I'm usually a glass-half-full of gin kind of person but I've been having an increasing number of gloomy thoughts about where we're headed as a society. It feels as though we're losing sight of the things that elevate us and I keep imagining us as being in the same position as other, equally dominant societies shortly before their decline and fall.
I'm thinking in terms of the endless cycles of violence from which we never seem to learn; a rising general distrust of experts and science and evidence (anti-vaxxers etc) leading to outbreaks of diseases that were under control; higher education increasingly seen as important only insofar as it can produce graduates as economic units, rather than the value of learning for its own sake; the funding of things such as libraries, galleries, museums dropping further down the priority list; the tacitly state-sanctioned dehumanisation of those perceived as somehow "lesser", be that because of race, disability, poverty or whatever; climate change and an energy crisis with no real solutions...put it all together and it feels very bleak and End-of-Dayish.
Of course I can see that good things happen too, and also understand on an individual level that whether your local art gallery stays open or is sold off for flats is of little significance when you only ever pass it on the way to the food bank, but at a broader, society level it matters...doesn't it? And I'm not suggesting we're two days from anarchy on the streets and the entire collapse of civilisation overnight, but then all the dinosaurs didn't die on the same day. It just feels like this is the end of a cycle.
AIBU?
To think our society is on the verge of a slow but inevitable collapse?
PageStillNotFound404 · 02/08/2016 13:03
I think history goes in little cycles of progress, decline, progress, decline and underneath there is a much slower steady slope of progress.
I can't remember if this is a proper theory I learnt at university or if I just made it up 
Ever read "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" ?
Generally, empires (and we still live in an age of empire) have a cyclical quality, when viewed across centuries.
Also, generally, people don't comprehend they are part of a continuum of history, but have this arrogant and dangerous belief that they are somehow "special" and protected from the consequences of their actions. (Remember the old adage that teenagers in the 1960s thought they invented sex ?).
in terms of progress I feel like we're going backwards right now.
Now this I can agree with. And it's in odd little things. Average speed of traffic in London (now slower than 1916).
20 years ago you could fly to the US in 4 hours. Now it's 8.
Homeowning decreasing.
Reversals in the fall in drink-driving (because new generations haven't been subject to the education previous ones have).
A horrid resurgence in casual racism.
A horrid resurgence in casual misogyny ... (our DS saying certain subjects are "for girls" - which goes against all I grew up with. And no - he didn't learn that from us 
).
But then look at the advances ! X-Factor. CBB. IACGMOOH. Geordie Shore. TOWIE. Donald Trump.
Shit, now I'm depressed again.
Yeah, Page, I feel the same way. I do what little I can. It isn't enough to make a difference.
I've skimmed through PPs' replies, but am currently agreeing too much with you all and it's getting harder to fend off the mental health crashes that come with realising this isn't mental illness, it's rational assessment!
Placemarking for when I can have a stiff drink with the topic 
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