly for the amount of children they could realistically conceive and raise. This concept seemed to work in a few cases but the general idea goes against the very fabric of what it means to be human; a social animal. Left unchecked and unenforced, the predictions slowly turned into foregone conclusions as the general populace blossomed into unsustainability.
As a result, the first steps toward the decline of moral, social and economical decline had been ignorantly set into motion.
EDUCATION
The growth and expansion of human settlements had eventually encroached from rural areas into city areas and ultimately toward metropolitan areas. Being that it's human nature to feel the urge to help those less fortunate due to the inherent understanding that 'we are all in this together', it became a forced issue through inter-continental sanctions that many countries were, in effect, forced to embrace change immediately. There was no time offered to effect a plan of action in order to assimilate gradually. First World and Third World cultures were immediately obliged to mix and mingle. The idea that there were more opportunities for wealth and security in the cities had brought a migratory flood of uneducated, unskilled people who rampaged into previously clean, safe and well-organized neighborhoods. Soon enough petty-crime rates and reports were on the increase. This new-found 'migration mindset' toward large cities brought with it a slew of negativity, filth, degradation, uncouth and callous attitudes, and worst of all- no respect whatsoever for anybody or anything else that was there before them. This will come as no great surprise and it was bound to happen that as the general population grew unchecked, more and more people are being deprived of quality education and decently paying jobs. As a result, the standards of education (excellence) will drop in order to facilitate these new ‘city-dwellers’ who have little to no money, no ambition, no skills, nor any inclination whatever to acquire them. The mind-set of ‘Give me, give me, give me’ will reign supreme and ordinary citizens will be plagued by delusions of grandeur since "What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander". This particular attitude is hugely contagious and completely and entirely a result of not having any quality education.
Perhaps, in hindsight, had this mass movement of uneducated people been noted and acted upon, somehow, at the time, things may have turned out differently. But it wasn't and they didn't.
Today, if there is any question or doubt as to a candidate’s character whatsoever, he will be shunned and ousted and this is the end of it. In 2022 though, whomsoever has the nicest-looking face or happens to have the most money will have a chance of becoming the new President or community leader regardless of their qualifications or skill.
Schools, universities and other learning institutions will be razed to the ground and the truth, honor and integrity will be systematically dismantled. Anybody with an opinion and a voice will demand to be heard and that their opinions, however insane, are lent credence and allowed. In the years that follow, I do believe that there will be re-surfacing arguments regarding the most well-known, already established facts.
THE CAUSE
The current standards of everything will be allowed to slip and in some cases even be lowered further, on purpose, in order to facilitate the lower education levels. The general average IQ level will decrease. Language itself as well as writing and other forms of future communication will change to become 'more efficient'. Simple by-laws that were enforced will be made redundant almost overnight. Incarcerated criminals will be given a voice to vote with. Uneducated trouble makers will note these things and demand even more freedom because 'a little bit of something is never enough'. The attitude of being given something for free will morph and evolve into an attitude of expectation. The integrity and self satisfaction of working hard for a living will become a thing of the past. Tempers will flare and it will seem as though there is now way out for anybody. Only the ignorant will be content and the educated will be fuming-angry at the advantage they feel they have been taken of. Yet, the fault is entirely at their own door-step.
THE SOLUTION
The solution, I believe (unfortunately) is to tighten the reigns as soon as possible and retake control. People will need to be controlled and this callous and dangerous attitude of entitlement must be dealt with swiftly and harshly. An example needs to be made.
Unfortunately, more people means more control; not less.
This is only logical path toward civility.
We humans should never forget that we are a part of this circle of life on this planet. We have evolved in a fine balance of everything natural over hundreds of millions of years. We are still animals; still carbon-based biological life-forms, still flesh and bone animals - however far we like to fool ourselves into believing we have come.
Yes, we may have managed to find a way to leave this planet and explored our own Solar System, but the absolute worst ting we could do as a species is to sit back and relax, thinking we have it all figured out.
We still have a long way to go, and if we don't resolve to repair our issues today, there may well be no tomorrow. "
Think.